14-Year-Old, Arran Fernandez, Offered Place At Cambridge

LONDON — A 14-year-old math prodigy has been offered a place at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University – if he can pass just one more exam.

Arran Fernandez, who was home-schooled in southern England's Surrey county, was offered an undergraduate place at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam College after passing the university's entrance exam.

He now needs only to pass his physics A-level exam – a standardized test for British students – to enroll.

British media Thursday quoted the boy's father, Neil Fernandez, as saying that Arran would be the youngest Cambridge undergraduate since William Pitt the Younger, who became prime minister, attended at the same age in 1773.

Cambridge University spokesmen were not available late Thursday.

Comments

[condor101]

06:04 PM on 01/12/2010

Good Luck Arran! Your parents did a fantastic job with home schooling.
Their techniques put public education to shame.
I would love to know their outline and method for teaching Arran.
Wonderful parents and a gifted son.
Best of Luck!!!

[Emucrat]

03:30 AM on 01/11/2010

Impressive. I hope he won't waste his potential in politics....

[realitytrumpsbull]

11:27 PM on 01/10/2010

Good luck Arran! Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I hope he makes the best of it.

[Intrepid-Daydream]

10:30 PM on 01/09/2010

It's a great accomplishment, but what about socialization?

[RTIII]

07:51 PM on 01/09/2010

I think this kid has a wonderful opportunity and I hope he makes the best of it. He needs to follow his heart and listen to his own heart more than he listens to others.

I think I understand him because I was also way ahead scholastically, though I didn't have a family to support me. I've lived on my own since I was 14 when my family broke apart. (I was the only one who didn't run away from home!) I realized that nobody gives you an education, you take it, so I had already been working to gather extra credits and had skipped three grades along the way. I had the credits so, on my own, by myself, I went to the admissions department at Tulane University and was admitted at 15, under the agreement that I'd stay in highschool until I got that 1/4 credit of gym I was missing (for which Orleans Parish School Board managed to keep me another THREE semesters as they refused to give me gym class).

Once admitted, I never took a freshman or sophomore college class, either, and kept a perfect 4.0 average until my very last semester when I got my first and only non-A score - a B.

Where this kid will likely suffer is at the hands of those not so gifted, his "peers." I suffered like that - backstabbing, attempted intimidation, untrue rumors, etc - until I was about 30.
.

[EnPointe]

08:14 PM on 01/10/2010

But you probably got the last laugh, as they say. : )

[WorkhelpWorkhelp]

02:06 AM on 01/09/2010

Geez...the sweater - you want the SWEATER?

well, seeing's how you ain't going to Cambridge I bet you have time to knit one just like it. ha!

(wow, that's mean.)

:-)

[WilliamTheV]

04:35 PM on 01/08/2010

awesome cosby sweater

[Erzsebet Gilbert]

10:30 AM on 01/09/2010

In fact he knitted that sweater himself as a model of cosmological string theory. It's woven with a geometry that can only exist in an 11-dimensional space. : - )

Really, Arran, congrats....

[rosiebond007]

04:14 PM on 01/08/2010

Unfortunately - although this may seem like gift - his age and immaturity will hold him back from really enjoying this experience.

[FirstBiteBooks]

09:11 PM on 01/08/2010

For some kids in other countries doing math IS fun and a very enjoyable experience.

[Cuthach]

02:29 PM on 01/08/2010

No pressure, kid.

[Oleg1]

02:18 PM on 01/08/2010

IN the music field, awash with proteges, many conservatories developed excellent programs to work with pre-adult "wunderkinder."
Perhaps the MITs and Cal Techs should look closely at those programs.

[Smurfaveli]

02:05 PM on 01/08/2010

I want that sweater!

[FirstBiteBooks]

09:10 PM on 01/08/2010

This is not a regular sweater but the math prodigy's writing board.

[spoonieday]

12:33 PM on 01/08/2010

I don't think he should wait, he doesn't just need to keep up his skills, he needs to delve as far into math as he can right now while his brain is still young and very receptive to new concepts. He'll be able to learn stuff now that will take him ages to learn later on.

Everyone has different experiences in college. I didn't party and drink during college and I still found the whole thing really worthwhile. I focused on my education and being the best.

I do agree that these kinds of kids should be accepted as a group. This would lessen anxiety and create a tight community from which to explore college life. Also, I believe that more students should be accepted to colleges at younger ages. I was so bored throughout high school and was very ready for college level classes. However, the private school I went to was crap at academics and everyone hated me so they thought I was dumb. Don't assume that this kid would have a good time and get really well socialized at school, because it's not always that way for smart kids or weird kids or any other kind of kid for that matter. High school can be a very treacherous place.

[MNmommy]

11:00 AM on 01/08/2010

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1241396/Maths-prodigy-Arran-Fernandez-14-youngest-Cambridge-student-1773.html

This is one extraordinary child, well, human. Not garden variety, skip a grade gifted, this kid is a genius.

Nowhere is it stated that a parent wouldn't accompany him to Cambridge, I'm sure they'll cross that bridge if he passes his physics exam.

There are many ways to accelerate gifted children into university without them having to leave home, dual enrollment is an excellent solution for this.

[RTIII]

07:43 PM on 01/09/2010

Family might be a real hindrance.

I've lived on my own since I was 14, and I was admitted to Tulane at 15 - never took a freshman or sophomore college class, either, and kept a perfect 4.0 average until my very last semester when I got my first and only non-A score - a B.

(I should have gotten that A, too, but I'd shifted my attention to a class I was struggling in, knowing I had the A, and then when I got the B, I spoke to the Prof. He said he he gave me the B not because I didn't deserve an A but because he noticed I'd not been pushing, so he said he knew I could have done even better, hence the B - and he lamented it because he said that if he'd known I was pushing a perfect academic record, he'd have given me the A I rightfully deserved. . . but it was too late. Lesson: tell your teachers what's up with your other classes and how well you are doing - I was too independent.)

Where this kid will likely suffer is at the hands of those not so gifted. I suffered like that - backstabbing, attempted intimidation, untrue rumors, etc - until I was about 30.
.

[harriettubman]

10:53 AM on 01/08/2010

This boy's parents are probably over the moon. These stories are good and bad. What they fail to realize is thrusting a teenager into an adult world is setting him up for emotional baggage to carry around the rest of his life. How is he going to fit in when his parents have to drive him to class? Knows nothing about actual dating, yet will be amongst physically developed females.

Accelerated students should have classes set aside for them in the high school setting while still going thru the developmental stages of growth. He can take college classes at the high school.

I've seen child prodigies and they suffer emotionally because adults don't know what to do with them.

[RTIII]

07:45 PM on 01/09/2010

You presume too much.

His real trouble will likely be with his "peers", not the adults.
.

[MNmommy]

10:51 AM on 01/08/2010

Great Job, Arran!