A 13-year-old from Long Island, New York, is preparing to enter a master’s programme at New York University, continuing an academic journey that has already seen him complete milestones years ahead of the usual timeline.
Joe Petraro-Hyppolite is expected to begin his NYU master’s programme next year while still completing his undergraduate degree. According to CBS News, he is due to graduate from his undergraduate programme in May 2027.
The teenager has an IQ of 168 and has been pursuing higher education alongside students considerably older than him.
His academic record includes scoring 1,590 on the SAT at age 10 and earning his high school diploma when he was 11, CBS reported.
From high school to graduate school
Petraro-Hyppolite has attended Louisiana State University and is now preparing for graduate-level study at NYU.
His planned master’s programme will focus on sports management, with additional study in kinesiology and biology.
“My master’s is going to be sports management but other than [that] it’s also kinesiology and biology,” he said.
Despite the unusual pace of his education, Petraro-Hyppolite said he is approaching the next stage with both excitement and some understandable nervousness.
“New doors are opening,” he said.
His age can also become a point of surprise in ordinary university life. According to the report, fellow students sometimes react when they discover that the student sitting alongside them is only 13.
His academic path was not always straightforward
The teenager’s mother, Anne Petraro-Hyppolite, said his accelerated academic progress is particularly striking because he was previously placed in special education classes after being diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.
She described his continued appetite for learning as remarkable.
Petraro-Hyppolite himself offered a less extraordinary explanation for his achievements: he learns.
“It’s not like I was shot out the womb knowing everything I know,” he said, explaining that he still needs to study material before mastering it.
That distinction is significant. His story is not simply about exceptional test scores or an unusually high IQ, but also about how quickly he has progressed through formal education.
Beyond academics
Petraro-Hyppolite also spends time volunteering, including helping residents at a nursing home in the Five Towns area of Long Island.
His interests extend beyond his current academic path. Although he is preparing for graduate studies in sports management, kinesiology and biology, he has said he eventually hopes to become a palaeontologist.
If his education proceeds according to plan, he could complete his master’s degree at roughly the same time that he reaches the legal driving age.
For now, the 13-year-old’s immediate challenge is less about age than about keeping up with an academic trajectory that has already taken him from high school to university and now toward graduate school years earlier than most students.
