Harvard Scholarship Dropping Out of High School – Harvard Isn’t Inaccessible For Those Who Want To Reach

When I first met the woman I married, she was a high school dropout, teen runaway, single mother of four. He realized that the only way out was to get an education. He was willing to pay attention, follow directions, and do whatever was necessary, and is now a student at Harvard with a 4.0 GPA. Here is his story.

I will leave the past to you and take the place where he decided to do something with his education.

He worked for the system of K-12 private schools I had in the Dallas area, interacting with students every day who moved on to top colleges, scholarships, and more opportunities. One day he approached me and said, “I want to go to university like your other students.” He had not been to school for over 20 years. I contacted him at his last high school and got a transcript.

From his transcript, it took about three semesters to finish high school. At my school, we train students in Howard Berg’s Speed ​​Reading and accelerated learning using a suite of reading, study, testing, and writing strategies that help them complete work better, faster and easier. He saw 13 and 14-year-olds graduate from high school met many of our 18 and 19-year-old students who had graduated from university, and believed that he could do the same.

He had taken all the training and actually taught Speed ​​Reading, so he was already equipped to move fast. I packed the classes he had to finish, and he finished his final exam six weeks later. Yes, you read that right, six weeks! Three high school terms in six weeks!

Being a single parent, she was eligible for a number of college funding and enrolled at the local community college that fell—which was fully funded—meaning she had grants to cover everything including some living expenses, and she had no loans, nothing to pay. back.

He finished his first year at university with a 4.0.

Toward the end of his first year, he found a job elsewhere – earning more money but that didn’t give him time to attend college. At about the same time, things in my life changed. I was divorced, my school was closed as a result and I was trying to rebuild my school business after the divorce. We kept in touch and reconnected a few years later. When we spoke, he still had ambitions to finish college.

I got my school back and we got married soon after. He was still studying and continued to express his desire to finish university. We moved to another city and I was doing too well on my schoolwork that she didn’t have to work, so she went back to college full-time the next fall.

It took him two years to complete Associates. He won two full scholarships in these two years and maintained his 4.0 average. She graduated with honors from Summa Cum Laude and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, a junior college honor society.

We discussed where to go next. Most local universities were offered scholarships, but one day he looked at me and said, “The great Dr. Beasley should be able to get me into an Ivy League school.”

I’m thinking… Ivy League – hard to get in, hard to stay and they don’t take transfer students. So the challenge continued. I’m pretty good at this because it’s my specialty, but I’ve never faced such a challenge – transitioning from a community college to an Ivy.

I got an opportunity at the Extension School at Harvard. We submitted the application and flew to Boston for the interview. While reviewing her portfolio, the lady interviewing her saw the Phi Theta Kappa certificate and largely concluded the interview by saying that my wife was eligible for the scholarship and should apply. I soon learned that Phi Theta Kappa had gained a lot of weight.

He applied and got the scholarship and finished his first year at Harvard with all the A’s. Don’t let anyone fool you, Harvard courses are tough and dedicate 40-60 hours a week to their courses. He was willing to pay attention, follow directions, and get the job done, and it paid off.

She continues to take classes and hopes to graduate in two years – the classes take a little longer as they are difficult. His degree will say Harvard University. I told him there wouldn’t be an asterisk at the bottom saying “Transferred from Community College”. A Harvard degree is a Harvard degree. No one will take that away from him… and no one will belittle him because of his past.

I am very proud of my wife. I share this with you to tell you that it’s never too late to get a college degree and there are many hidden opportunities for those who want to do whatever it takes. Even a Harvard degree isn’t out of reach for a high school dropout if you want to achieve it.