Harvard-bound senior goes viral on TikTok after sharing emotional admissions essay

Click here for updates on this story

    BROCKTON, Massachusetts (WBZ) — When Abigail Mack posted a video to TikTok reading her college admissions essay, she never imagined it would get over 17 million views.

“People just around the world are proud of me is crazy,” said Mack.

The Cardinal Spellman High School valedictorian shared the personal essay that helped earn her a spot in Harvard’s class of 2025.

“One day I was sitting in English class and thought of parent vs. parents. And how ‘parents’ is really common in our vernacular and ‘parent’ is not. That’s when I thought I hate the letter “S” and then from there it just flowed,” explained Mack.

In the TikTok video, she reads, “I used to have two parents but now I have one, and the ‘s’ in parents isn’t going anywhere. ’S’ follows me.”

Abigail’s mom, Julie, died of cancer in 2014. Julie was a dance teacher and had opened a new studio “Julie’s Studio of Dance” in West Bridgewater with her husband Jonathan shortly before she passed away.

Jonathan continues to operate the studio, where Abigail is a teacher on the weekends.

“She just had this magnetic personality that captivated you with the kids and the families, and Abigail has that too. So I’m really glad that she embodies Julie in the best possible ways,” said Jonathan Mack.

“In addition to being extraordinarily bright, extraordinarily well-spoken, she’s also fun. She’s bubbly, she’s funny, she’s an amazing artist,” said Daniel Hodes, President of Cardinal Spellman High School.

“The fact that I’m so happy that I’m going to Harvard I think is what would make her the most happy and proud that I was able to achieve a dream,” said Abigail.

“We’ve got a really special relationship and I’m glad she’s going to be close by at least for some lunches with her dad every now and then,” said Jonathan.

In-between lunches with Dad, Abigail hopes to study Government and Foreign Policy when she starts classes at Harvard in the Fall.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.