How a Farmer’s Son Gets 100% Scholarship to New York’s Cornell University?

The son of a marginal farmer Anurag Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh LakhimpurKheri has scored 98.2% in CBSE Class 12th exams. The amazing news is that he also secured 100% scholarship in New York’s Cornell University- one of the Ivy League universities in US.

As most universities are holding virtual classes due to COVID-19 pandemic, Anurag Tiwari also now is waiting for his online classes at Cornell to start from September 1st.

It is noteworthy that until 4 years ago Anurag’s village did not even had electricity. Anurag is a Humanities student & he scored a perfect 100 in Economics & History, 99 & 97 in in Political Science & English respectively. His lowest score is in mathematics which is 95.

Anurag’s decision to study Humanities was criticized by many as they felt that Humanities is not suitable for boys. Anurag will now study Economics & Mathematics at Cornell.

His father Kamlapati Tiwari is a farmer & his mother Sangeeta Tiwari is a housewife. He attended primary school in his village Sarasan until class 5th. His village Sarasan is 60kms from Lakhimpur Town. In class 6th he cleared the entrance test for admission in Vidya Gyan located in Sitapur. Vidya Gyan is a rural leadership academy which handpicks economically underprivileged meritorious students from rural U.P.

The call to join the academy changed his life, according to Anurag. Motivation & support came from his hard working parents & 3 elder sisters, who wanted Anurag to get world class education which they could not.

In class 11th, Anurag started to prepare for SAT & scored 1370 marks out of 1600. After this he applied to Cornell as ‘Early Decision Applicant’ & got the call in last year December. In all these processes his school teachers helped him in preparing the projects & drafting the essays. His essays were edited in Delhi by senior counselors who also helped Anurag choose the colleges.

After class 12th, when Anurag reached his village everyone had high hopes & regards for him. Anurag finds inspiration in former Indian Cricket Team Captain MS Dhoni.