Mabrook! Arab American teen accepted to 7 Ivy League schools
Algerian American Amina Mabizari applied to 16 universities, including eight Ivy League institutions, and seven of those Ivy League schools accepted her. Alif Mabrook!
BY: Marcelino Benito
Source: KHOU/ABC News
Every student dreams of reading these words: “Congratulations on your acceptance!” But Elsik High School senior Amina Mabizari read them 15 times.
She applied to 16 universities, including eight Ivy League institutions.
“I didn’t think I’d get accepted to any of them. By casting a wide net I thought someone would take the bait and take me,” Mabizari said.
But when every letter had been opened this spring, seven of those Ivy League universities wanted her.
“I can’t even put into words how big of a moment that was for me,” Mabizari said.
The proud daughter of Algerian immigrants is about to graduate from Alief ISD. Mabizari’s road to success wasn’t an easy one. As a young student, she was last in her class in ready, even suffered with a speech impediment.
“To go from there to here being accepted to all these schools, it’s incredible,” Mabizari said.
Mabizari said she couldn’t have done it without her parents.
“At that moment, I almost cried. It was just an unbelievable moment for me,” said Mabizari’s father, Bachir Mabizari.
And if you thought applying to 16 schools was tough, deciding which one to go to was even harder. But this fall, Amina Mabizari’s heading to Yale.
“I never imagined any of this would happen,” she said.
Amina Mabizari is as humble as they come. A proud, hard-working Muslim-American who now hopes her success story in Alief sends a loud message across the country.
“We represent a large community of people, the majority, the mass majority of which are positive and want to change the world,” Amina Mabizari said.
This year, the Ivy League schools had an acceptance rate anywhere from 5 to 12 percent. Amina Mabizari plans to study political science and then go on to law school. She said she may also one day run for public office.
