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Teen Gets Into All the Ivy League Schools, Chooses Somewhere Else

Ronald Nelson Jr. is going to the University of Alabama.

Applying for college is easily the most stressful time of any student’s life. There are application fees, safety schools and your dream school. While most students worry about getting into any school, what happens when you get into all eight Ivy League schools? How do you decide?

You choose none.

That’s what senior Ronald Nelson Jr. of Memphis, Tenn., did when he was accepted into Harvard, Yale, Princeton and several other prestigious universities. The National Merit Scholar declined all of his Ivy League offers for a full-ride scholarship from the University of Alabama.

“It was really a variety of personal and financial decisions,” said Nelson on his very tough call. “Ultimately I ended up choosing the University of Alabama because not only was I accepted into their top honors program, I also received a generous amount of scholarship money for national merit scholars and my ACT score."

During his matriculation through Houston High School, Nelson earned a 4.58 weighted GPA, took 15 AP courses, achieved a very impressive 2260 out of 2400 on his SAT and an astounding 34 out of 36 on his ACT. He was also senior class president and a state-recognized alto saxophone player.

Nelson says he doesn’t believe this decision will impact him in the long run as he is deciding to save money by attending the University of Alabama and spend the big bucks when he eventually gets into medical school.

In the end, Nelson’s decision will help him save big during his four years of undergrad. UA waived Ronald’s out-of-state fees and they covered his tuition costs. Nelson will also receive stipends for any miscellaneous campus costs and potentially for studying abroad.

(Photo: NBC News)

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