Victory Yinka-Banjo, a 17-year-old Nigerian, has secured 19 fully funded scholarship offers from universities across the United States and Canada following her academic strides.
According to CNN, the total scholarship offers are worth over $5 million, based on admission documents and estimates of financial aid awards.
The US varsities include Ivy League schools, Yale College, Princeton University, Harvard College, Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Virginia.
Offers from Canada include the Lester B. Pearson scholarship from the University of Toronto and the Karen McKellin International Leader of Tomorrow (KMILOT) scholarship from the University of British Columbia.
Victory is born to Chika Yinka-Banjo, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), and Adeyinka Banjo, a private sector procurement and supply chain executive.
In her reaction, the teenager described the feat as “unbelievable”, noting that she initially doubted that she would get the scholarship while making applications to the various varsities.
“It still feels pretty unbelievable. I applied to so many schools because I didn’t even think any school would accept me,” she said.
“Their admissions processes are extremely selective. They only accept the best of the best. So, you can imagine how, on a daily basis, I have to remind myself that I actually got into these schools. It is surreal!”
Victory started pulling the weight of fame after she aced the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) with As in all her subjects.
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