Fil-Am student gets into all 8 Ivy League schools

McFarland was the valedictorian of his class at Stanton, having a grade point average (GPA) of 4.98. (File photo: Craig Mcfarland/Facebook)

Getting accepted in a prestigious school is certainly a huge honor already. But can anyone keep their cool, without letting their jaw drop open in astonishment nor widening their eyes after learning that they got into not just one but eight well-known universities? Not to mention that we’re talking about all Ivy League schools here?

Yes, you did not misread the word ‘Ivy League’ nor is this a fictional story — this case really happened to Craig Mcfarland, a Filipino-American student from Stanton College Preparatory School in Jacksonville.

In an interview with First Coast News, McFarland, 18, shared the story about how he received the good news in such an unfortunate day.

“I was having car troubles.  I had a horrible day at track practice and got into a fight,” he said.

But what could have been an unpleasant day for him has turned out to be one of the best ever in his life when Yale University delivered him an acceptance letter. But things went even crazier for him when acceptance news from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, and Cornell followed soon.

Getting all these letters, McFarland did not feel anything aside from being “more and more in shock.”

McFarland’s mother, Donabel Santiago who is a Filipina, could not get any prouder with her child’s achievement.

“Of course, Yale is enough, but for him to get accepted to all of it. It’s like wow. I’m just so thankful. I’m just so happy,” she told First Coast News.

Santiago shared she raised McFarland and his two other siblings with a mindset to excel on the things they do.

“I told them I don’t accept a ‘B’ as a grade because I know that they can bring me A’s,” she said.

McFarland was the valedictorian of his class at Stanton, having a grade point average (GPA) of 4.98.

It will probably take time for McFarland to choose among all eight Ivy League schools, let alone the other colleges and universities he got accepted into.

The Fil-Am student reportedly got admitted to 17 colleges and universities, including Duke University and Emory University, and was offered a full scholarship at Florida State University and the University of Florida.

While he has yet to decide on which school he will be attending, McFarland was said to be considering a career in either medicine or law.