12-year-old prodigy set to study aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech
He makes Doogie Howser look lazy.
A preteen prodigy who mastered fractions while still in diapers is now set to tackle aerospace engineering at prestigious Georgia Tech University, according to a new report.
At just 12-years-old, Caleb Anderson astonished professors at the college with his command of advanced concepts and is expected to earn admission after a heavy recruitment.
“I just grasp information quickly,” Anderson understatedly told CBS in an interview.
At only nine months, he had developed a command of sign language. At one, he began reading.
And while most of his peers were still chucking Cheerios, Anderson was able to comprehend fractions.
“I have this distinct memory of going to a first grade class and learning there, and everyone was way taller than me, because, you know, I was two,” he said. “I could barely walk.”
But the fast track also presented its problems.
Anderson said his middle school peers didn’t welcome their younger classmate and even teased him for his advanced status.
“The kids there, they kind of looked down on me, they treated me like I was an anomaly,” Caleb said.
But the youngster brushed aside the taunts and continued to excel.
His parents, Claire and Kobi Anderson, carefully nurtured his startling talents while doing their best to keep his childhood intact.
“I don’t think anything Caleb has done has been normal for us,” Claire told CBS.
Anderson has already been studying aerospace engineering at Chattahoochee Technical College in Marietta, Georgia, for a year and was slated to graduate in just two.
But his parents wanted him to enjoy a larger university experience and eventually chose Georgia Tech.
The school recruited Anderson to their prestigious engineering program like a 5-star athletic recruit and sweetened the pitch with a personal meeting with the college’s president.
“He’s a perfect candidate to come into our program and be very successful.” said Professor Mark Costello, chair of the Georgia Tech’s aerospace program.
While they’re overjoyed by their son’s academic feats, Caleb’s parents said they hope to develop other positive traits in him as well.
Claire and Kobi told CBS that they want “to make sure that when he is an adult, he’ll make a great husband, a great father, a great friend one day.”
Asked about his unusual journey to this point, Caleb handled the question like elementary algebra.
“This is my life,” he said. “This is how I am. And I’ve been living this way my whole life.”