13-year-old San Jose boy accepted to more than 100 colleges https://www.yahoo.com/news/13-old-san-jose-boy-140743275.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall "SAN JOSE, Calif. - At just 13 years old, Sunny Nguyen of San Jose might be close to achieving a world record as one of the youngest people to get accepted into the most colleges. "My parents told me about going to college and I agreed with it and I’m here now," he told KTVU in a recent interview. His father, Tommy Nguyen, said Sunny was the first of his five children, and he's always been special."
The parents angle is good. Was he casting a wide net for scholarship opportunities? Was it a way to maximize chances of acceptance or recognition? Were the applications free or part of a special program? Was it done for publicity or as a record-setting effort? In cases like this, it may be less about genuine intent to attend each college and more about demonstrating capability, ambition, or making a statement.
This is similar to those articles about someone getting "a million" in scholarship dollars. Sounds impressive, but since they can only attend a single school the real scholarship offer is limited to a full-ride plus stipend at that institution. Reading the article, they include a line like that, "Tommy Nguyen said his son has been awarded more than $3 million in scholarships. 'Every school is giving him something,' his dad said. 'Some schools are giving him over $100,000 in scholarships.'" Also interesting that the schools he was admitted to aren't all elite. "Some of those schools include UC Berkeley and UC San Diego, along with a bunch of California state universities." There are nearly 700 colleges and universities in California alone and 5800 around the US. With a decent score on a standardized test and enough application money, anyone could get admitted to a hundred schools. Acceptance rate by first-time UC applicant (see the list on the right-hand side to switch): UC Berkeley: 11.0% UC Davis: 42.1% UC Irvine: 28.8% UCLA: 9.0% UC Merced: 91.7% UC Riverside: 76.4% UC San Diego: 26.8% UC Santa Barbara: 32.9% UC Santa Cruz: 65.0%
It’s true that headlines like “$3 million in scholarships” or “100+ college acceptances” often exaggerate the practical implications — a student can only attend one school. But in this case, the commenters are missing what really makes this newsworthy: he’s only 13. The UC stats and “anyone can apply if they pay” logic apply to 18-year-old high school grads. What’s remarkable here is that this kid has reached that level of academic readiness years ahead of schedule. Being admitted to UC Berkeley or UC San Diego is tough enough for teens graduating on time — doing it at 13? That’s a rare cognitive and emotional milestone. Whether or not he attends an “elite” school isn’t the point. The fact that he can — and that he’s navigating the college admissions process before most kids hit puberty — is what deserves recognition.
It is an achievement, but to be devil’s advocate, is it maybe not a good thing? He studied had a child to get ahead and will now will spend his teenage years in college. Growing up is more than just getting a degree. And yes, there are genius students out there who can go to college young and still have a healthy life, but the fact it is set up to break a world record through having a child apply to hundreds of colleges and then to get a news interview makes me suspicious of the motives.
