Antoinette Love’s mailbox has been overflowing for months.
The 18-year-old New Orleans high school senior has been praised across social media for receiving 115 college acceptance letters and $3.7 million in scholarship offers. She’ll be the first in her family to attend higher education.
At this point, Antoinette told CNN, she’s not even sure how many schools she applied to.
“I just kept applying,” she said. “I wanted to see how many I could get into.”
“At first, I didn’t think I was going to get this many,” Antoinette told CNN. “But then they just kept coming, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.'”
The National Honor Society student has a 3.7 GPA and used resources like the College Common app and the Common Black application, which allow students to apply to multiple colleges and historically black universities, respectively, with one application.
Besides academic clubs like the English Honor Society, Antoinette is also a member of her school’s video game and anime clubs. She enjoys painting in her spare time.
According to The Advocate, she’s still waiting to hear from 12 more schools.
School officials said Antoinette holds the national distinction of being “among the top seniors accepted by the most colleges with the most financial offers in scholarships.”
It’s a feat that doesn’t surprise those who know her.
“She has shown that she is able to compete on multiple levels, not only in terms of how many colleges that she’s been accepted into, but also in terms of how well she has done in high school,” Sean Wilson, the head of Antoinette’s school, said.
Anthony, Antoinette and Yolanda Love and just some of the 115 college acceptance letters Antoinette has received to date!!#ihsnoproud
Posted by International High School of New Orleans on Wednesday, April 24, 2019
As far as which school she’ll decide to attend, Antoinette is visiting campuses, and told CNN she hopes to make a final decision by May 1. Something that could sway her choice, according to Antoinette’s mom, Yolanda Love, is a full ride. With four younger siblings, including a 15-year-old brother who lives with cystic fibrosis, Yolanda said a full scholarship would ease the family’s financial stress.
Full ride or not, though, Antoinette’s mom is not holding back her pride. On her Facebook page, Yolanda has posted tons of photos of her home’s stuffed mailbox, and her eldest daughter standing in front of a dining room table stacked with so many acceptance letters the table surface is no longer visible.
“We have so much going on in our lives to where this is that one moment where it’s something good and something positive, not only for our family but for the city, too, to show what kind of kids New Orleans has,” Yolanda told The Times-Picayune.
According to CNN, Antoinette said she wants to study elementary education and become a teacher.
Antoinette has advised other students applying to college to look for as many fee waivers as possible. She also told The Times-Picayune that students should only consider paying for applications to colleges they “really want” to attend.
Whichever school Antoinette attends, her mom just hopes it’s close to home.
“I say within eight-hour driving distance in my mind,” Yolanda told ABC 13. “To her, I don’t know. She’ll probably go to Alaska, just to do something like that to make my nerves go bad.”
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