She’s Just Graduated College And Is Starting Her Ph.D. — And She’s Only 18 And Nigerian

While many students have just graduated from high school, 18-year-old Nigeria native (half Igbo, half Yoruba) Nkechinyere Ebunoluwa Chidi-Ogbolu is not your typical teen.

Chidi-Ogbolu just graduated Magna cum laude from Howard University with a degree in chemical engineering — making her the youngest person to graduate from Howard this year, and one of the youngest in Howard’s history. .

But that’s not all for Chidi-Ogbolu. She’s now preparing to start a Ph.D. program at the University of California-Davis after the summer ends. She’ll be studying biomedical engineering with a focus on creating and discovering new medicines. .

“I’ve always been interested in the medical field,” she told USA TODAY College. Chidi-Ogbolu said she’s always been the youngest person in her classes. .

While most students from Nigeria graduate high school at the age of 16, Chidi-Ogbolu finished high school particularly early, at 14, since she skipped 5th grade and attended an accelerated high school. .

After high school, she left Nigeria for America and enrolled full-time at Howard University, on a full scholarship. Leaving her parents in Nigeria was difficult. “I spoke to my mom almost every day on the phone — for over an hour almost every time. .

My dad and I talked really often too,” Chidi-Ogbolu says. Her hard work paid off on February 7, when she received her acceptance letter from UC-Davis. “It was definitely a wonderful moment,” she says. .

She’s also working on a book, provisionally titled Tales of an Uber Minor in College. While she says she’s super busy, she does set aside free time to relax. .

Chidi-Ogbolu also has some advice for teens her age. “Don’t limit yourself because you think you can’t do it or because no one you know had done it,” she advises. “You can always be the exception to the rule and end up being exceptional.”