Arlington High School Student Accepted to Six Ivy League Schools

Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton, UPenn, Cal-Berkeley and Stanford are among the most prestigious and competitive universities in the country.

And Arlington High School senior Joel Swann has acceptance letters from all eight of them.

"I'd always thought that these universities were out of reach," said Swann. "So, I was like 'wow! I can't believe they thought I was amazing enough as a candidate to make it in.'"

Few students work up the nerve to apply to one Ivy League school, let alone six. Swann said after he took his PSAT's, a handful of top-tier universities took note of his scores and began emailing him information about their institutions.

That's when the wheels began turning in his head.

"I thought I might as well just give it a try," said Swann.

He considered applying to all eight Ivy League schools, but opted not to apply to Cornell or Brown so he could throw two west coast schools -- Cal-Berkeley and Stanford -- into the mix. All of the schools he applied to are currently ranked in the Top 20 nationally by U.S. News & World Report.

He never thought he'd have a 100 percent success rate.

"I was ready to accept defeat prior to opening my letters because I realize there are so many amazing students that really have something to offer the universities," said Swann. "It was so surreal. I can't believe I made it here."

His teachers were far less surprised.

"I didn't expect anything less, really," said Tanya Maness, a chemistry teacher at Arlington High School.

She said not only is Swann a bright student, but a well-rounded young man who's heavily involved in school activities like band and the Academic Decathlon team she coaches.

"He sets his goals high all the time," said Maness. "And he's going to do whatever he can to achieve them."

This week, Swann had to choose which school those future achievements will take place at.

He said he spent weeks mulling over his decision and changed his mind several times.

"It is kind of bittersweet," said Swann.

But after visiting the Stanford campus last week, he knew that's where he belonged.

"I really felt like I could have a good family there," said Swann. "So I'm really excited."

Swann said he plans to major in Economics and would like to go on to Business School.