Student gets into Stanford with #BlackLivesMatter x100

Ziad Ahmed's personal statement to Stanford put his activism front and centre.

News that a high school student wrote nothing but #BlackLivesMatter on his personal statement in an application to California's Stanford University - and got in - has been raising some eyebrows.

Stanford University was ranked third in the world by Times Higher Education last year, and only admitted about 1 in 20 of the students who applied for an undergraduate place.

Ziad Ahmed, a high school student in New Jersey, proudly tweeted his news and received a range of reactions in response. There were congratulations aplenty of course - "forever in love with your audacity", laughed one user.

But several were also surprised by the news. One detractor accused him of "virtue signalling". Another remarked "a real [Black Lives Matter] ally would've wrote something poignant instead of this ... attempt to look progressive".

Ziad Ahmed describes himself as an activist

Admirers pointed out that Mr Ahmed had plenty to offer on top of his activist statement though. "Have you seen his profile? With a resume like that nothing could derail him," said one.

In a profile of Mr Ahmed, Mic website notes that he has founded his own teenage marketing consulting firm, as well as an organisation to promote tolerance. He worked for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and had also been invited to the White House under Barack Obama's administration.

Stanford won't be the only thing he's thinking about though. Mr Ahmed has also been accepted to Yale and Princeton universities and he has until May to decide which one to choose.

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