13-year-old with 168 IQ to pursue master’s in New York

Joe Petraro-Hyppolite. Photo: CBS News

A 13-year-old boy from Long Island, New York, Joe Petraro-Hyppolite, is set to begin a master’s programme at New York University next year, CBS News reports on Thursday.

Petraro-Hyppolite, who has an IQ of 168, is currently working towards completing his undergraduate degree and is expected to graduate in May 2027.

He has already achieved several academic milestones at an unusually young age, including scoring 1,590 on the SAT at 10 and obtaining his high school diploma at 11, CBS reported.

Petraro-Hyppolite said he had been accepted into an NYU master’s programme in sports management, with studies also involving kinesiology and biology.

“My master’s is going to be sports management but other than [that] it’s also kinesiology and biology,” Petraro-Hyppolite said.

The teenager said he was excited about the next stage despite some nervousness.

“Yeah, I mean, who wouldn’t be? But then again, I am also excited, because new doors are opening,” he added.

Petraro-Hyppolite has also attended Louisiana State University and currently studies alongside students much older than him.

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He said other students sometimes react with surprise when they realise his age.

His mother, Anne Petraro-Hyppolite, said her son’s academic progress was particularly significant because he had previously been placed in special education classes after being diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.

“It’s just surreal. When he graduated high school so young, it was surreal, but this is … everything he does is surreal. He just loves to learn. He is like a sponge,” she said.

Despite his academic achievements, Petraro-Hyppolite said his abilities did not mean that everything came naturally to him.

“It’s not like I was shot out the womb knowing everything I know. I have to learn it once or twice. Then I’ll know,” he said.

The teenager also spends some of his free time volunteering, including helping residents at a nursing home in the Five Towns area of Long Island.

He said he eventually wants to pursue a career in palaeontology.

If he completes the master’s programme as planned, he would graduate at about the same time he becomes legally eligible to drive.