Mount Allison student spoiled for choice with acceptances to four of the world’s top graduate schools
2012-04-05 13:12:48
SACKVILLE, NB — Mount Allison University student Keleigh Annau has an enviable problem. While many of her peers across the country are hoping to get into a graduate school, Annau has been accepted by not one, but four, of the most prestigious universities in the world.
“I heard back from Berkeley first, then the next week was Harvard, then Oxford and Columbia back to back,” she says. “I never imagined I would get into my top four. I didn’t really believe it.”
Annau says she kept rereading the acceptance letters to make sure she hadn’t read them wrong.
“I didn’t want to call my parents and tell them and then realize I hadn’t got in,” says the Parksville, BC native.
Annau was so worried about getting into graduate school at all that she submitted 22 applications in the fall — six to graduate schools (she was accepted into five in all) — the rest to internships or other programs.
“The reason I submitted so many is because I never thought I would get into all of them. I thought maybe I would get into one,” she says. “I was really, really flattered.”
Annau graduates in May with a degree in international relations. She plans to pursue a Master’s in public policy, with a concentration in environment and sustainability, but her resume is already impressive. She founded Lights Out Canada when she was just 16. The annual event sees hundreds of schools across the country turn off their lights for a day and follow lesson plans on climate change. The seventh edition of the event is scheduled for Apr. 20, 2012.
Annau hasn’t yet made a final decision on where she is going to go.
“At the same time that it is exciting, it is a little overwhelming because where you go to grad school can influence so much of your life,” she says. “Pragmatically, grad school is very expensive, so that is a huge part of it. I have generous offers from a few of the schools, which is helping me make my decisions.”
A two-year program at Harvard, for example, costs approximately $140,000, including living expenses. Annau’s long-term goal is to work in the public service with a focus on environmentalism — work she doesn’t expect will come with a huge salary.
“I’d rather get through grad school with little to no debt and do something I love and that is right than to end up doing something making lots of money that is not something I agree with,” she says.
Annau expects to make her final decision within the week, though she has until May 1 to deliver her answer to the school of her choice.
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