Another Nigerian Boy Accepted Into All Ivy League Schools

Jude Okonkwo of Chaminade High School was accepted to all eight Ivy League schools, joining a growing club of Long Island students who have achieved the distinction.

“I’m so grateful that, after all of the work I’ve put in, I’m able to reap the benefits as well - and that all those who have helped and watched me see that hard work has truly paid off,” said Okonkwo, who hopes to set a good example for his four younger siblings.

Okonkwo, 17, of Dix Hills will have his pick of the elite schools — Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University — and must decide where to enroll by May 1.

Okonkwo, the son of physicians, aspires to be a neurosurgeon and looked for schools with strong science and medical programs, including those with a combined bachelor’s degree and medical school acceptance. His unweighted grade-point average is 98.9.

He is leaning toward Harvard but received a full scholarship to Wayne State and generous financial aid packages from the other schools, which he said will factor into his decision.

“We cannot wait to see the incredible things Jude will continue to do with his life,” Brother Thomas Cleary, his school's president, said in a statement.