When Thomas Johnson graduated from high school, going to an Ivy League university didn’t seem like an option.
Sure, he made good grades. But the idea of getting accepted into one of the eight elite Northeastern schools felt “like a real far reach.”
“There was that kind of stigma that you don’t have the ability to (get in) with such low acceptance rates,” Johnson, 25, said in a recent interview. “It was an obstacle that I didn’t think I could overcome.”
Johnson decided to join the Army instead and later earned an associate degree from a local community college.
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