US teen receives more than $9m in scholarship offers

Dennis Barnes has to choose between 125 offers from various colleges and universities

Dennis Barnes, a 16-year-old senior at the International High School of New Orleans, has broken US records by recieving 125 offers of admission and over $9m in scholarship offers from different colleges and universities.

Mr Barnes, who plans to study computer science at university before pursuing a law degree, will announce which school he plans to attend next week.

His school is in touch with the Guinness Book of World Records to make Mr Barnes’ scholarship offer achievement official. According to WWL, the previous record for scholarship offers was set by a student from Lafayette who recieved more than $8.7m in offers in 2019.

By the time he’s finished hearing from colleges, Mr Barnes hopes his total amount in scholarships offered will exceed $10m.

Mr Barnes, who is currently co-enrolled at Southern University and receiving college credit, told CNN that he started applying to colleges last August and ended up applying to more than 200 schools. He’s set to graduate from high school, two years early, on May 24.

Mr Barnes will be leaving high school with an impressive array of accomplishments even apart from his college acceptances. He currently has a 4.98 GPA, is enrolled in the National Honor Society, and fluent in Spanish. He recently accepted an award from the Honorary Consul of Spain in New Orleans.

The International High School of New Orleans is a public charter school located on Carondelet Street in the city’s Central Business District. It is open to all residents of Louisiana. New Orleans no longer has any traditional, district-run public schools.

Mr Barnes told WWL that he’d advise students hoping to obtain a measure of the success he’s experiencing to prioritise hard work.

“The road to a successful future is to plan ahead, network with the collegiate partners, and know that If you can see your vision, you can achieve your goal,” he said.