Joe Petraro-Hyppolite, a 13-year-old from Long Island, New York, has been accepted into a master’s programme at New York University, adding another unusual academic milestone to a record of achievements reached years ahead of the typical timeline.
Petraro-Hyppolite says he has an IQ of 168. By the age of 10, he had scored 1590 on the SAT, and at 11 he had already earned his high school diploma. He is now pursuing an undergraduate degree at Louisiana State University, where he studies alongside students considerably older than him.
The next step will take him to NYU, although not immediately. Petraro-Hyppolite plans to complete his undergraduate degree in May 2027 before beginning the master’s programme. His intended field is sports management, with additional study in kinesiology and biology.
Speaking to CBS News New York, Petraro-Hyppolite said he feels both nervous and excited about the prospect of entering the master’s programme.
His academic path has been especially striking given the difficulties he faced earlier in childhood. His mother, Anne Petraro-Hyppolite, said Joe was once placed in special education classes after being diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.
She said his curiosity and enthusiasm for learning have remained central to his development.
“He just loves to learn. He is like a sponge,” Anne said.
For Petraro-Hyppolite, however, his academic abilities are not a substitute for effort. He has pushed back against the idea that being gifted means knowledge comes automatically.
“It’s not like I was shot out the womb knowing everything I know. I have to learn it,” he said.
That distinction is reflected in the path he has taken so far. Rather than simply moving through school at the standard pace, he has progressed through major academic milestones years earlier than most students, eventually entering university while still a child.
His planned master’s studies at NYU will mark another step in that accelerated education. For now, though, he still has an undergraduate degree to complete at LSU before he can begin the next stage of his academic career.
Petraro-Hyppolite’s story also illustrates the less predictable side of exceptional academic development. His early placement in special education and later acceleration through high school and university represent very different stages of his education, while his own comments suggest that his achievements have involved sustained learning rather than an effortless ability to know everything.
At 13, he is already preparing for a university programme that many students would not encounter until years later. His immediate goal remains straightforward: finish his undergraduate degree in 2027, then move on to NYU to study sports management alongside kinesiology and biology.
The master’s programme will come later. For Petraro-Hyppolite, another academic milestone is already on the horizon.
