Teen accepted into more than 40 colleges with over $600,000 in scholarships

ALBANY, Ga. (WFXL) — One Southwest Georgia student is paving her way to the top by applying to almost 100 colleges and getting accepted to half of them at no cost.

Kenyari Sawyer, a 17-year-old senior at Monroe High School, has been accepted to 48 schools of the 92 she applied for in the past six months.

FOX 31 News spoke to Kenyari and she explained how it started.

“I started applying on Aug. 1. The first two colleges I applied to were Cleveland and Mississippi and I did not think I was going to get accepted into those. Then I was like, 'This is how it goes? This is an easy process,' and I just started going from there,” says Kenyari.

Not only did Kenyari get accepted into several schools, but she also received a total of more than half a million dollars in scholarships from the following schools:

1. Dillard University- $40,000 ( $10,000 per year)
2. Mary Baldwin University $88,000 ($22,000 per year)
3. Spring Hill College - $24,000 (6,000 per year)
4. Norte Dame of Maryland – $80,000 ($20,000 per year )
5. New England College - $32,000 per year
6. Arizona State University - $62,000 ($15,500 per year)
7. Miles College- $10,000 ($2,500 per year)
8. Jacksonville University - $116,000 ( $29,000 per year)
9. Grace College - $5,000 ($1250 per year) $48,000 ($12,000 per year)

With Kenyari applying to almost 100 schools and receiving $601,000 total in scholarships, she says she did not pay for any application fees due to waivers.

“So you can either receive a fee waiver from the school or you can use the common app or coalition app which waives the application fee based on financial needs,” says Kenyari.

Kenyari is the oldest of three kids. She says her biggest inspiration is her mother, who was unable to go to college because she was pregnant with her.

Not only is Kenyari a 4.0 student, but she also plays soccer and is also a dual enrollment student at Albany State University.

“I'm taking AP English and Composition, AP Biology, and AP Statistics. At Albany Tech, I recently just took Juvenile Delinquency, but I am done with that class now. Now, I am taking a survey of American History,” says Kenyari.

Kenyari says she hopes to attend one of her top five schools and major in criminal justice and later become a lawyer.

“I want to start my own law firm, become a defense attorney, and go up the ranks from there,” says Kenyari.

On Tuesday afternoon, she held an informational session at Monroe High School to teach her peers all her secrets.

Kenyari’s advice to her peers: “Do not be scared and go for what you want. If you want it, go for it, and do not let people talk down on you. You said I can't do this, but I can and I'm going to show you”.