This 17-year-old didn’t need to take an SAT to get into college — or even a high school diploma.
Malvika Raj Joshi of Mumbai, who long ago abandoned formal schooling, landed a scholarship to Massachusetts Institute of Technology after her outstanding performance at an annual computer programming competition, according to First Post.
Joshi medaled her way to MIT after receiving two silver and one bronze in the International Olympiad of Informatics, which caught the eye of the Boston university — despite not being enrolled in a high school.
The decision to leave the traditional education system was made by her mother, Supriya, who believed her daughter’s so-called merit was more significant than her grades.
“Malvika was doing well in school, but somehow I felt that my children need to be happy. Happiness is more important than conventional knowledge,” Supriya said.
Others applauded the Cambridge school for recognizing Joshi’s skills.
“It is a credit to MIT’s flexibility that they can offer admission to a student who demonstrates excellent intellectual potential despite having no formal high school credentials,” said Madhavan Mukund, who is a national coordinator of the Indian Computing Olympiad.
The genius teen, who wasn’t even considered for higher education in her native India, will be pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science in the States.
“When I started unschooling, that was four years back, I explored many different subjects. Programming was one of them. I found programming interesting and I used to give more time to it than to other subjects, so I started liking it at that time,” she said of choosing what to study upon starting college.