She’s a big fan of Disney’s Frozen, and loves playing with her dolls. But Esther Okade is also a university undergraduate after starting a degree at the age of ten. Esther, one of the UK’s youngest university students, is studying for a mathematics degree with the Open University.
She enrolled three weeks ago and is already top of the class, scoring 100 per cent on a recent test. Esther, from Walsall, in the West Midlands, isn’t the only member of her family with a talent for numbers – her six-year-old brother Isaiah is already taking an A-level in mathematics.
Her mother, Efe, said applying to the university was “an interesting process because of her age.” She said: “We even had to talk to the Vice Chancellor. “After they interviewed her they realized that this has been her idea from the beginning. “From the age of seven Esther has wanted to go to university. “But I was afraid it was too soon. “She would say, ‘Mum, when am I starting?’, and go on and on and on.
“Finally, after three years she told me, ‘Mum I think it is about time I started university now.” Esther applied in August, and after a phone interview, an essay and a mathematics examination, she finally got the news in December that she had been accepted onto the course. “She was flying,” said Efe. “She was so happy.”
“She is doing so well. She took a test recently and scored 100 per cent. “Esther talks about running her own bank one day,” added Efe. “She has a lot of plans, and talks a lot about finances. “She says she wants to be a millionaire.
“Isaiah is following in his sister’s footsteps. He is doing calculus and advanced algebra. “Even when he was in my tummy Esther was already teaching him.” Esther isn’t the youngest child ever to be enrolled on a university course. In 1981 Ruth Lawrence, from Brighton, passed the Oxford exam at 10 years old. She graduated in 1985 at the age of 13 with a first class degree in Mathematics.
