High school senior Patrick Peoples thought that maybe, just maybe, he would get into at least one of the Ivy League schools to which he had applied. To the North Carolina student's surprise, he ended getting acceptance letters from seven.

Princeton University, Yale University, Columbia University, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania all extended offers to Peoples to join their upcoming freshmen class. 

"I just wanted to apply," Peoples told local news station WECT. "No one ever expects to get in."

Duke University, Davidson College and the University of Chicago also accepted Peoples, as well as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which awarded him and a fellow classmate the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship.

Having been heavily involved in Boy Scouts, student government and the Young Democrats at the Lyceum Academy of New Hanover High School, he intends to pursue a degree in economics and public policy and will decide where to study by May 1.

"I have a big passion for social justice," Peoples said. "So when I see things that can be fixed or when I see people that don't have the opportunity that I've had, it really makes me want to go up as far as I can and reach back and help people."

According to his AP English teacher Catherine Edmonds, the teen has earned this distinct honor. 

"He's personable, he's responsible, he has a complete and utter interest of what happens in the world, and he's bound to make changes," Edmonds told WECT.

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(Photo: Courtesy WECT 6/NBC)