--- description: He recently graduated with a 4.0 and three associate's degrees from American River College in California title: A 12-Year-Old Boy Was Accepted to 2 California Universities image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b59d4cbe1ef2762/698894a93c1639326f45d5fc/tanishq-abraham.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 12-Year-Old Boy Accepted to 2 California Universities: 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me' by [Alex Hiegl / People](/author/people/) ## Alex Hiegl / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2016 5:30 PM CUT  Tanishq Abraham, 12, talks about his recent graduation from community college and beginning his university education this fall, in an interview with KOVR-TV at American River College in Sacramento, Calif. Tanishq Abraham, 12, talks about his recent graduation from community college and beginning his university education this fall, in an interview with KOVR-TV at American River College in Sacramento, Calif.KOVR-TV/AP by [Alex Hiegl / People](/author/people/) ## Alex Hiegl / People Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 24, 2016 5:30 PM CUT Tanishq Abraham has quite the knack for understatement. Last year, graduating with a 4.0 and three associate’s degrees from American River College in California, [he said](http://www.people.com/article/tanishq-abraham-graduates-american-river-college-age-11 "undefined"), “This isn’t much of a big deal to me.” This year, after learning that he’d been accepted to the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of California, Davis, [he told NBC](http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/college-game-plan/tanishq-abraham-12-scores-college-acceptances-uc-davis-uc-santa-n578056?cid=sm%5Ftw&hootPostID=208fbf9921d8f8dbff76663baa861eb7 "undefined"), “I’m pretty excited.” “I’ve been waiting for this for quite some time now,” Abraham continued. “I’ll finally be working on my bachelor’s. It’s very exciting.” Abraham, who plans to study bio-engineering, joined MENSA at 4 years old. He’s still undecided between the two schools, though UC Santa Cruz has offered him a Regents Scholarship, the highest honor awarded to incoming student. He’ll be coming in as a junior, thanks to his credits from American River, but he’s not necessarily worried about fitting in with older students. “Based on my experiences with ARC, at first, they’re a little confused. But once they get used to me, they don’t treat that differently,” he said. “We’re all just friends and have fun.” In his spare time, Abraham enjoys Twitter and playing video games with his sister Tiara, 10, who also happens to be something of a prodigy. She’s a fellow MENSA member who sang at Carnegie Hall in 2015. For Tanishqh, the sky’s the limit: He’s given a TEDx Talk, spoken at a NASA conference and been interviewed by Conan O’Brien. His future plans include a doctorate, some time as a medical researcher, and eventually, the Presidency of the United States. “I think if he puts his mind to it, he can achieve whatever he wants,” father Bijou Abraham told NBC News. We’re inclined to agree. _This_ [_article_](http://www.people.com/article/tanisq-abraham-accepted-two-colleges "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_People.com_](http://www.people.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/"},"headline":"12-Year-Old Boy Accepted to 2 California Universities: 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me'","datePublished":"2016-05-24T17:30:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:41.669Z","description":"He's also already spoken at NASA","url":"https://time.com/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/","keywords":["Newsfeed","California","Education"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b59d4cbe1ef2762/698894a93c1639326f45d5fc/tanishq-abraham.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Hiegl / People"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b59d4cbe1ef2762/698894a93c1639326f45d5fc/tanishq-abraham.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"In this recent but undated frame from video provided by KOVR-TV, Tanishq Abraham, 12, talks about his recent graduation from community college and beginning his university education this fall, in an interview at American River College in Sacramento, Cali","caption":"In this recent but undated frame from video provided by KOVR-TV, Tanishq Abraham, 12, talks about his recent graduation from community college and beginning his university education this fall, in an interview at American River College in Sacramento, Cali","creditText":"KOVR-TV/AP","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/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/","name":"12-Year-Old Boy Accepted to 2 California Universities: 'This Isn't Much of a Big Deal to Me'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Best Graduation Advice from Commencement Speeches","description":"The best words of wisdom from this year's commencement speeches","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ILvXQw25/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-05-21T18:32:26.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ILvXQw25.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/","duration":"PT2M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4346633/tanishq-abraham-accepted-california-universities/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```