ANAHEIM : Teen Math Whiz Does Well With No Diploma

Like most 16-year-olds, Paat Rusmevichientong doesn’t like to study more than he absolutely has to.

“I study maybe three days a week, and I like to take lots of breaks,” he said. “I like to goof around a lot; I go to movies and play poker with my friends.”

Sound more like a high school dropout than a math whiz? Actually, Rusmevichientong is both.

Last year, the Anaheim teen-ager dropped out of high school because he couldn’t find classes that challenged him. After signing up for the honors math series at Orange Coast College, he joined the math team and quickly became the star.

This year he placed fifth in the nation at a competition sponsored by the American Mathematical Assn. of Two-Year Colleges.

“He is extremely talented, one of the top two or three people I have seen in my career,” said OCC math professor Art Moore. At 16, Rusmevichientong is doing work on a graduate school level, Moore said.

Even while carrying 25 units (12 units is considered full time), Rusmevichientong walked away with all As. In fact, he has never gotten a B in his academic life.

Despite that, on the wall of his room is taped a rejection letter from Harvard University.

“That is a reminder,” he said, “that I can do better.”

Rusmevichientong was warned by his relatives and OCC counselors that he might find getting into top schools more difficult if he dropped out of high school and became a full-time student at OCC.

But even without a high school diploma, Rusmevichientong will transfer to UC Berkeley this fall as a junior.

Despite his accomplishments in math, he is not sure what his major will be. He said he is excited about the chance to explore a variety of different of academic subjects.

“Literature interests me, and philosophy; I am interested in so many different things,” he said. “I hate it when people think that people who are good at math are just a bunch of nerds.”