'Black-ish' star Yara Shahidi dishes on her college dreams

Actress Yara Shahidi, star of ABC's 'Black-ish' stopped by AOL's BUILD Series for a feel-good conversation about her future plans. While many of you have known and seen her on the socially-relevant, critically-acclaimed comedy, you might have not known that she aspired to go to college ever since she was a young girl.

Shahidi was proud of all the things she's accomplished thus far in just her seventeen years of life. She told the audience that its due to being raised in a positive environment at home:

"I feel like what's been nice about how my family has raised me is that we've been able to take a moment with every fantastic thing that happens to just appreciate it, and appreciate the abundance that comes into our house. That means we are a family of affirmations. The amount of things I have on my wall is insane! I feel like it's important to surround yourself or allow your house or your home or wherever you're staying to be a sanctuary for you to feel as though you are taking care of yourself. We are a big vision boarding family!"

Shahidi had a lot of affirmations on her vision board, from Kendrick Lamar reading 'The Bluest Eye' by Toni Morrison, to a note she got from one of her favorite teachers, to a more recent one where she learned she got into college.

"Fortunately I can say I got into every college I applied to. You should've seen my room when the acceptances came out. I had every candle burning.", humbly stated Shahidi.

The whole college application process made for tense times for Shahidi as she added during the talk.

"Acting has been amazing and I love every moment of it, but it wasn't something I planned for. College is something I've been planning for, for such a long time. I've wanted to go to college before I was in middle school and so I think because of that, that's what made this such an insanely cool moment and also nerve-wracking because I was like 'I've been leading up to this. This is 12 academic years in the making!'"

Shahidi ended up staying up late many nights in order to meet essay deadlines for her college applications. She spent a lot of time meticulously crafting the perfect response for her dream schools.

"There was one essay that was due at 11:59 P.M. and I turned it in at 11:57 P.M. and I was like Wi-Fi pull through please (crosses her fingers)."

Keep in mind the hard work she committed in the college entrance process was on top of the busy year-round production schedule she had for 'Black-ish'! Fortunately, Shahidi got the best of both worlds when she realized she got accepted to all the colleges she applied for.

"I got into one very specific HBCU, two state schools, and four Ivy Leagues", happily shared Shahidi.

As to which of these colleges Yara will select, that decision will remain close to her for now.

In the meantime, catch Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, the eldest daughter of Andre "Dre" Johnson played by the funny and equally talented Anthony Anderson in 'Black-ish' airing Wednesdays at 9:30 P.M. on ABC.