U-Va.'s One-Year Wonder
Teen Graduates Early, With a Double Major
By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 20, 2006; A01
And you thought your kid was smart.
David Banh, an 18-year-old from Annandale, just graduated from the University of Virginia in one year. With a double major.
His college education, almost entirely covered by a patchwork of scholarships, cost him about $200. And he sold back textbooks for more than that. Now he's starting graduate study at U-Va. with a research grant.
So at this point, he's technically running a profit.
He's upending two trends: Most students take longer to graduate than you might think -- about two-thirds of freshmen at four-year colleges in Virginia manage to finish within six years. And tuition gets more expensive every year.
He was helped by the fact that U-Va., as a public school, costs a lot less than most private colleges. And that the university accepted many of his Advanced Placement credits from high school; many of the most selective private schools wouldn't. As it was, he doubled up on course credits and took more physics over the summer to finish his second major.
Many professors would like students to explore and experiment in college rather than cram in as much as possible at top speed.
Still, "I've never seen anything like that before," said Donald Ramirez, professor and associate chairman of mathematics at U-Va.
"He's one of a kind," said Vicki Doff, his counselor at the competitive magnet Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County. "Absolutely amazing kid academically, incredibly persistent, bright, focused and determined. His academic record was second to none. I've been here over 20 years, and I've never had a student take the course load he did in his years here."
She used to worry he was doing too much. "And he usually proved me wrong."
Banh was born and grew up in Fairfax, the eldest son of parents who came to the United States from Vietnam in the 1980s.
Even in elementary school, he was trying to get ahead. His bus driver in kindergarten told his mom that the boy would do problems or talk about lessons on the bus with the other children, Kim Banh said. In second grade, he told her he was bored and wanted harder math problems.
His parents pushed him. He liked learning new things rather than repeating what he already knew. He had a sort of low-key competition with a smart girl at his school. His uncle helped tutor him. "It was nice to be a year ahead" in math, he said. "It made me feel special when I was little."
By eighth grade, he said, most of the motivation came from himself, not his parents. By his second year in high school, he was taking three AP classes.
"I sort of got a little addicted to it," he said. At TJ, he was taking more AP classes than any other sophomore that year, so, he figured, why not do it again next year? "I took six the year after that and figured I may as well take a bunch of exams the next year as well."
Meanwhile, he had mastered bridge -- yes, the card game -- competed in tournaments all over and ran the school club, which doubled in size.
"I loosened my schedule up senior year a lot," he said, meaning he took fewer classes.
What? Why?
"So I could maximize the amount of time I had to attempt five or six AP exams outside of the ones I was taking."
His mom said she is proud but sometimes worried about the track he was on. "He didn't have time to do a lot of stuff," she said. "He [would] just go home, do homework, take another extra homework and do it. He ate dinner for 15 minutes or ate dinner still looking at a book.
"I said, 'No, I do not want this.' But I guess it's helped him [in] that he believes he can do things. That's the most important to me."
Banh went to U-Va. with the equivalent of 72 college credits. It takes 120 to graduate, and the school requires that at least half come from U-Va. classes.
The typical course load is 15 credits a semester.
His first semester, he took 23 credits and found he had more time than he did in high school to spend with friends, playing games (video games or board games, he clarified, not drinking games). Or just hanging out.
"I don't feel like I missed out," he said. "Most of college was euphoria."
He had some low points, especially late in April when the workload for his 37 credits seemed crushing, and his grades started to slip. (To some Bs.)
The best part was when he finished his last exam and knew he'd done it: No matter what, he had a college degree. "If bad things happened, I could go out and make some decent living for myself."
The most important thing he learned in class, in math, was to construct a logical, coherent argument. And the most important thing he learned in college, he said, "is to value the people you spend time with, your friends."
Now he's a grad student. His research project, with fifth-year doctoral candidate Lorena Bociu, is on the stabilization of pressure in an acoustic chamber -- as if to reduce the noise in a music chamber or lower the pressure in an aircraft cabin -- and involves using mathematical equations to -- well, you get the idea.
He expects to finish his master's degree this academic year -- why wouldn't he?
Then a doctorate in math is possible (especially if he feels that he wants to stay in college).
More likely he'll go to law school.
At night, while working.
He wants to be a patent attorney. Growing up with parents who arrived in the United States with very little and now work at the post office and in real estate, money was not a problem exactly, but . . . he'd like to have a career that ensures he doesn't have to think about money anymore.
He's not super competitive, he said. But sometimes it's good to have someone, or something, to compete with.
"Everyone," he said, "needs a little more motivation."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
[分享]Washington Post article: Graduate college in one year
[分享]Washington Post article: Graduate college in one year
I hope I'm not being cliched. Something bothers me about the things he said to the reporter. Small clues that make me wonder about what's driving him to rush through college. I hope my instinct is wrong here.
Last edited by Jun on 2006-09-22 13:13, edited 1 time in total.
I followed through the online chat he just finished with WashPost.com. He's a very bright and articulate young man. Certainly not a narrow-minded geek. And he sounded reasonably content with himself. I am probably wrong to have found a hint of irrational and obsessive fear of poverty in his tone (see the red text I marked). I think it is a waste of his gift to become a patent lawyer, and it seems that the sole reason is financial stability.
在学校里的时候太容易高估“高收入行业“的收入，低估工作的郁闷程度。都得象蚕一样，看一个活例子，马上就改过来了。这个孩子有好几年的时间决定他是否真的想当专利律师。
其实科学的收入也不是那么坏。。。我的前任老板就是很聪明的那种，三十岁有自己的lab。他说，如果我现在的收入高三倍，就是完美的工作了。我今天听个博后说了我的现任老板年收入多少，令人咋舌，令人咋舌啊。怪不得不介意开爬梯给我们买酒买吃的。
其实科学的收入也不是那么坏。。。我的前任老板就是很聪明的那种，三十岁有自己的lab。他说，如果我现在的收入高三倍，就是完美的工作了。我今天听个博后说了我的现任老板年收入多少，令人咋舌，令人咋舌啊。怪不得不介意开爬梯给我们买酒买吃的。
http://harps.yculblog.com
搬家了搬家了
搬家了搬家了
tiffany wrote:我今天还跟同事说呢，我们这个工作，工资虽然少，做到头也不多，往教授方面奋斗的话，5年10年都看不到钱；但是，我们这个工作顺利的时候成就感大大的；相对来讲十分独立，自己是自己的主人，没有老板叫你坐着死，你就不敢站着生那一说；最重要的是做这个还是有趣。想想要是真的不做这行，不拿上10万8万的都对不起自己。
俄，这篇牢骚其实可以去ask知心大狸了都。
白博肺腑之言， 我谄媚地说。javascript:emoticon(':admir001:')
其实平均来讲，把不顺利时候的挫折感算上，这个工作可以说一般有趣。可是想想如果做别的工，会无趣得很严重。所以还是一路走下去好了。
http://harps.yculblog.com
搬家了搬家了
搬家了搬家了
There are many areas in law that are fascinating.洛洛 wrote:Since we just talked about this topic last night. I guess if I really go to law school and be happy (than now), Jun won't believe me; if I am very unhappy, Jun would say: "See, I told you so..."
Patent law ... uh ... not so much (as Jon Stewart likes to say).
Of course there must be people who enjoy it. Good for them. Who am I to say they don't?
I don't know much about law, but a bit about pharmacists.
I know a lot of people who don't mind working in a chain drug store and enjoy the salary. I have yet to meet one who LUUUUUV it.
我最近的教授调查，让我大为震惊。趁着震惊劲儿没过提醒一句：白博你起码应该把这个价位提高到十五万。tiffany wrote:我再次大声疾呼，难道大家都没有看出来我那句：没有十万八万的我还不去这句话乃是货真价实的逃兵宣言么?
http://harps.yculblog.com
搬家了搬家了
搬家了搬家了
Jun :heartpump: Jon.
So Jon Stewart holds patend on the phrase "not so much".Jun wrote:Patent law ... uh ... not so much (as Jon Stewart likes to say).
You are freakishly in love with Jon Stewart, Jun.
And I thought you'd prefer Colbert.
MMT
The Daily Show won, but Jon looked every bit hoping the Colbert Repor won instead. Well, both man are the co-producers of The Colbert report.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-kRs2GyEE
The fun starts at 01:22. Do continue viewing Jon's response.
He seemed to suddenly turn blind.
Poor Jon. We all know Stephen is just a big flirt. A kiss is just a kiss. Don't read too much into it, you poor short, unattractive dork.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-kRs2GyEE
The fun starts at 01:22. Do continue viewing Jon's response.
He seemed to suddenly turn blind. Poor Jon. We all know Stephen is just a big flirt. A kiss is just a kiss. Don't read too much into it, you poor short, unattractive dork.
MMT
The person who declined the Fields medal
I'm very impressed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman
Withdrawal from mathematics
According to various sources, in the spring of 2003, Perelman suffered a bitter personal blow when the faculty of the Steklov Institute allegedly declined to re-elect him as a member,[3] apparently in part out of continuing doubt over his claims regarding the geometrization conjecture. His friends are said to have stated that he currently finds mathematics a painful topic to discuss; some even say that he has abandoned mathematics entirely.[17] According to a recent interview, Perelman is currently jobless, living with his mother in St Petersburg, and subsisting on her modest pension.[3]
He has stated that he is disappointed with mathematics' ethical standards, in particular of Yau's effort to downplay his role in the proof and play up the work of Cao and Zhu. He has said that "I can’t say I’m outraged. Other people do worse. Of course, there are many mathematicians who are more or less honest. But almost all of them are conformists. They are more or less honest, but they tolerate those who are not honest."[2] He has also said that "It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as aliens. It is people like me who are isolated."[2]
This, combined with the possibility of being awarded a Fields medal, led him to quit professional mathematics. He has said that "As long as I was not conspicuous, I had a choice. Either to make some ugly thing" (a fuss about the mathematics community's lack of integrity) "or, if I didn’t do this kind of thing, to be treated as a pet. Now, when I become a very conspicuous person, I cannot stay a pet and say nothing. That is why I had to quit.”[2]
Professor Marcus du Sautoy of Oxford University has said that "He has sort of alienated himself from the math community. He has become disillusioned with mathematics, which is quite sad. He's not interested in money. The big prize for him is proving his theorem."[13]
Just a parody of the easy labeling "She is a plain and unattractive deperate old maid" for any woman in love who does not look like Jessica Alba.
Do you still watch TDS and the TCR? I don't watch TV now, so I view online. Some of the "check-in" section where Jon Stewart toss to Stephen Colbert at the end of TDS are too funny. These men know the viewer's fetish and never hesitate to tease with us.
Do you still watch TDS and the TCR? I don't watch TV now, so I view online. Some of the "check-in" section where Jon Stewart toss to Stephen Colbert at the end of TDS are too funny. These men know the viewer's fetish and never hesitate to tease with us.
MMT
