Accepted to Harvard

 

 

 



 

An undocumented high school senior who left Mexico aged 4 has been accepted to Harvard

‘It was the best moment of my life’

This week, Victor Reyes found out he had been accepted to Harvard, the school of his dreams.

The California-based high schooler arrived in the US aged four, crossing the Mexican border to live with his mother and father in Los Angeles.

Today Victor is his class valedictorian, a soon-to-be Computer Science major and a DACA student.

He was given early acceptance to Harvard because, in the words of the admissions office, his application was “outstanding.”

He also shared his application essay with us, printed below, which details how he came to the States, avoided raids from immigration officials and started on his path to college.

How did it feel to get into Harvard?

It was the best moment of my life, honestly. All my effort has culminated in this. I’ve got something to prove for fourteen years of hard work and studying. My mom brought me to the US when I was four years old to get a good education. Paying her back for the sacrifices she made was amazing. It gave me a sense of fulfilment. Mom, your sacrifice wasn’t in vain! She’s proud.

It was such a relief. It was a lot of excitement and happiness. A bit of nervousness too, but like anticipatory nervousness where you’re happy.

How did you hear that you were accepted?

Oh my god. We had just come from running an errand after school with my parents. I came home, got on my computer and saw an email from admissions. I clicked on it, and saw it was from Harvard – it said: “There has been a status update to your admission.” I was thinking what does this mean? I was freaking out – is it a decision, a rejection, or do they just want information for my financial aid? I was there waiting for 15 minutes for my mom to get back to open it.

My mom gets home and says: “Oh my god check it now!” She walks up to the computer and I cover my mouth. As I click it, she covers my eyes so she’s the first to know. She doesn’t understand English, but she saw “Congratulations!” We started yelling and freaking out.

It’s exciting and pretty unexpected. Nobody expects or knows they’re getting into Harvard. I didn’t think I had perfect SAT scores, how did they even consider me? To receive such an enthusiastic response from Harvard, it’s so encouraging.
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