Shervin Naeli, a senior at Hoover High School, has been accepted to Cornell University, UC Berkeley, and UCLA. He plans to major in physics.

Naeli described the moment he received his college decisions as both unexpected and emotional.

“So I was at my friend William’s house with his mom, and I had already gotten into Berkeley that day, so I was really happy, but I did not expect to hear back from anything else,” Naeli said.

“I opened the first one—Dartmouth—rejected. Then I opened the next one—Brown—rejected. At that point, I didn’t even ask anyone to record. I was just like, ‘whatever, I got rejected from all of them,’” he explained.

That quickly changed when he opened his Cornell decision.

“I quickly opened Cornell, and I saw ‘congratulations,’ and I genuinely fell to my knees. It was one of the best moments of my life. I was sitting there, pacing back and forth for 10 minutes—it was insane,” Naeli said.

Naeli ultimately chose Cornell as the university he will attend after high school.

“I’m choosing to go to Cornell because, first of all, it has prestige. It’s one of those university names that really stands out—it’s a big name and a great school,” he said.

“The second reason is the low student-to-faculty ratio, which means there are more teachers for fewer students, so I feel like I’ll learn a lot there.”

He also mentioned a more personal reason for his decision.

“The third reason is the cold weather. I’m a big fan of the East Coast vibe,” Naeli said.

Looking ahead, Naeli is especially excited about some unique aspects of campus life.

“I’m most excited about the food because I’ve heard Cornell has the best food out of any of the Ivies. I’m also really excited about snow,” he said.

“I moved to California from England when I was four years old, and I haven’t seen snow since, so I’m excited to see it again.”

Teachers said Naeli’s success comes as no surprise.

“He is very intelligent. Everybody knows that,” said AP Biology teacher Cynthia Chan. “I like that he thinks outside the box. He has this ability to pull things that he learned from different subjects together to make things make sense. He has an intellectual curiosity that goes beyond what is being tested.

AP Economics teacher Christian Hong also spoke highly of Naeli.

“Underneath his over-intellectualism, he’s a very sweet kid who will have a great time away at Cornell,” Hong said.

Naeli’s mother, Nina Mirmojarabian—who is also the school nurse—shared mixed emotions about her son’s decision, noting that he was also accepted to UCLA.

“Every day I keep telling him, ‘Are you sure?’ UCLA is very close,” she said. “I can’t stop him. I want him to be closer, but he’s an adult. I’m happy for him, but at the same time, I’m very worried.”

Naeli also took time to recognize those who supported him throughout his journey.

“I would want to thank Mr. Shagoulian and his son, Edgar Shagoulian. I also want to thank Ms. Sood, my wonderful calculus teacher,” Naeli said.

“I would also like to thank Mr. Hong, who convinced me to apply to physics instead of engineering. I want to thank my mom, my brother, and my dad, who is an electrical engineer and inspired me to pursue science,” he continued.