This 16-Year-Old Student Just Graduated from Texas A&M

She’s headed to another Texas school for her PhD.

By Brenda SalinasMay 20, 2015 7:57 am

Noel Jett, 16, graduated from Texas A&M University on May 16th with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the college of Liberal Arts. Next on her agenda? Giving back to others like her. She spoke to host David Brown from College Station.

Jett says she blasted through 17 years of school by the age of 16 through homeschooling, taking exams to place out of grades and enrolling in community college courses. By the time she was 14, she had transferred to Texas A&M as a sophomore in college.

Many students who progress through school at an accelerated pace lack the socialization that other students benefit from. Jett says that hasn’t been a problem for her.

“I definitely am glad – of course every child is different, and you’ll hear that a million times in your lifetime – but some people really need that social thriving-ness,” she says.

She had friends who elected to stay with their age range in school.

“While they had people their age, the social setting was still strange because they were still out of place,’ she says. “They were with age peers but not academic peers or mental peers.”

So what’s next? She’ll be enrolling in the University of North Texas at Denton to work on a Ph.d in educational psychology with a focus on gifted and talented children and youth.

“I’m so excited because so much of what I have has been blessings from other people and I want to be part of the network of people that gives back to gifted children,” she says. “I want to give back emotionally.”