Student Accepted To 264 Colleges Chooses Illinois School

264 Acceptance Letters: How a Student Applied to 270 Colleges

Sure, it’s easier now than it was when I was in high school to apply for college, but this is taking it to a whole other level.

Especially when you consider all the legwork necessary to get scholarships, but that didn’t stop one recent high school grad.

Patrick Pruitt applied to 270 different colleges. You read that right, 270. He was accepted by a whopping 264 of them.

A graduate of Woodland High School in McDonough, Georgia, Pruitt had a 3.8 GPA and a resume that included dual enrollment in college courses, varsity cross-country and track and field, and an internship with the Henry County Water Authority. You can tell this guy has a bright future ahead of him.

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The $17 Million Dollar Man: Setting Potential Records for Scholarship Offers

While Pruitt only intended to apply to 50 colleges, his scholarship goal kept growing until he received an astounding $17M in scholarship offers. An accomplishment he believes could be a national record, so quick, somebody call Guinness and see if they can get Pruitt in the book.

Anyway, this hardworking student ended up choosing Knox College in Galesburg, just a couple of hours southwest of Rockford. Knox College is a historic school with an excellent campus and, in my opinion, one of the coolest libraries you’ll ever see.

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Why This Record-Breaking Student Chose Illinois’ Knox College

Why did Pruitt pick Knox over the other 263 schools to which he was accepted? His financial package at Knox is worth $260,000 over four years. That should be enough to cover every semester at Knox, and should also say quite a bit about the value of an education at that school.

Here’s the best part: Pruitt says he wants to start an organization to help other students navigate the often lengthy and confusing college application process. Paying it forward after having college paid for? Now that’s how you do it.