18 Y.O. Graduates From University of Virginia In One Year (Double Major)

[matcom]

<snip>

And you thought your kid was smart.

David Banh, an 18-year-old from Annandale, just graduated from the University of Virginia in one year. With a double major.

His college education, almost entirely covered by a patchwork of scholarships, cost him about $200. And he sold back textbooks for more than that. Now he's starting graduate study at U-Va. with a research grant.

So at this point, he's technically running a profit.

He's upending two trends: Most students take longer to graduate than you might think -- about two-thirds of freshmen at four-year colleges in Virginia manage to finish within six years. And tuition gets more expensive every year.

He was helped by the fact that U-Va., as a public school, costs a lot less than most private colleges. And that the university accepted many of his Advanced Placement credits from high school; many of the most selective private schools wouldn't. As it was, he doubled up on course credits and took more physics over the summer to finish his second major.

Many professors would like students to explore and experiment in college rather than cram in as much as possible at top speed.

Still, "I've never seen anything like that before," said Donald Ramirez, professor and associate chairman of mathematics at U-Va.

"He's one of a kind," said Vicki Doff, his counselor at the competitive magnet Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County. "Absolutely amazing kid academically, incredibly persistent, bright, focused and determined. His academic record was second to none. I've been here over 20 years, and I've never had a student take the course load he did in his years here."

She used to worry he was doing too much. "And he usually proved me wrong."

Banh was born and grew up in Fairfax, the eldest son of parents who came to the United States from Vietnam in the 1980s.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/AR2006091901779_pf.html

[MissMillie]

1. Ok, now I feel completely pathetic

I just posted about how 2 classes have me worried.



Thanks a lot.

[spoony]

13. Me too

I mean, part of me thinks, "way to go," and the other part is thinking, "way to make everyone else feel like a slug," lol. It's like those people who tell you at about 10 in the morning all the things they've already gotten done.


:woohoo: <---there he goes now, he just got done painting the house in five minutes.

[MissMillie]

14. Actually, I'm one of those people who have a lot done by 10 am

but then again, I'm in bed by 10 pm.... it all comes at a price.

[Hugin]

2. Does it say somewhere what the majors were?

I mean... I know people who graduated never attending a class. (Sober anyway)

[underpants]

4. at UVa they say SCHOOL IS #1

(hold up two fingers) and FOOTBALL IS #2 (hold up one finger)


don't even get me started on the story about the microwave and the cantaloupe

[Hugin]

7. Speaking of microwaves...

Arby's really needs to put "REMOVE WRAPPER TO MICROWAVE" in larger text on their foil sandwich
wrappers.

I put one in the other day and it literally burst into flames in seconds... Big flames.

Luckily, I was at work. Oh, wait a second... Burning down my workplace wouldn't look good
on my resume. Would it?

[underpants]

8. PRAG!

Interviewer:"and why did you leave your last position?"

Prag: :eyes:

[underpants]

3. Oh so typical they come to this country and get hand outs and take

the spots that OUR KIDS could use so that they can...... uh


Actually I had a niece who wanted to go to UVa more than life itself. She had a 4.8 GPA in high school or something and UVa said no. Members of my family started in with the rant about and I had to cut them off:

LOOK! the few crumbs of spots that she and everyone else is fighting over isn't because of the people she is competing AGAINST for crying out loud it is because of LEGACIES. Don't you get it for crying out loud if your dad went to UVa there is a spot waiting for you if you are part of the crowd in Richmond or elsewhere all over the globe in which you go to private school and you are expected to go to UVa then you do unless you smoke a lot of weed and go on tour with ****in Eddie from Ohio in which case there is a spot at Randolph-Macon waiting for you....

at that point I ripped into a rant about class and so forth.

It made for a wonderful afternoon.


BTW- genius boy has a website...sort of
http://www.phys.virginia.edu/People/Personal.asp?UID=dhb3r

[WCGreen]

5. yea, but did he get laid at the freshman mixer.....

[matcom]

6. i'll bet he was the hit at every kegger

:rofl:

[MrCoffee]

9. showoff.

[tigereye]

10. damn!

that's some serious focus!

[zonkers]

11. Doubt he made a lot of friends and developed his social skills as he

was rushing around like a bumble bee. School is more than graduating.

[deadparrot]

12. Life (and college) is too short to rush through it like that.

At least, that's my view. It's very impressive, but I'd rather take my time and enjoy life before having to go off into the "real" world and make a life for myself.