For many high school students, choosing a school for college comes down to one or two choices, but for Arianna Alexander of Chicago, she had 26 universities to choose from, including the six Ivy League schools.
"It was a lot to take in. I received emails, letters. It was just like, 'Come here, come here!' They were bombarding me with all this information," Alexander said, ABC 7 reported.
Alexander graduated as valedictorian from Kenwood Academy in Chicago with a grade point average of 5.1 or 1.1 points higher than she would have achieved had she merely achieved straight A's.
Schools offered her a total of more than $3 million in scholarships because of her outstanding academic record, AP reported.
Alexander picked the University of Pennsylvania, a decision influenced by her teacher Paul Brush and her parents.
"As teachers, we have a big moment to play with the lives that we have in our classrooms," Brush said.
Meanwhile, Pierre Alexander, Arianna's father, gave her this advice: "Work hard, pray on it, and don't give up. No matter what happens, you did your best."
Alexander revealed that she wants to be an entrepreneur and open four restaurants after graduating from Penn's Wharton School of Business.
