Meet The High School Senior From Immigrant Family Got Into Every Ivy League School

She credited her single mom who works two jobs for her success.

All those years of hitting the books paid off for one accomplished high school senior. 

Kelly Hyles, a senior at the selective High School for Math, Science and Engineering at the City College of New York, was recently accepted to all eight Ivy League schools. The student, who came to the US from Guyana when she was 11 years old, told People.com she’s been in shock since receiving the good news.

“I was really happy. I’m still in disbelief. I am so grateful,” she said.

In addition to all the Ivies, Hyles also received acceptance letters to Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University, Today.com reported. In total, she was accepted to a staggering 21 schools. What’s more, she told Pix11 that, for the most part, she’ll get a free ride to any college she chooses to attend.

The student’s accomplishments certainly back up her acceptance letters. 

Hyles participates in a competitive biomedical research program at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, takes college-level courses, has an impressive 99.63 GPA and is valedictorian of her class, People.com reported.

But the student’s road to success was no walk in the park for her or her family.

Hyles and her single mother, Anette, came to the United States so the student could have a better education, Today.com reported. The mother works two jobs to support her family — one as a home health aide and another as a nurse’s aide during the overnight shift.

The student puts in a great amount of effort for her education too. On school days, she travels 1.5 hours from her home in Queens waking up at 5:30 a.m. to do so. She takes a combination of trains and buses to arrive at her school in Harlem, according to Today.com. She told CNN that she only gets about 5 hours of sleep a night.

“Sometimes, I wanted to sleep late or go to the movies or a party with my friends, but I had to prioritize,” she said.

Hyles told Today.com that her success wasn’t just rewarding for her.

“When I got into the colleges, I told my mom, I was like, ‘Oh, these acceptance letters are as much mine as they are yours,’” she said.

Hyles hasn’t decided which college she’ll ultimately attend, but is leaning toward Harvard, according to People.com. No matter what, she definitely has no shortage of options.