Batley student wins scholarship to top US university

Chloe Smith, 18, said she thought the scholarship offer was a "practical joke"

A student said she thought the offer of a scholarship to one of the world's top universities was a practical joke.

Chloe Smith from Batley will study computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.

She will receive $84,000 a year from the university, which will cover all her tuition and living expenses.

The 18-year-old, who studies at Elliot Hudson College in Leeds, said she was "shocked" when she received the email.

"I was so convinced that I wasn't going to get in because the admissions rate is 4%, so incredibly difficult," she said.

"I barrelled down the stairs to my parents, I'm quite surprised I didn't fall through the ceiling. I don't think I've ever run so fast and burst into the living room and went 'I've just got into MIT'."

Her success comes despite missing 18 months of schooling when she was in year eight due to a chronic pain problem, which she still manages.

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"I wasn't the most advantaged or anything like that, I was just a normal student, I still am [to] that extent," she said.

"I think through hard work and basically having a plan and thinking no matter what people say even though it seems like shooting for the stars, if you are willing to look for the opportunities you can follow them and achieve amazing things."

The MIT campus is located in Cambridge, just over the river from the city of Boston

Ms Smith said both her parents were "incredibly excited"

She added that the scholarship award was a huge help. "It takes away all the borders. I don't have to worry about the money implications, I don't have to be like can we really afford this."

She starts her studies in September and hopes to specialise in robotics during the four year course.

David Holtham principal of Elliot Hudson College said: "I think Chloe is a really powerful and inspirational role model to young people in the Leeds city region.

"What she's done is incredible but she's done it because she has set herself a goal and she's worked really hard to achieve that goal."

Founded in 1861, MIT is ranked as one of the world's leading science universities and has won a number of Nobel Prizes over the years for its research.

Its campus is based in Cambridge, just across the Charles River from the city of Boston.