A Nigerian teenage genius, Victory Yinka-Bello has been offered 19 full scholarships by top universities in the United States of America and Canada after she scored straight As in her West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE)
The 17-year-old secondary school graduate was offered more than $5 million worth of scholarship money for an undergraduate program of study, admission documents and estimates of financial aid awards.
Speaking on how she feels in an interview with CNN, Victory said: “It still feels pretty unbelievable. I applied to so many schools because I didn’t even think any school would accept me.
The teenage genius, whose parents are Chika Yinka-Banjo, a senior lecturer at the University of Lagos, and Adeyinka Banjo, a private sector procurement and supply chain executive, have potential full scholarships from Ivy League schools like Yale College, Princeton University, Harvard College, and Brown University.
Other US scholarship offers included those from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia.
Also from Canada, Victory has offers of 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 said further in her interview the CNN: “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 got into national consciousness in late 2020 after she scored straight As in her West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
She was also rated as the “Top in the World” in English as a second language (speaking endorsement) by the University of Cambridge International Examination (CIE). She also came tops in the Cambridge IGCSE exam — acquiring A in all six subjects she sat for.
On the secret of her achievements, she said: “They have made me truly feel proud about the hard work I have put into several areas of my life over the years. I am slowly beginning to realize that I deserve them,” she said.
Victory, who noted that her multiple scholarship offers “have made me stand taller, smile wider, and pat myself on the back more often”, said she hope to study Computational Biology. She has however not made up her mind on the school to choose.
“I am still doing research on some schools that are at the top of my list, like Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and just trying to compare and contrast all of them thoroughly,” she told CNN.
