When high school senior Lawrence Yong got waitlisted for his dream school, University of Michigan, the admissions office advised he write them a letter about his accomplishments to sway their decision. Instead, he took inspiration from the King of Pop and posted a video on YouTube of him singing a UMich version of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.”
Lawrence, who wears a University of Michigan M attached to a button-down shirt and tie in the video, apologized to the admissions staff for not owning any Michigan apparel before breaking out into his song.
“Oh, Michigan, give me one more chance to show you that I love you. Won’t you please let me into your school? Oh, how I dream to be a Wolverine. Michigan, you’re unlike anything that I’ve seen,” he sings in the video.
His hard singing work paid off—on June 6th, Lawrence became one of the 42 students who were accepted out of the 4,498 on the waitlist.
“If I had not done the video there was no way that I’d be able to stand out,” Lawrence told AnnArbor.com.
Hmm, maybe there’s a Michigan a cappella group looking for some new talent?