Boy genius says he will become a doctor when 18

A 12-year-old boy who already has three community college degrees and has been accepted at two University of California campuses is planning to study biomedical engineering and become a doctor and medical researcher by the time he is 18.

Tanishq Abraham has been accepted to UC Davis and received a regents scholarship to UC Santa Cruz, but he has yet to make up his mind which university he will attend.

“I’ll be 18 when I get my MD,” he told a Sacramento television station.

Tanishq, from Sacramento, started community college at seven and last year he received associate’s degrees in general science, maths, physical science and foreign language studies from American River College.

Professors at the Sacramento college did not initially want him in their classes because of his age.

But finally a professor agreed to let him attend if his mother, a doctor of veterinary medicine, also took the class.

“There were times when I had to explain general relativity and special relativity to my mom,” Tanishq said.

Tanishq says child geniuses are often seen as odd.

“When you think of a genius, you think of a mad scientist kind of thing,” he said.

But he insists he is just an ordinary boy who likes learning and microscopes — and also playing video games.

“I just think learning is fun,” he said.