Thu, june 6, 2013 one california teen has defied all odds and obtained full rides to the top universities in the country, with all of the scholarships totaling to nearly $3 million. His mother often dropped him off at school in the mornings and waited all day in the parking lot until he got out, just to save gas. He received full scholarships from harvard, yale, mit, princeton, stanford, ucla, uc berkeley, uc san diego and uc davis. When he and his family arrived in america from south korea, his father abandoned them, leaving his mother susie yin to raise him and his two older sisters. Due to her autoimmune deficiency, susie was unable to work, and their money was always extremely tight. Lloyd decided to take charge of his life and transfer to mira loma high school, 20 miles from his home, so he could enroll in its intensive baccalaureate program. In his inspiring speech, he told his peers, it is your choice to have a fulfilling life.

He credits his high school counselor alycia sato with helping him achieve his dreams. After he was accepted into harvard, he wrote her a letter saying, this is our success. Sato said she did not know about his struggles until he was in his senior year and was writing his college application essays. I've never met anyone who's had so many things going against them, who's risen above them all, she said. She said he did not tell her his struggles because he didn't want anyone to pity him. In his application essays, he wrote, throughout my life, i've learned to grow up without luxuries.

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I have something more valuable than luxuries: the foundation to grow and prosper. Once he completes his undergraduate studies, he plans to go on to earn a masters. The gates millennium scholarship he received means he won't have to pay for tuition, room and board, or book fees throughout his graduate studies.

But the laguna creek valedictorian has something his fellow graduates don't: nine full ride offers to elite universities. The elk grove teen graduating today with a 4.79 grade point average achieved the rare feat of acceptance by all nine schools to which he applied: stanford, harvard, princeton, yale, massachusetts institute of technology, uc berkeley, ucla, uc san diego and uc davis. University had an acceptance rate of 5.8 percent for its incoming fall 2013 class.

Only six students in the sacramento region were admitted into harvard this year from the 234 who applied – an even lower 2.6 percent rate – according to suzy underwood of the harvard club of sacramento. I was so happy for him, said carmen chen, who has been friends with lloyd chen since they attended school at barbara comstock morse elementary in sacramento. I honestly didn't have a huge reaction, because i knew all along that he would get in.

Achieving that harvard dream didn't come easily to the boy who grew up in elk grove so poor that most of his clothes were hand me downs. Chen, his mother and an older sister live in a two bedroom apartment paid for by federal rent assistance. His mother, susie yun, emigrated from south korea three years before chen was born. Throughout my life, i've learned to grow up without luxuries, he wrote in his college application essay. I have something more valuable than luxuries: the foundation to grow and prosper, he added. Despite an annual sticker price that has climbed to roughly $60,0, harvard and other top ranked private universities waive all attendance costs for students whose families earn less than $60,0 a year.

The university of california waives tuition and student fees for students whose families earn less than $80,0. Although top universities offer talented, low income students generous financial aid packages, researchers from stanford and harvard found in a march study that the vast majority of very high achieving students who are low income do not apply to any selective college or university. Besides his nine full ride offers, chen received a gates millennium scholarship that pays for his undergraduate and graduate studies. Chen plans to use it for graduate school and to pick up undergraduate costs that harvard doesn't cover, ensuring that he does not have to take a campus job. Chen's perseverance showed itself in middle school when he decided he needed a laptop computer and a camera for his studies. He purchased candy at a store and resold it to students after school to earn money to buy the equipment.