13-Year-Old Minnesota Boy About to Graduate From U of M

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A 13-year-old boy from Minnesota will soon earn his bachelor's degree from college — with a major in physics and a minor in math.

Elliott Tanner is maintaining a 3.78 grade point average at the University of Minnesota and is participating in undergraduate research while also tutoring classmates. He wants to be high-energy theoretical physicist and ultimately a professor of physics at the university.

“I have an incredible passion for physics,” he said. “It’s been one of my favorite things to do.”

Elliott's mom, Michelle Tanner, said he started reading and doing math by age 3. Following a few years of homeschooling and a high school curriculum that took him two years to complete, he began taking college classes when he was 9.

“People who hear Elliott’s story say he doesn’t get to be a kid, or he grew up too fast,” Michelle said. “He still very much is a kid and the only difference is he goes to school in a different building.”

Besides being on the verge of graduating, he has been accepted into the University of Minnesota’s Physics PhD program. Now his parents are trying to figure out how to pay for it.

“We’re just trying to explore all our options, and coming up with dead ends,” Michelle said. "Trying to apply for any scholarships, fellowships, grants, and we have not been successful.”