Bernie Zak, High School Senior, Says Twitter Helped Him Get Accepted To UCLA

WHDH-TV 7News Boston

After finding out he had been wait-listed from his dream college, Brookline High School senior Bernie Zak was not content sitting around and waiting for a final decision. Instead, he took to Twitter, sending tweets to UCLA about why the school should accept him.

“I didn’t want to just wait,” the 18-year-old from Massachusetts told Boston.com. “I wanted to do something.”

Zak intended on posting 50 reasons why he should be accepted, but after just 18 tweets, he received an email saying that his UCLA admission status had been updated. He was accepted to the school on April 29, even though he was told final decisions would be made between May 1 and June 1, according to WHDH.

He says he believes his twitter campaign, #ACCEPTBERNIEUCLA, played a part in his acceptance.

"In my heart of hearts I think it helped," he told the station.

Starting in early April, he tweeted messages like:

UCLA spokesman Ricardo Vasquez, told Boston.com that while he was aware of Zak’s twitter campaign, "A Twitter campaign by any student would have absolutely no influence on our admittance decision."

Nevertheless, Zak says he's looking forward to heading to UCLA.

“I’m excited to be with a group of kids that can have a lot of fun but are also really intelligent people,” Zak told student newspaper the Daily Bruin. “When it comes down to it, (UCLA) is one of the smartest groups of students in the world.”