Rancho Cucamonga High School senior accepted into more than 100 colleges
High school seniors are facing big life choices as National College Decision Day approaches, especially a senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School who was accepted to 104 schools.
There's a bit of a problem at Dylan Little's home.
Dylan is getting so many things that it does not fit in the mailbox," his mother, Danielle Little, said.
"I applied to 112 and I was invited to 104," Dylan explained.
All those acceptance letters also came with some $9 million in scholarship funds, and Dylan had a very clear explanation for why he applied to so many colleges.
"I knew that if I started early, like, applying to colleges in September, I would just continually evolve into a better applicant, an applicant that I would be proud of, and applicant that I knew would be super competitive for those uber competitive schools."
With a 4.6 GPA, leader of the Black Student Union and an intern for Congresswoman Linda Sanchez, Dylan applied to a school in every single state and he said it was a way to honor his family.
"My great grandmother," Danielle said, " who helped raise me...because of Jim Crow politics was not able to finish school."
Danielle, who raised Dylan as a single mother, said he would visit college campuses as a toddler.
"Ever since he was young, it was always instilled in him that college was going to happen," she said.
CBSLA spoke to a college counselor who said seniors typically apply to about 10 to 15 schools, and that he'd never heard of anyone applying to over 100. The counselor added, though, that it was Dylan's choice to go to those lengths. As for the scholarship money Dylan will have to turn down, he said that will likely be be reallocated to another student or put back into the university's general fund.
"I'm not trying to steal anybody's spot, but in my household, I was raised that the world is my oyster, and I recognize that really now is the only time I am able to cast such a wide net, to see where do I want to land in my life," the high school senior said.
National College Decision Day is in just four days and Dylan, who was accepted to schools like Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth and Stanford, said he hasn't quite made up his mind. He also said he's proud of his accomplishments and will continue to work hard at whatever challenges come his way.
"Don't cap yourself. Certainly, do what you can to cast the widest net possible. You never know what's going to happen. They worst they could say is no."
