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Got into Harvard!

Check out this video that's gone viral:


Amado Candelario, who lives in Chicago with his single mother and two sisters, just heard back from Harvard. He got in! What a crazy wonderful Christmas gift!

Every year, as the Head of Asia for ACT.org and a peak education performance advisor, I get the privilege and joy of hearing good news, like Amado's, from all over the world. With college acceptance rates (to the top US colleges) being at an all time low (see here and here), it's even more of a thrill to hear such sweet news.

Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard Acceptance

Now check out this clip:


The audio background in Mark's YouTube clip perfectly captures the genuine surprise and joy that a proud father feels at the very moment his son gets into one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. Say what you want about Mark, but one undeniable truth is that he was a very hard working and smart kid back in high school (and probably still is).

A little talked about fact Re Mark Zuckerberg is that back in high school (before getting into Harvard and before launching one of the most valuable companies in the world) he was already quite an accomplished entrepreneur.
  • ZuckNet — internal chat program that Mark launched for the Zuckerberg family (much like what AOL used to do).
  • Synapse Media Player — music recommendation program that Mark created using machine learning (back in 2000) to determine user's music listening habits (much like what Last.fm does today).
He reportedly got offered $950,000 by Microsoft for Synapse Media Player (see here).

Aubrey Stoddard

Finally, the Harvard girl with more than 1.6M views on YouTube.


Aubrey's video caused quite the emotional stir on the internet. If you saw the video, then you know why (she really deserved it!). Aubrey is now a recent college grad working as a senior consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, one of the largest and most successful consulting firms for the US defense and intelligence agencies. I suspect that one day soon Aubrey will be applying to law school.

Congratulations to ALL those who got into their dream schools! We are all proud of you!

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