Hoover senior Leo Abedi celebrated an early acceptance to one of his dream schools, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Abedi said his prior involvement in MIT programs played a major role in strengthening his college application.

“I’ve always been pretty academically well-rounded, but I think what really pushed me over the edge was that I did two programs with MIT this year,” said Abedi. “One was MITES, MIT’s introduction to engineering, technology, and science, and the other was MathRoots, which was a two-week residential math camp at MIT over the summer.”

Despite his strong academic background, Abedi said he did not expect to be accepted.

“I had kind of accepted rejection before opening the letter,” recalled Abedi. “But when I opened it and saw that I got admitted, there was just shock. I think the first words out of my mouth were, ‘Wait a damn minute…’”

Abedi plans to study aerospace engineering during his time in college.

“Right after my bachelor’s, I plan on working in space engineering, whether that’s space systems or a big company like NASA or JPL,” said Abedi. “Eventually, I want to get my master’s in aerospace engineering, and if not that, then astrophysics.”