Most 11-year-olds are still playing video games, talking into fans to make their voices sound robotic, and eating strange concoctions of food. College is the furthest thing from their minds.
However, one kid managed to graduate from community college at the age of 11. TikToker Michelle Tanner (@michelletanner_mn) is sharing about how she and her husband realized that their son, Elliot, wasn’t developing quite like other children his age.
According to Michelle, the signs were there from the start.
When Elliot started reading to himself before the age of two, Michelle and her husband realized that he might be gifted. He also would do addition and subtraction with his little wooden toys when he was three. At the bookstore, he preferred to buy workbooks, and he completed them in almost no time at all.
“And then, he did do Spanish immersion kindergarten, and it didn’t go great because he didn’t quite fit in,” said Michelle. “He was at a more advanced level, and he had a lot of different interests, so he wasn’t able to find his community at that point.”
Finally, they got Elliot tested and confirmed that he was indeed gifted. They decided to homeschool him full-time. He is gifted across all subjects, but has a special interest in math and chemistry.
Soon enough, he went through high school curriculum and completed high school in under four years. The next step was enrolling him in community college.
When Elliot was 11 years old, he graduated with an associate’s degree in math. He went on to earn his bachelor’s in physics with a minor in math at the age of 13.
After that, he was accepted into a PhD program for physics. He got his master’s degree in physics when he was 15 and is now working on his PhD, with a minor in multi-messenger data science, which he will finish at 18 years old.
“There’s a lot of stuff that I don’t understand, but I believe he wants to still be a professor,” said Michelle. “That’s what he’s always wanted to do, and I don’t think that’s changed.”
“He will go on to do a couple of more years of post-doc work after he gets his PhD…and then, hopefully, he’ll get some sort of professor position, an entry-level position somewhere down the road unless he changes his mind.”
In the comments section, many parents jokingly chimed in with their own children’s accomplishments.
“My 19-year-old was up before 1 p.m. today. Not trying to brag…but yeah,” stated one user.
“Congratulations!!!! My 17-year-old son rinsed a dish on his own, and I was proud today,” commented another.
“I am just happy that after asking my 12-year-old boy to take a shower, he actually did it…with soap!” exclaimed a third.
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By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
