On the outside, Billy Rooney seems like an average high school senior. He plays the guitar, his close friends are a creative bunch interested in everything from writing to photography, and he spends the majority of his free time driving around Orange County with them in his 1991 Mercedes or playing the newest video game.

Upon deeper examination, however, it is clear that Billy Rooney is not average at all. If his IQ is any indication, he is well above average. At least the Massachusetts Institute of Technology seems to think so. The school, which admits a mere 9% of applicants, has not only offered Billy a place in their class of 2013, but has also agreed to foot the bill for his four years there.

“I applied to MIT because of the school’s reputation and the strength of their programs in science and mathematics,” explains Billy. “I didn’t expect to get in, and not because I didn’t think that I could handle it, but because people told me it would be too difficult for me to do so, being from such a small town and applying to such a competitive school.”

Nevertheless, Billy was accepted. He discovered that he was after checking the school’s website on a friend’s computer, where he found a letter with the word ‘congratulations’ on it. “I was surprised,” he says, “and concerned for a moment that it was a mistake. Then I rushed to tell my mother the good news. She cried and told me that she was so proud and so excited, and that I was going, no matter the cost.”

A week after finding out he was accepted, Billy received a package in the mail from MIT. “The first thing I saw when I opened it was the financial aid offer,” he says. “My jaw dropped—it was everything. Tuition, room and board, books, meals, and even travel expenses. My mom started jumping up and down in excitement when I showed her.”

His mother’s happiness only served to make the moment sweeter for Billy—she is, after all, his greatest role model after Einstein. “She doesn’t quit,” he describes, “and she doesn’t get put down. She’s this unstoppable force who will do anything and everything to achieve her goals. She’s always told me that I can do anything…I owe it to her to aim as high as I can.”

To those who know him well, it is no surprise that Billy’s mother is his greatest inspiration. His father passed away when he was nine, leaving her to raise three sons on her own. “What she’s always tried to do,” he explains, “is raise us well enough that we can stand on our own and better ourselves.” Billy’s admission to MIT proves that she has done just that. Her son will be the first person in his family to ever attend college, and he is attending the university ranked fourth in the nation by US News and World Report.

Billy credits his admission to MIT not solely on test scores or grades, but on his teacher recommendations and on his interview with one of the school’s alumni, which, he says, “went really well”. He also feels lucky to be a student at GHS. “I feel that I have learned a lot here, and the friends I have made have helped me to learn, grow, and have fun.”

GHS has also been incredibly supportive, says Billy, since the day of his acceptance. The reaction of friends and teachers to his admission has been overwhelming. He laughs, saying, “It seems like a lot of people have found out without me telling them. Everyone has been really excited, though. I’ve heard a lot of, ‘you deserve it’, and people have been telling me that they’re proud of me.”

Proud they are, but most are not surprised. Billy has been long known as one of the school’s whiz kids, and he is the person his classmates go to when they need help with an impossible assignment. For many, his answers are as trustworthy as any teachers’ are.

Though it would take most students hours of studying every night to achieve the grades Billy does, he doesn’t study at all. “I have a good memory, and I find it boring to look over what I already know,” he says. This method seems to work for him. Billy’s exemplary grades allowed him to skip the seventh grade, and he has a cumulative GPA of over 100. “I’ve been lucky enough to get through high school with a lax attitude,” he says. “I’ve always done all of my work, but, at the same time, I don’t mind setting aside work to go out with friends.”

Billy’s favorite subjects in school are math and science. With numbers, he likes the idea that there are an infinite number of problems and solutions, and with science, he enjoys trying to understand the phenomena that surround him. “Just because we don’t understand something now,” he says, “doesn’t mean we can’t understand it someday.”

Getting a better understanding of the world is just one of the many things Billy hopes to do at MIT. “I want to get to know everyone who is there,” he says, “and see what other people have learned, and then learn it, too. I want to learn everything that I can.”

Billy’s goals for the future include getting a degree in either mathematics or physics. He hopes to then use it to find a job where he can make new discoveries. “At some point,” he says, “I want my career to consist of me just sitting and thinking. That’s a big goal of mine.” He grins, adding, “That, and catching every Pokémon in every Pokémon game.”

The goal may seem unrealistic, yet one thing is certain—if anyone can catch ‘em all, it’s Billy Rooney.