‘Black-ish’ Star Yara Shahidi: ‘I Got Into Every College I Applied to’
Yara Shahidi hasn’t announced where she’ll be attending college, but she has quite a few options to choose from.
The 17-year-old Black-ish star revealed in an interview with Seventeen on Monday that she only got acceptance letters back - no rejections - from the schools that she applied to.
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“I did get all of my college acceptances and I’m keeping them close to the belt as of right now, but I got into every college I applied to,” Shahidi, who plays Zoey on the ABC comedy, shared.
“So that’s really exciting. I found all of that out last week,” she said, and added, “My college plans are all up in the air, but I will choose within the next month.”
Last October, Shahidi told PEOPLE that she plans to defer college for at least a year. “I know when Malia Obama announced [she was deferring], she got a lot of slack, but I feel like what’s interesting is I know so many people that are deferring. It’s more than to just roam around or just sit down and stare at a wall, but it will also give me an opportunity to work,” Shahidi said. “I’ve been working more than half of my life and that’s always been balanced with school and all of the other responsibilities, so to have a year to focus on work and to focus on specified interests will be nice before I pick a career and choose what I want to study and my life path.”
“I think no matter what, I know that I want to go to college. I know that I’m going to defer a year and I’m willing to have a more unorthodox college experience, but at a certain point I want to be on a campus,” she continued.
The teen actress told the publication that although she has not yet decided on a minor, she definitely wants to focus on two majors.
“I want to study as much as possible and [doing] a double major is the solution,” said Shahidi, who plans to double major in African American studies and sociology.
As for what the ABC starlet aspires to be, she lists both Solange Knowles and her TV mom Tracee Ellis Ross as two life role models - for differing reasons.
“There’s so many different people for different reasons. I think when it comes to fashion and just her aura, I like Solange. And then also Tracee is such a great example. She went to Brown, she got her honorary doctorate from Brown, what what,” Shahidi said.
“There are so many people, who have found ways to balance school, life, career - all of it,” she continued. “And what I realized is that even with college, my wonder and desire to study sociology stems from the same desire I have to be an actor just in the understanding of humans and I realize that’s what I’m fascinated in - understanding humans.”
Black-ish airs Wednesdays (9:30 p.m. ET) on ABC.
