Life

An 11-Year-Old Just Graduated From College

by Eliza Castile

May 25, 2015

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Do you feel like having your accomplishments overshadowed today? If so, meet Tanishq Abraham, the 11-year-old who graduated college earlier this week with three separate degrees. That's approximately three more than any of us had at age 11, and it's definitely two more than I have now. Not that I'm counting or anything.The preteen was homeschooled for the majority of his academic career, according to Elite Daily, until he began attending Sacramento's American River College after graduating high school early last June. (In case you're not as mathematically-minded as Abraham, that means he was just 10 years old when he took California's early-exit high school exam.) His associate degrees are in foreign language studies, general science, and math and physical sciences, according to NBC News.Although Abraham is the youngest person to graduate from the college this year, and possibly in the institution's history, he doesn't see what all the fuss is about. "I like to learn," he told FOX 40. "So I just followed my passion of learning, and that’s how I ended up here." Later, the Mensa member told KCRA that graduating just "isn't much of a big thing" to him.

When your life goals include being a doctor, medical researcher, and President of the United States, I guess college graduation seems like small stuff in comparison. Clearly, someone needs to put things in perspective for Abraham. Out of the goodness of my heart, I've taken it upon myself to put together a comparison of what the average person accomplishes in the first 11 years of their life, versus what he has managed in the same amount of time.

0-3 Years Old

Average person: Learning to walk/drool/gnaw on inanimate objects/whatever else it is that babies do. Can you tell that I haven't spent a lot of time with the under-kindergarten set?Tanishq Abraham: Presumably the same things, because even a genius has to start somewhere. Also, it's hard to learn advanced mathematics when you're still teething.

4 Years Old

Average person: How to play nice with others and share toys. Most of our days are spent trying to get Mom to come pick us up from preschool with the force of our minds.

Tanishq Abraham: Scoring in the 99.9th percentile on an I.Q. test and becoming a member of MENSA, a.k.a. the international intellectual society full of insanely smart middle-aged men.

5 Years Old

Average person: Entering the scary new world of kindergarten and being introduced to the specter that haunts the next 18 years: homework.Tanishq Abraham: Reading books and doing math problems meant for children at least three years older than him. You know, typical kindergarten stuff.

7 Years Old

Average person: Realizing Santa isn't real, either on your own or when an older sibling cruelly spills the beans. Maybe tackling Harry Potter if you're a fan of reading. Tanishq Abraham: Beginning homeschooling after he and his parents realized that public school wasn't challenging enough. Oh yeah, and testing the waters at the local college by casually taking a few classes.

10 Years Old

Average person: According to Hollywood, starting to form lifelong relationships. In reality, there are fewer odd-couple BFFs and a lot more baking soda volcanoes. Tanishq Abraham: Graduating high school eight years before everyone else.

11 Years Old

Average person: Starting middle school and learning about a little thing called "conformity."Tanishq Abraham: Graduating freakin' college. Also, getting a congratulatory letter from the President. #JustPreteenThingsIf that didn't put things in perspective, I don't know what will. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about Abraham when he eradicates disease sometime next year, but in the meantime, let's hope he takes a few weeks off before tackling the next academic hurdle, just so the rest of us can catch up a little bit. Images: Giphy