Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year

Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by madmanslitany on Friday January 30, 2009 @08:10PM (#459049)

I'm deeply impressed and I give him a lot of credit for pulling that off, but does anyone ever know what happens to these kids? I feel like there's a story every year or two about someone who pulls off some kind of bizarrely difficult academic feat like this (massive numbers of A's, graduating early, etc.), but then they're never heard from again and don't seem to show up later in either the high echelons of academia or industry.

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by jws on Friday January 30, 2009 @08:16PM (#459058)

I know one. She teaches children to play violin. Perhaps their happiness does not lie in the high echelons of academia or industry. Perhaps if climbing ladders does not pose a challenge, then getting to the top of the tallest is no sort of goal.

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by DaniFong on Friday January 30, 2009 @10:22PM (#459175)

If you look at the other end, though, those at the top of many fields did have remarkable experiences growing up. Being academically precocious is no marker of predestiny, but for some, it can mean one's ducks are in a line. It can help.

I wrote an essay on this: http://daniellefong.com/2008/05/15/advice-to-the-bright-and-...

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by trapper on Friday January 30, 2009 @09:58PM (#459161)

I know three. Two started maths at uni at a young age and got bored. One is now a party animal/heavy drinker and another pushes trolleys at the supermarket. The other is a doctor because his parents pushed him into it.

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by abthomson on Friday January 30, 2009 @09:43PM (#459147)

If a child prodigy becomes famous in later life, it's probably not because they were a child prodigy but for some other reason.

One example I can think of would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Wolfram but I'm fairly certain there are many others.

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by vchakra on Saturday January 31, 2009 @01:15AM (#459278)

Mozart

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Re:Teenage genius takes 23 A-levels in a single year by chris11 on Friday January 30, 2009 @11:12PM (#459210)

I know one. There was a math major at my school who graduated last year at the age of 18 after three years of college. Right now he is in med school. I can't say how far he will go, but I think he's doing fine right now. I talked to him every now and then while he was still in school, and he seemed pretty balanced.So while I'm sure it was hard work, he looked to be happy while he was in college.

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