Wednesday, June 09, 2010 12:53 PM

Jun. 9--CRESTVIEW -- This fall, Jordan Colclasure's life will change. The Crestview High School valedictorian will move to New England to attend Yale University. "My nerdiness paid off," the senior said with a laugh. Jordan said he never thought about going to an Ivy League school until he watched the movie "21." In the movie, some MIT students travel to Las Vegas and use cardcounting skills to win millions.

The mathematically inclined Jordan started looking into MIT at that point and that eventually led him to Yale, Princeton, Harvard and Stanford.

He applied to all five schools as well as the University of Florida and the University of Miami.

His top choice was MIT, but he wasn't accepted there or at Harvard, Princeton or Stanford. By the end of March, it looked as if Jordan would be attending Miami in the fall, but then he got a letter stating he was waitlisted at Yale.

When Jordan found out, he knew he needed to do something to set himself apart.

The solution came from a musical birthday card his father, Pete, gave his mother, Belinda.

Instead of simply updating the admissions staff on what he had accomplished in the time since the initial application, Jordan decided to take a chance and go for a laugh.

First, he went online and ordered a blank greeting card on which he could record a message. Next, he personalized the card, putting his name, senior picture, high school and other pertinent details on the front. Finally, he created the voice message.

Using a heavy southern accent, he began the greeting with, "Well howdy there, this is Jordan Colclasure from Crestview, Florida, in the heart of the Redneck Riviera."

In his normal accent he went on to provide the admissions people with a more serious message, detailing his accomplishments since the first application.

"My redneck stuff was just to catch their attention. I didn't want them to think I was really a redneck," Jordan said.

His dad loved the idea, but his mom was a little nervous.

"I was like, 'Oh I hope this works,' " she said. "It depends who opens the card and if they have a sense of humor or not."

Fortunately for Jordan, it worked.

About a month after finding out he was on the waiting list, Jordan received a call offering him a spot in Yale's class of 2014.

Jordan said he plans to major in biomedical engineering and hopes attending the school will get him not only amazing internships but a chance at getting into MIT for graduate school. "You cannot beat the opportunities you can get at Yale," he said. Ultimately, Jordan wants to start his own company that will create artificial organs. His parents couldn't be happier for the opportunity. "He would have done well no matter what; he just got lucky," Pete said. "But I did have to make my luck," Jordan added. Jordan will graduate on Friday from Crestview High School.

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(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1334037&forum_id=1#15204940)