A Virginia high school Muslim senior student has earned full scholarships to five Ivy League colleges including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, after applying to the prestigious universities.
Woodbridge High School senior Aisha Khan was also accepted to Ivy League schools Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania, while Columbia put her on a wait list, Inside Nova reported.
Khan received the good news on her email on April 6 as Ivy League Universities announced their applicant decisions.
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“Honestly the plan from the beginning was the University of Virginia. And I just applied [to the Ivy League schools] for fun,” Khan said.
“I was thinking I would maybe luck out with one school.”
Khan is a high achiever. She worked on multiple local political campaigns, is a member of student council and has won national awards for her creative writing. She volunteered at a mosque where she lives, worked as a tutor and is a Girl Scout.
Khan thinks it was her essays that helped get her accepted.
“I truly did write from the heart, and I put a lot of time and thought into my essays,” Khan said. “I tried to present myself as I am, I didn’t try to be anything I’m not.”
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With all the choices she decided to attend Harvard in the fall.
“Being a woman of color, especially as a daughter of an immigrant, and having the opportunity to attend one of these institutions — which have historically been very exclusive — is, to me, a reflection of the progress we’ve made, but at the same time a reminder of the hurdles ahead,” Khan said.
“I hope my education allows me to better understand socioeconomic disparities so that more students have access to higher education.”
Khan’s achievement is not the first for American Muslim students.
In 2017, an American Muslim girl from southwest Houston, Texas, achieved a rare honor after being accepted by 7 out of 8 Ivy League schools, with only Harvard putting her on a waiting list.