12-year-old prodigy to study bachelor’s degree at New York University on scholarship

12-year-old Soborno Isaac Bari is graduating from Malverne High School, becoming the youngest graduate in the school's history. He plans to earn a Ph.D. and become a professor. This fall, he will attend New York University on a scholarship to study math and physics.

The “prodigy” memorised the periodic table when he was 2. In 2020, when Soborno was 7, he started getting invitations from colleges in India to teach. He teaches at Indian universities three times a year, CNN reported.

Soborno, also spelt as Suborno, will graduate from the New York high school on July 3. He skipped several grades, such as 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th and 11th, while completing only 4th, 8th, 10th and 12th grades. He passed the New York State Regents exams to graduate. One of the educators, Rebecca Gottesman, has called Soborno a"prodigy".

"I can say without any doubt that Soborno is the most exceptional student I've ever met academically. He's really a prodigy," CNN affiliate WABC-TV quoted the director of K-12 school counselling at Malverne Union Free School District as saying.

Gottesman explained that they had agreed for Soborno to take high school courses at his middle school. He attended eighth-grade core classes in the morning. Then, he took a bus to the elementary school to join his fifth-grade peers for electives and after-school activities.

Soborno youngest student at NYU

Soborno, skilled in painting, debate and piano, could make history at NYU when he starts his bachelor of science degree. A university spokesperson has told the Bari family that, as far as NYU knows, no one younger than Soborno has been admitted.

Rashidul Bari, Soborno’s father, is a Math Faculty at the City University of New York and a Doctoral candidate at Columbia University, as per his LinkedIn bio. He said, 10 years back, they found Soborno exceptionally bright while teaching him basic math.