Posted on 09/20/2006 2:18:11 AM PDT by leadpenny
CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP) - With college tuition rising to record levels across the country, one University of Virginia student figured out a way to save himself from the crush of student-loan debt.
The solution? He finished college in just one year.
David Banh, of Annandale, is the first person ever to complete U.Va.'s traditional four-year bachelor's program in a single year.
"I was impressed _ I would say amazed," said Donald Ramirez, vice chairman of the mathematics department.
Banh, who turns 19 later this month, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria in 2005. A year and a summer later, he was a U.Va. alumnus.
Thanks to a mountain of advanced placement credits, Banh was already ahead of the game.
"I flirted with the idea back in high school, and thought I could finish college in a year and a half, in three semesters," Banh said. "But after my first semester (at U.Va.), I realized I had all this extra time, and that if I stayed for a second year I didn't have a way to pay for it without taking out loans."
So he went for it _ taking 11 classes in the spring of 2006 to complete his bachelor's in mathematics.
"It was amazing more of the classes didn't overlap," he said. "Only two of them did, where they were both scheduled for the same time."
One of the subjects dealt with an area Banh was already familiar with from high school, so he was able to pull it off, and passed both classes. At the end of the 2006 term, Banh had completed his degree in math, but realized he was only three credits short of double majoring in physics.
"I really wanted the physics," he said. So he took one final class over the summer and graduated in August with a double major.
Now he's gone on to the graduate program at U.Va., and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in mathematics.
Banh said he was already halfway to his degree before stepping foot on campus. He had a whopping 72 credits from advanced placement exams in high school.
"I basically took the entire gamut of AP credits," he said. "I just took everything I could."
U.Va., however, allows only a maximum of 60 such credits to be used toward the 120 it takes to obtain a bachelor's degree. So Banh started the clock with 60 when he arrived in Charlottesville.
"I think it's safe to say I've never seen a person with that many advanced placement credits before," Ramirez said. "Many times we'll see someone come in with six credits, or sometimes 15 at the most."
Banh, then, could have breezed through a normal schedule of classes, and he would have still finished in two years. But he said he thought a year and a half would be a better timetable. He signed up for 23 credit hours his first semester at U.Va., but found the workload wasn't as bad as he thought it might be.
"I found myself sitting around a lot with free time," he said.
Banh's parents, first-generation Vietnamese immigrants, did not have enough money to pay for both his education and that of his siblings. He could have taken out loans for a second year, or taken on a part-time job while completing his studies. But he said it seemed to make more sense to just finish the degree in one year.
The university has regulations concerning how many classes students can take, and Banh had to obtain special permission from the School of Arts & Sciences to continue. While that request was making its way through the chain of command, he signed up for all the courses he could to complete the majors, and left the other classes for when he got the word. Then he waited. And waited.
"I got approval the day before the second semester started," Banh said.
While he may have been busy, Banh said he never had much of a problem making friends, thanks in large part to living in a dorm. And he continues to live in undergraduate housing in the Lambeth Field residences, even though he is now a graduate student.
"If I wanted to, I could probably recreate the four-year U.Va. experience for myself," he said. "I still live with the same friends I had last year only now I'll be going off to do research, and of course I pay zero tuition."
Banh's professors were impressed. "From the very beginning, I was amazed," said Irena Lasiecka, a mathematics professor who taught Banh. "He was definitely the best student in the class, and also the most mature even though he was younger."
Lasiecka was so impressed that she helped Banh achieve admission to the Ph.D. program.
"Some of the other grad students still consider him a big kid, because he's so young," she said. "But his abilities are great. It's obvious that he's exceptionally gifted."
As for what's next for Banh, he is continuing his studies in mathematics, but is also considering going to law school instead.
Ramirez doubts he'll see anyone else accomplish what Banh did as an undergraduate.
"I've been here 39 years, so maybe it will happen again in another 39 years."
we all have GIFTS ... some just more than others ;)
Some more obvious than others. Mine?, I'm not so heavily gifted, BUT, I've used a smile and a willing heart to try to make small differences.
And I thought I was ahead of the game by graduating in 3 and 1/2 years with a double major.
alas, you are sharing your gifts .. what could be better ?
And it isn't like this kid was going to Troy or LATech or something...UVA is a good academic school too.
There are a lot of market and IT firms getting Math majors now....
I'm still working on my engineering degree. Unfortunately I screwed around for a couple years after high school :(
The highest level math classs taught at Thomas Jefferson are Linear Algebra and Complex Variables/Differential Equations.
My own son, who didn't go to TJ but another school in Fairfax (Robinson) took Linear Algebra in 11th grade and Complex Variables/Differential Equations in 12th grade.
For most high schools in the US, calculus is the most advanced class they can take in 12th grade. In Fairfax, these kids are taking calculus in 10th grade.
I don't even know what my son is taking in college as an econ major with a double minor in math and computer science, but my husband, who's an engineer with a year in grad school as a math major, hasn't been able to help him with his homework in years.
He takes one math class a semester. The kid in the story took several math classes a semester. That's how he did it in the short time he did it.
He placed out of his humanities courses and thus, was able to concentrate on math.
Everyone here seems stuck on the high school classes this kid took, and are not looking at the simple facts about his college career. There's no doubt this kid is bright. I don't know why most posters seem intent on trying to prove that - perhaps it has more to do with gloating about something in their own lives related to this story.
There are 2 basic contradictions in the story. The first is that college classes, especially upper level math and science and engineering classes, have a long chain of prerequites. What is studied in the latter courses is built upon knowledge from previous courses. Yes, this kid could've had 4 or 5 classes worth of math when he graduated HS. (Linear Algebra and DiffeQ would be a 2nd semester 2nd year class for most college students.) But for all majors, the majority of the classes in their field are taken the last 2 years. So him getting ahead still doesn't account for how he was able to skip the prerequisites that all the other students had to abide by.
Discrepancy #2 comes up if the school let him take his junior and senior level math and physics classes at the same time and skip the chain of prerequistes because they recognized his abilities, why didn't they just offer him a scholarship? The article states that money was the reason from him completing in 1 year. By all accounts, this kid should've been courted by numerous prestigious universities offering a full ride. It isn't logical. I think at least part of the story is fallacious.
Tuition, fees, room and board at UVA undergrad are about $17K per year (two semesters).
If his parents make too much money for student aid, I don't know any scholarships that will cover all that.
No doubt as a grad student he can become a TA and get an assistantship.
I don't see how it could have been all that difficult for him. I had only 5 credits from AP going into college, and it took me three years to get a degree in chemistry with a minor in math. Of course, I kept taking classes through the spring and summer semesters because I didn't have anything better to do.
I thought I was hot stuff with 15 hours of CLEP credits.
I went for 18 hours my first semester because I wanted to get out of being a freshman fast. My advisor looked at my selections and peered over his glasses and asked, "What's the hurry? You've got four or five years to finish all this."
I would have finished in three years, but changing my major three times kind of slowed things down. I ended up with two bachelors. History and English. Now I am useless in two whole fields.
I try to forget about law school.
The kids will probably make an excellent doctor and it sure won't hurt that he has Harvard on his resume or CV. Bottom line though is studies have shown no correlation to the school one attends and success in later life. People are successful because they want to succeed and have good work ethic, etc. Of course, some people are just lucky and know the right people too, but for the vast majority, it's lots and lots of hard work.
Thanks for the story.
In fact, I'm going back to school AGAIN - midlife career change - I love it and a lot of what I'm doing is pretty mundane but they refuse to let you test out of most of it so if that genius was allowed, lucky him. It's all about money of course. I have credits that transferred and some that didn't and I didn't have to take anything remedial, which btw, is another point. You wouldn't believe (or you probably would) how many students I meet (18-19 year olds) that are coming out of high school and can't place into the english and math 101 courses. It's a scourge on our society that the public high schools are not teaching these kids. What can I say?
I'm guessing that he didn't have a lot of time for dating.
I certainly didn't, and I was taking 18 hours a lot of the time, which was bad enough.
Then again, I was also editor of the college newspaper and actually tried to read the books I was supposed to and do the homework.
Some students don't lift a finger, so they have tons of free time. This guy probably did his homework. He has to be some kind of genius to still have time to party.
A friend of mine got really motivated as a senior to graduate as soon as possible, taking 21 hours and lots of CLEP tests, because during his junior year abroad, he got a girl pregnant!
He graduated a semester early, married her before the baby was born, got an assistantship, moved into graduate housing, and went on to bigger and better things, a Ph.D., a professorship, and eventually head of the department.
Ping
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