Malibu resident Danielle Krasner will attend Yale grad school this fall.
By Olivia Damavandi / Special to The Malibu Times
Admittance to the Yale University doctorate program of molecular biophysics and biochemistry is no small feat for anyone at any age, but while most 16-year-olds are typically getting ready to take the SAT to get into college, Malibu resident Danielle Krasner already has her bachelor’s degree and, in five years, will have her Ph.D.
Krasner will be attending graduate school at Yale this fall to pursue her dream of becoming a research scientist.
After finishing 5th grade at Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, Krasner met with a counselor from Malibu High School only to reach the conclusion that none of the offered classes were advanced enough for her. So she attended a private middle school and, soon after graduating, directly attended Cal State Los Angeles instead of high school.
Upon her acceptance to Cal State Los Angeles, at age 13, through the university’s early entrance program, Krasner had not yet ascertained her career path until she “fell in love” with biochemistry.
“I have liked the sciences since elementary and middle school, and knew that I wanted to do something with them,” Krasner said in a telephone interview. “Cal State Los Angeles gave me the opportunity to try out different kinds of sciences. When I took classes at CSLA, I fell in love with biochemistry. The whole thing is amazing, how biology and chemistry work so well within the body.”
Though she said she hadn’t always planned to go to graduate school while in her teens, Krasner picked Yale over the University of Pennsylvania, USC and UC Davis after speaking with professors at those schools.
“After doing some research on graduate schools, I concluded that UCLA and Yale had the best locations and programs. I loved Yale the most, right from the interview. Everyone talks about the vibes you feel from a place, and I definitely felt those from Yale,” she said.
Krasner talked about what it felt like to be the youngest graduate student on Yale’s campus.
“Everyone had heard there was a 16-year-old graduate student, but nobody knew it was me,” she said. “I was in a group of people who were trying to find out who it was, and finally, on the last day, they figured it out.
“Most of my friends are college students,” Krasner continued. “Sometimes, they treat me differently. If they’re older than me, they treat me maternally or paternally, and when they’re my age they’re just pretty surprised and treat me normally.”
Krasner’s parents, Paul Krasner, a computer programmer, and Ann Krasner, an artist, expressed that their main concern over their daughter’s departure to the East Coast is her safety.
“Although we believe she can handle everything, we are still a bit afraid,” Paul Krasner said. “We are concerned about her safety, if she is mature enough to be on her own so far away from home.”
While some children strive for excellence to gain their parents’ approval, Krasner’s motivation is completely self-induced.
“They [my parents] are very supportive and never pressure me,” Krasner said. “They want me to do well but they worry that I’m moving so far away. I don’t think they like that very much, but they’re really happy for me and they are completely supportive of all my decisions.”
When asked if there were any early signs during her childhood that indicated Krasner was mentally gifted, her parents replied with an amalgamation of achievements.
“At the age of six, she was required to take an IQ test in order to apply to the Mirman School for Gifted Children. She scored a 146,” Paul Krasner said (most people average between a score of 85 and 115). “After an hour and a half of testing, the psychologist who administered the test told her mother that Danielle surprised her with an exceptional sense of humor for her age.”
He added, “Danielle was always ahead in math and sciences in her class in elementary school, even though when she started kindergarten she did not speak English, only Russian.”
The language barrier was not a problem for Krasner, who automatically skipped two levels in math, mastered algebra II in one weekend and studied French, Spanish, Latin and Russian at the same time upon entering the Mirman School for Gifted Children.
Krasner’s parents have played an enormous role in getting her to where she is today. Ann Krasner, who has a degree in mathematics, believes that “many children in Malibu are very talented, they just need to be challenged from an early age. We did it with Danielle and it worked out; multiplication tables by the age of four, graduating college by the age of sixteen.”
“We have always looked for ways to challenge her,” added Paul Krasner. “We also believe in developing broad ranges of interests in children. For example, Danielle studied piano (of course she gave it up after eight years when her brother showed an unusual talent in music and surpassed her just after two months of studying), played the violin, learned ballet at Malibu Ballet Studio with Joana Jarvis, swam at the high school pool, took tennis lessons, skied, snowboarded, and became certified in scuba diving at the age of 1twelve.”
Both parents acknowledge that part of their daughter’s success would not have been possible without the “support and understanding of many people in Malibu, like the principal, teachers, and administrative staff of Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, middle school counselor at Malibu High School, Liz Cowgill, and our friends and neighbors. We would like to thank them all. We truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child.”
After Yale, Krasner plans to focus on cancer research. “Something to do with medicine, nothing’s set in stone just yet,” she said.
But until her first day of classes on Sep. 3, Krasner plans to relish in the enjoyment, shared by many 22-year-olds, of having earned a bachelor’s degree.