Emma Dwight screamed and cried when she found out she had been accepted into Harvard University.
Emma, this year's proxime accessit at Otumoetai College, found out on Saturday she had been given a place at the second ranked university in the world, starting mid-2014.
The Tauranga teen was about to do some housework on Saturday morning and decided to check her emails before she got started. She saw an email from Harvard and nervously opened it to see the first word - congratulations - heading the message.
"I screamed and cried, it was all so exciting," Emma said.
"I hadn't told anyone I was applying. They knew I was thinking about doing the American thing, but I was intentionally vague on the details because I thought applying was verging on silly and didn't think I'd get in.