Vijayawada boy gains admission to Duke with Rs 25 crore scholarship deal

Seventeen-year-old Vijayawada boy Akarsh Chittineni has done what many can only hope for. He is the sole student from Andhra Pradesh and one among only six students from India to secure admission at Duke University, which is sixth in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2025.

By this, Akarsh becomes a part of a select group of international scholars as he has bagged admission letters from 40 top universities in the US and scholarship offers of a whopping Rs 25 crore. He is going to make his entry into the global stage this August (Fall).

Set to study engineering at Duke, Akarsh is impressive not only due to his scholarly excellence but also due to an all-around profile characterized by leadership, service, and creativity. The acceptance rate at Duke this year fell as low as 3.25%, highlighting the exceptional merit associated with his offer.

A pupil of Delhi Public School, Vijayawada, Akarsh has topped the school every year for the last six consecutive years. He already won a gold medal for being at the top of the CBSE Class 10 exams in KCP Siddhartha Public School. With his 98th percentile SAT, an IELTS band score of 8.5, and four Advanced Placement exam distinctions, he was declared the AP Scholar with Honours. He was also given a full scholarship for studying multivariable calculus in Stanford University's esteemed pre-collegiate program.

Aside from studies, Akarsh is a national-level badminton player and one of the winning members of NASA HERC 2023's award-winning team. He even achieved a national record for the highest number of digits of the square root of five. Being socially inclined, he started his non-profit endeavor Sarve Vidya, reaching more than 7,000 underprivileged children. His Telugu Pandits campaign has inspired more than 1,000 young people to get back to their roots.

"More than college admissions, my journey has been about learning with intention and applying that learning to empower others," said Akarsh to TNIE. "Duke University is where I aspire to develop not only as a student, but as a change maker. At Duke, in the next four years, I wish to dive into tech, entrepreneurship, and more. My aspiration is to be an entrepreneur who makes a difference.". This journey is not merely about a degree, it's about purpose," he said. Akarsh's parents, Vijay Mohan Chittineni, a businessman, and Prasanthi Dandamudi, an executive manager at Efftronics, were over the moon with pride and joy. "Akarsh has always been curious and empathetic," his father said.

"His childhood upbringing in a joint family and his initial education at Vikasa Vidya Vanam instilled in him the major foundations," says his mother. "His honesty and vision have always remained uncompromising. To see his dreams fulfilled is extremely satisfying," she adds.