The International High School of New Orleans has a daily routine of encouraging their seniors to fill out several college applications. For Darrin Francois, that routine helped him get accepted into 83 colleges.
“I just applied, applied, applied. I didn’t know how many it was, so once they started to come through the mail, I was like oh my gosh, this many? Then, they started coming more more and more. Now, today, I have 83 now,” Francois told WGNO.
One top of receiving 83 college acceptance letters, Francois has also been offered over $3 million in scholarship money. He also set a new school record for most college acceptances.
“Eighty-three colleges? That is wonderful, that is a blessing from God,” said his mother Bridget. “I’m very proud, a proud mother to see my son go forward into his success and go forward into his goals.”
Nearly a dozen of the New Orleans high school’s students got accepted to at least 20 schools, along with considerably large scholarship offers. This year marks the most scholarships that the school has ever seen.
“I think we got on some of their nerves to be honest with you, but we continued to hammer at them to let them know that the world is yours, if you reach out and get it,” said the director of student support services, Rufus Mcgee.
Francois, whose ultimate goal is to earn a law degree, has until May 1 (National College Decision Day) to choose where he’ll be attending this fall.