15-Year-Old Whiz Kid To Join Harvard

Zachary A. Young is finishing his sophomore year at Stuyvesant High School in New York, but unlike most high school sophomores, Young will be coming to Harvard in the fall as a member of the Class of 2014. He's 15.

Having already exhausted all the math and science courses at his school, Young, a fast-talking math enthusiast, thought he'd give himself some options. So he applied for college—as anyone in his situation would, we suppose—and was accepted to Harvard, MIT, and Caltech.

After visiting MIT and Harvard during MIT's prefrosh weekend, Young decided that he liked us more.

"I was generally much more impressed by Harvard's student body than by MIT's," he said.

In particular, Young enjoyed sitting in on the Math 55b: "Honors Real and Complex Analysis" class while he was visiting, and it'll definitely be a course he will consider taking in the fall, he said.

In his free time, Young said he likes doing math. He challenges himself with proofs and problems from previous math contests. He also has a girlfriend who is a high school sophomore as well, and he said she approved of his decision to go to college at such an early age.

Young said he'll miss the math contests the most when he transitions to college life in the fall, but he won't miss the busy work.

"I'm fed up with high school and how boring and repetitive it can be," Young said. "I'm very excited to try something new...I actually could feel like I'm at home here."

Photo courtesy of Richard Young.