(Source: Associated Press)

Adjusting to the rigors of the Ivy League is hard enough. Try doing it when you're 15.

That's the challenge facing Brittney Exline, of colorado springs, who's beginning her college career this week at the University of Pennsylvania.

From the AP:

Brittney Exline is too young to vote, drive a car or go to an R-rated movie, but at the age of just 15 she is beginning her Ivy League career Wednesday when classes start at the University of Pennsylvania.

She said she doesn't really notice the age gap between herself and her 17- and 18-year-old peers - and neither do they.

"I didn't tell people right off the bat that I was 15," Exline said. "A lot of people were pretty surprised."

Exline grew up in Colorado Springs, Colo., where at 8 years she was already in sixth grade. By 13 she had finished high school math. She turned 15 in February and graduated a few months later.

She's not preoccupied with how unique her accomplishments are.

"I wouldn't even really realize that if people didn't tell me," she said.

She excels at math and science and is really interested in politics, so she enrolled in a Penn program that will award her degrees from both the engineering and liberal arts schools when she graduates in 2011.

But her resume also includes years of dancing and singing and a couple of teen pageant titles.

"Her motivation, discipline and maturity provided clear evidence that, despite her age, she was ready to travel halfway across the country and thrive in Penn's rigorous academic environment," Eric Kaplan, interim dean of admissions, said in a statement.

Makes you feel rather, uh, unaccomplished, doesn't it? How intellectually mature were you at 15?

Anyhow, best of luck to Brittney...and everyone else starting or returning to college.