Wise beyond her school years
Monica Jain started college this fall at age 15, making her the youngest of Boston University's 29,000 students. The Arizona native rocketed through her school years, skipping kindergarten and the 6th grade, then finishing 11th and 12th grades at the same time. Also a musician and dancer, she plays the violin, flute, and the Indian keyboard, and has also trained in Indian classical and modern dance. One part of the college experience she's missing out on is the nightlife. After classes, she goes home every night to Natick, where her family moved because Monica is too young to live in the dorms. Interview by Globe correspondent E. Jeanne Harnois.
ON GRADUATING FROM HIGH SCHOOL WITH HER OLDER BROTHER: At first he didn't like it too much, because I was his little sister and I wasn't supposed to be with him in the same class, that sort of thing. But we started working together a lot and we really bonded over the past year, so it actually worked out really well. He graduated rank number 2, and I graduated rank number 4, so we were pretty close together.
WHY BU? I was really interested in biomedical engineering, and I want to go into medicine, as well. They have a program through which I can apply to medical school in my sophomore year. I just found that was something I wanted to do.
HOW PROFESSORS TREAT A 15-YEAR-OLD: They know I'm looking to learn just like the rest of them, and I'm on the same level as the rest of them, so they haven't treated me any differently. They just make sure that I'm doing OK in class and that it's working out well.
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM: Sometimes I meet friends, and we study together or hang out together. I'm in the BU Indian Club, and through that I came upon Jalwa, which is an Indian dance group. I tried out for that and made it, so we are going to be doing performances and shows throughout the year.
FITTING IN: I have a completely varied group of friends. I can't say that there is a specific group of people that I hang out with. . . . They're in different grades, and they are all different races and cultures.
ON LIFE OUTSIDE THE DORMS: The minimum age to live in the dorms is 16, and I just turned 15 this past June. That's why we moved to Natick, so that I could live at home and commute. There are a lot of late-night activities and club meetings and that sort of thing that I can't attend, because it's too late at night for me to be able to either stay at school or go home and come back. I haven't been to any party yet, but I'm thinking that with that I would have to leave early.
ON LIVING IN A HEALTHCARE POWERHOUSE: I've been to a lot of the hospitals. They're really nicely built, they're completely modern, they have all of the new equipment. I was just amazed at how up-to-date Boston is, how modern they are in everything. I was very surprised; I really like that.
HAVE YOU GOTTEN INTO ANY UNUSUAL SITUATIONS? When people ask me why I don't live on campus, and I tell them that I'm 15, their jaw drops and they're like, ''What? How can you be 15?" They say, ''You don't look 15; you don't act 15." They're just extremely surprised. They would have never guessed. It's pretty funny to me to watch their reactions.
YOU HAVE A GIFT THAT MOST PEOPLE DON'T HAVE -- BASICALLY, AN EXTRA THREE YEARS OF YOUR LIFE: Yeah, I thought about it, and I think that with that I can be more specialized in what I want to do in medicine. I'm really interested in neurosurgery, so being able to have three extra years will give me more time to learn about the profession and get to know it really well and be able to make myself a better doctor in the future. So I just have more time than other people to do what I want to do. I find that very special.
