Meet the 18-year-old Ghanaian who has gained admission into 8 Top US Universities

An 18 year-old alum of Opoku Ware School, Samuel Mensah has gained admission into a total of 8 Top Universities in the United States of America, with full scholarships.

It is widely held that the chances of students worldwide gaining admission into some US universities, especially the Ivy League schools are extremely slim, however, the Ghanaian student has undoubtedly set a new record.

The US Embassy in a Monday Motivation post on Facebook shared the news of Samuel’s academic strides with the rest of Ghana. From somewhere in mid-March, he began learning he had gained admission to eight universities in the US, all on full scholarships.

The three Ivy League schools out of the lot are Princeton, Dartmouth and Columbia universities. Stanford, Duke, Northwestern, Williamson and Vanderbilt universities are the other five schools, which are highly regarded in their own right.

Samuel, who will turn 19 later in April, 2018, expressed his excitement with Citi newsroom saying, “I’m really excited at the prospect of going to some of the best universities in the US and consequently in the entire world. Going on full scholarship merits that response so I am very excited and very happy about the whole thing.”

Before the bliss he is currently enjoying, Samuel had to go through what he described as a daunting process that started with the SATs (Scholastic Assessment Tests), right after he finished High School in May 2017. He started studying for the SATs in July 2017, and took the test in October. After the tests, it came with the application processes which were also arduous in their own ways.

“During October, November, December, that’s when we put together the essays, recommendation and all that is required for the applications,” he recalled.

It is at this point that Education USA stepped in with its support. He also got help from Afex Test Prep which helped with his essays and financial aid applications.

“Because the whole [American] system is sort of different from how our university system works, it’s confusing, and that is where they come in with their expertise. When we get a problem, we ask them questions and all that. They had workshops and seminars that we attended,” he explained.

Samuel was forged through and through by Ghana’s education system. He attended nursery and basic education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Basic School, before moving to Opoku Ware, already noted as one of Ghana’s top high schools.

Those with a keen eye would have noticed him during the National Science and Maths Quiz competition in 2017, as one of Opoku Ware’s representatives. They would have also seen his school get upset at the round-of-16 stage after being knocked out by Keta Senior High School.

“I was the one who got us knocked out at an early stage,” Samuel laughed recalling the competition.

There was virtually no rest for the 18-year-old from the beginning of the 2016/2017 academic year till the end of 2017 given his commitments to schooling, the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Exams, the Science and Maths Quiz, the SATs and then onto the application process.

https://www.primenewsghana.com/general-news.html