From blue-collar to blue-blooded.
A New Jersey high school senior defied the odds — and his own expectations — by getting accepted to seven Ivy League schools.
Angel Ortiz, who attends Arts High School in Newark, was flabbergasted when he received acceptance letters from elite universities Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia and Brown, as well as the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College.
“I’m still processing it. When the notifications came in, I spent two hours walking around the kitchen in shock, while my mom sat there in disbelief,” Ortiz, 17, told ABC7.
“I had a feeling I could get into more than one Ivy, but never did I anticipate getting into every one I applied to,” the brilliant teen said.
Ortiz, who wants to major in political science, has a reputation among his peers as the smartest guy in the room, according to teacher Sean Kenny.
“If I ask a question and every kid in the class doesn’t understand it, they just point, ‘Angel knows it,’” he told the outlet.
“He’s always top notch, always on his game.”
The Garden State youngster surprisingly attributed some of his academic success to hanging out with friends — saying they serve as “extra motivation” to complete all of his school work.
But the lion’s share of Ortiz’s work ethic was imbued in him by his mother, who emigrated to the United States 23 years ago, and his father, who owns a pizzeria.
“I always tell them, the way I work hard for you guys, that’s the way you guys got to work. This is for your future, this is for you,” proud dad Mariano Ortiz told ABC7.
“As a first-generation Latino son of immigrants, I know that avenues like college are much harder to access for people like us,” the younger Ortiz said.
“I hope now, during my college life, and in my future career, I can be the best representation of my community and loved ones.”
Ortiz plans to tour the prestigious institutions of higher learning before making his final decision — which needs to be made by his 18th birthday on April 30th, the outlet reported.
The civic-minded student intends to pursue a career in law after studying political science.
The vaunted institutions that have opened their storied gates to the neophyte from Newark boast the nation’s stingiest acceptance rates — Harvard 3.6%; Yale 3.7%; Columbia 3.85%; Princeton 4.62%; Brown 5.16%; UPenn 5.38%; and Dartmouth 5.41%, according to Ivy Coach.
The only Ivy Ortiz did not apply to, Cornell University, has a 9.73% acceptance rate, according to the data.
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