Getting in to college can be pretty cutthroat these days. You need good grades, extra curriculars, high ACT or SAT scores, and you still could get put on a waiting list. That is what happened to Lawrence Yong when he applied to the University of Michigan. Instead of just sending a letter, Yong rewrote the Jackson 5 song “I Want You Back” to explain why he should be a Wolverine.

Yong told AnnArbor.com, that he “only expected it to get maybe 100 or 200 views. Maybe from a couple of my school friends and then some people at church. It was really incredible. I am not entirely sure how it spread so quickly but that’s exactly what happened.”

His video did the trick. Yong commented on his Youtube video saying, “I GOT IN YOU GUYS! Thank you SO much for all of your support, there’s no way this could have happened without you all!” His acceptance beat the odds. Just last year the University of Michigan only accepted 42 of the 14,600 students on the wait list.

Those singing talents aren’t going to waste, either. Yong plans on joing an a cappella group at University of Michigan.

- Steve Wiseman, 104.3 WOMC