SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Diya TV) — Tanishq Abraham, a 12-year-old who already has three community college degrees, has been accepted to two University of California campuses, and hopes to continue his studies by earning a degree in biomedical engineering with the ultimate goal of becoming a doctor and medical researcher, all before the age of 18.
Abraham has been accepted by UC Davis and received a regents scholarship to UC Santa Cruz, but hasn’t yet decided which university he will attend.
“I think I’ll be 18 when I get my M.D.,” he said.
He started attended community college at age 7 and last year received his associate’s degree from American River College, a community college in Sacramento, in general science; math and physical science; and foreign language studies.
Initially, professors at the college objected to Abraham being in their classrooms because of his age. A professor finally relented when his mother, a doctor of veterinary medicine, agreed to take the class with him. “There were times when I had to explain general relativity and special relativity to my mom,” he said.
Marlene Martinez, a biology professor at the school, said Abraham was never shy or afraid to engage with the class and ask a lot of questions. “In lecture he would always pop up with ‘so, does that mean …’ or ‘what about this?’ ” Martinez said.
Abraham’s father, Bijou, knew his son was gifted after the boy became a member of the high IQ society Mensa at age 4. “We tested him and discovered that he was pretty smart,” he said. “We were surprised when we started giving him advanced stuff and he was picking it up really fast.”
