A 16-year-old high school senior in New Orleans was the recipient scholarship offers out of 149 colleges and universities worth $10 million said Friday that he chose to attend Cornell University.
Dennis “Maliq” Barnes will graduate on May 24 from International High School in New Orleans, where he earned a 4.98 grade point average. He also has 27 college credits through a dual enrollment program at Southern University of New Orleans.
He plans to study computer science at Cornell, an Ivy League school in Ithaca, New York. He also said he is considering law school.
“Today is an exciting day for me and my family, and I look forward to working with Cornell’s College of Engineering in the course of my undergraduate education,” Barnes said.
In an interview last week, Barnes said a key reason he cranked out applications to nearly 200 schools was his desire to have more educational and financial options. He was ultimately accepted by 186 colleges and universities. The school said it believes the $10 million in scholarship offers from its 149 is a record for US college seniors.