She Is One of the Top 50 Smartest People in the World

Meet Saheela Ibraheem, A 19-Year-Old Nigerian Harvard Student

She is no ordinary teenager. She is now 19 but entered Harvard at the age of 15 to study ehm, you know Neurobiology; whatever that means.

She was honoured by President Barack Obama at the white house during last month's black history event. Obama said of her: Saheela is like one of the 50 smartest ones. That’s pretty smart. And she’s a wonderful young lady. She’s like the State Department and the National Institute of Health all rolled into one.

With a SAT score of 2,340, Saheela applied to fourteen universities in 2011, gaining admission into thirteen of them (Stanford, MIT and Cornell included). She decided on Harvard, choosing to study neurobiology with the intention of becoming a research scientist who studies the brain. Still, Saheela is modest about her achievements and believes that with effort and the right kind of support, anyone can achieve greatness. “I try my best in everything I do,” she said. “Anyone who’s motivated can work wonders.”

One more thing... this little teenager speaks four different languages fluently - Arabic, Spanish, Latin and you can guess English.

To allay any fear or doubt as to if she is a normal girl, she loves loves to listen to music, play logic puzzles and read manga.