East Stroudsburg South grad accepted to 57 colleges, garners $1.8 million in scholarships

A recent East Stroudsburg South High School graduate is sharing tips for other teens after getting accepted to 57 colleges and universities.

Sydni Smith, who received her diploma on June 11, starting applying to the colleges and universities in early October 2021 and received her first acceptance letter in November.

“When it came to applying I wanted to have a lot of options. I’m indecisive and I didn’t want to just apply to one school — my dream school — if I didn’t get in. I wanted something I could fall back on,” Smith, 17, says. ”Also I wanted to be debt free out of college, so I was trying to see what school would give me the best scholarships.”

Along with the 57 acceptance letters, Smith (who graduated in the top 10% of her class and was a member of DECA; treasurer of ESSHS’s Red Cross Club; a member of the National Honor Society; and the debate and speech clubs) was awarded $1.8 million in scholarships from the schools.

Of interest:Pocono Mountain, East Stroudsburg celebrate Class of 2022

Smith used the Common Black College Application and the Common App to submit applications to multiple colleges simultaneously.

The Common Black College Application, created in 2000 by Robert Mason, streamlines the application process for those applying to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). For $20, students are able to fill out an application and apply to 64 HBCUs at once.

Out of the 64 HBCUs, Smith was accepted to 41 (among those who sent her acceptance letters were Tuskegee University, Fisk University, Spelman College, Florida A&M, Norfolk State). The remaining 16 (among them were University of Connecticut, Penn State, University of Massachusetts) found Smith’s application on the Common App.

Smith had her eye on Duke University, Howard University, Cornell University and Georgia Tech but in the end, chose to attend University of Michigan in Ann Anbor.

She’ll start in June in the school’s summer program for incoming freshman and continue on with her studies in the fall.

Even though Michigan is not known as a HBCU, Smith’s mother, Fran Mitchell, notes it was one of the first schools to accept a Black student — Samuel Codes Watson in 1853.

From USA TODAY:This is the story of an HBCU civil rights wrong fixed 65 years later and the hope it offers

“Sydni has a progressive mindset being a Black young lady and Michigan is going to be a great fit for her because it is a progressive university and they cater to minority students. Even though the minority population is still small they really make the minority students feel seen — and not just Black students, we saw a lot of Asian and Middle Eastern students walking around,” Mitchell says. “Its International students make up 15% of the student body, and they have multicultural lounges for students to meet other minorities and support one other.”

For soon-to-be grads who are just starting to embark on their application process, Smith said they shouldn’t hold themselves back in any way.

“Put yourself out there and try your best,” she says. “I never would have thought I was going to get into University of Michigan with almost a full ride.”

And plan on touring campuses as early of spring of your junior year.

“Definitely start visiting schools now. Because of COVID I didn’t get to visit schools my junior year so I felt I was running late,” she says. “There’s a couple schools I applied to and did end up getting into, but after I visited them, I decided they weren’t for me.”

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Poconos teen accepted to 57 colleges offers advice for students