Boston student accepted to UCLA after Twitter campaign
Students walk across the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California. According to a May 22, 2012 International Labor Organization report the global youth unemployment rate will rise to 12.7 percent this year and remain there until 2016.
Bernie Zak, a high school senior in Brookline, Mass. says he was accepted to the University of California, Los Angeles, after an online Twitter campaign to gain admission.
The 18-year-old from Brookline High School had been wait-listed for UCLA when he decided to launch his campaign #AcceptBernieUCLA.
Zak, whose Twitter handle is @berniezak, told Boston.com “I didn’t want to just wait. I wanted to do something" and that his sister, a social media producer at the Wall Street Journal, helped him conceive of the idea.
The two came up with a list of reasons why the California university should accept him and by his 18th tweet on April 29, he received a letter that his admissions status had been updated.
Here are some of his tweets:
UCLA told ABC News that the Twitter campaign did not influence its admission decision, nor would it have any bearing on any student's admittance to the University.
Zak, however, told Boston.com he still believes it helped him "stand out."
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