Ravenwood Grad’s Love of Pizza Gets Her Accepted to Yale

carolina williams


This Brentwood teen has gone viral for her love of pizza. Her story has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Associated Press, Good Morning America, Business Insider and Southern Living, just to name a few.

Carolina Williams, a 2017 graduate of Ravenwood High School, wrote an essay for a college application to Yale. In her essay, she wrote about her love for ordering Papa John’s pizza.

While her subject matter was unconventional, it paid off with acceptance to Yale University.

Williams wrote, ‘Accepting those warm cardboard boxes at my front door is second nature to me, but I will always love ordering pizza because of the way eight slices of something so ordinary are able to evoke feelings of independence, consolation and joy.’

Yale admissions responded by stating, ‘As a fellow lover of pizza, I laughed out loud (then ordered pizza) after reading your application.’

After receiving the acceptance, Williams tweeted to Papa John’s about her successful essay.

Williams has chosen to attend Auburn University instead.

“I chose Auburn because I love the South and I love the whole school spirit there,” said Williams, who will attend the university’s honors college and plans to major in business. “Yale is a great school but Auburn just felt like home to me,” she told ABC News.

Williams also had another reason for choosing Auburn University, the proximity of Papa John’s pizza, there’s one located in the student center on campus.

Over the next four years, Williams will receive AU’s Presidential Scholarship ($72,000 over four years). In addition, she also received the Edward and Catherine K. Lowder Endowed Scholarship from Auburn’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business; she plans to major in Business and minor in economics, reports AL.com.