A 17-year-old Black high school student recently scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT and was accepted into several prestigious universities. Justin Ricketts, the senior from Suncoast High School in Riviera Beach, Florida spoke with CBS12 about how he’s planning on remaining on the east coast and is considering either Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, or Princeton.
His end goal is to become a neurosurgeon.
“I definitely want to go to school in New England, hopefully, so those are my top choices right now,” he said.
Ricketts’ SAT score surpasses the scores of Ben Affleck, Bill Gates, Bill O’Reilly and others. But aside from his recent SAT victory, Ricketts’ track record projects that the Black teen is on his way to a successful future.
Along with his teammates on the Suncoast High School debate squad, he just returned from a debate competition that took place in Kentucky. This fall, Ricketts is expected to be his school’s debate team president.
It’s safe to say that Ricketts doesn’t plan on putting an end to his striving to be the best.
He has another year before he heads off to college in the New England area, but for now, his next stop is Boston where he’ll visit the Research Institute at M.I.T. to study visual tension.
Harvard doesn’t have a specific score that they require to qualify for admission, however, scores need to be between 1460 and 1600 to even be considered for admission. Princeton requires the same.
Even with a high SAT score, not all applicants are guaranteed acceptance. Reach High Scholars reported in 2021 that only 5% of Harvard applicants who scored somewhere between 1460 and 1580 are accepted. For their class of 2025, Harvard admitted 2,320 of the 57,786 applicants and 15.9% of them were Black. 10.7% of Harvard’s class of 2022 were Black. Only 6% of the applicants for Princeton who scored between 1450 and 1570 are accepted. And Princeton admitted 1,647 of their 37,601 applicants for their class of 2025. 8% of those accepted were Black.
Suncoast High School ranks 119 in National Rankings, 15 in Florida High Schools, 11, in Miami Metro Area High Schools, two in the School District of Palm Beach County High Schools, and 29 in Magnet High Schools. The school’s scorecard sits at 99.33.
