--- title: California: 11-Year-Old Graduates from American River College description: Tanishq Abraham obtained a 4.0 and three associate's degrees in one year. canonical: https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-21T23:22:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:20:11.042Z og:title: 11-Year-Old College Grad Says 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me' og:description: Tanishq Abraham obtained a 4.0 and three associate's degrees in one year og:url: https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515e6a0ca962b739/6988514a06f2c1277a33a4d8/79325731-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: scroll-graduating-cap og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 11-Year-Old College Grad Says 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me' twitter:description: Tanishq Abraham obtained a 4.0 and three associate's degrees in one year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515e6a0ca962b739/6988514a06f2c1277a33a4d8/79325731-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 11-Year-Old College Grad Says 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me' by [Andrea Park / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Andrea Park / People May 21, 2015 11:22 PM UTC  Scroll and mortarboard Scroll and mortarboardGetty Images by [Andrea Park / People](https://time.com/author/people/) ## Andrea Park / People May 21, 2015 11:22 PM UTC Tanishq Abraham, 11, graduated from American River College in Sacramento, California, on Wednesday, [KCRA Sacramento](http://www.kcra.com/news/at-11-student-crosses-stage-at-american-river-college/33140082) reports. “This isn’t much of a big deal to me,” said Abraham, who graduated with a 4.0 and three associate’s degrees just one year after [_Today_](http://www.today.com/news/meet-10-year-old-prodigy-who-just-graduated-high-school-2D79795436) reported that he had successfully completed California’s early-exit high school exam. Although Abraham said some of his fellow graduates were “intimidated” by him, “a lot were really happy that there was a kid in their class.” He crossed the stage wearing a colorful scarf knit by his grandmother. Fittingly, “2 Infinity and Beyond” was written on top of his cap. ARC officials aren’t yet completely positive that Abraham is the school’s youngest graduate ever, but “he was definitely the youngest this year,” college spokesman Scott Crow told [NBC Bay Area](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/11-year-old-tanishq-abraham-graduates-california-college-n362706). The whiz kid joined Mensa International at the age of 4 and began taking classes at ARC when he was 7\. Abraham’s 9-year-old sister Tiara is on a similarly prodigious path: She’s also a member of Mensa and started taking college classes at age 7, too. Their mother Taji told KCRA that “even in kindergarten \[Tanishq\] was pretty ahead, a few years ahead – and then it just went from there.” Next up for Abraham: getting his M.D. He told KCRA that he wants to become a doctor and medical researcher and, eventually, the president of the United States. He echoed these plans on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/iScienceLuvr) on Wednesday, adding that he hopes to earn a Nobel Prize along the way. > [](https://twitter.com/iScienceLuvr/status/601435339849236480) _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/tanishq-abraham-graduates-american-river-college-age-11) _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/"},"headline":"11-Year-Old College Grad Says 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me'","datePublished":"2015-05-21T23:22:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:20:11.042Z","description":"Tanishq Abraham obtained a 4.0 and three associate's degrees in one year","url":"https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","U.S.","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515e6a0ca962b739/6988514a06f2c1277a33a4d8/79325731-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andrea Park / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt515e6a0ca962b739/6988514a06f2c1277a33a4d8/79325731-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"scroll-graduating-cap","caption":"scroll-graduating-cap","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3893368/11-year-old-college-grad/","name":"11-Year-Old College Grad Says 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me'"}}]}] ```