A TikToker who realized she’d overlooked an offer letter from one of her top three colleges received the six-figure scholarship anyway after her distraught reaction went viral on the app.
On April 30, a TikToker who goes by @luvlyymadiii posted a video of herself looking at a piece of paper. The on-screen caption said she had found something while going through a pile of unopened college-acceptance letters.
https://www.tiktok.com/@luvlyymadiii/video/7227664392442219819
The camera then zoomed in on her astonished and angry expression, with on-screen captions saying she’d just learned she’d been granted a $104,000 scholarship from one of her top three institutions. She explained that she decided to attend community college instead because she couldn’t afford it at the time.
More than 5.6 million people watched the video, which drew hundreds of comments. Many responses expressed surprise and bemusement at the TikToker’s failure to open such a crucial letter.
On May 6, the TikToker released a much-anticipated update. In the video, which gained an additional 640,000 views, she stated that she didn’t open the letter at first because she had received over 300 of them from universities. Because she was busy with schoolwork and working, the TikToker stated that it was “impossible for me to open every single one of them” at the time.
In a subsequent comment, she stated that she’d been applying to universities since the middle of her junior year of high school, hence the large number.
https://www.tiktok.com/@luvlyymadiii/video/7231272971296329002?refer=embed
However, she stated in the same upload that the institution in question, Maryville College in Tennessee, had learned about the situation and called her to tell her that “they were gonna make my dreams come true” and that the offer was still on the table. “I’m just so excited!” exclaimed the TikToker in the video.
Maryville College’s vice president for admissions and financial aid, Alayne Bowman, told Insider via email that she was the one who notified the TikToker that the college was glad to “honor her scholarship.” She also stated that the institution was “thrilled to learn more about Madi and suggested some additional scholarships” that the TikToker applied for and received.
“We knew we could make this dream of hers come true,” she said.