Shankar Vedantam

He decided to apply to the psychology program at Carnegie Mellon University and to focus his application essay on his pet peeve with standardized tests.

He argued that these tests did not reveal the true potential of students.

But Scott didn't give up.

He came up with a new idea.

What if he applied to another department at the same school?

Scott's voice teacher in high school thought he could become a professional opera singer.

Could he get into Carnegie Mellon via the opera program?

Scott's favorite song in high school was Stars from Les Miserables.

He sang it all the time, including at a performance in his senior year, a few months before his audition.

What is the grief?

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Scott mentally prepared himself for the path of an opera student.

By then, his second semester, he signed up for an intro to psychology course.

He quietly transferred into the psychology department.

Soon, he was learning about intelligence and the science of IQ tests.

His goal from the very start was to tear down the edifice of IQ testing, but he felt he had to go into the lion's den first in order to tear it down.

By the time he was 20, Scott had talked his way into a spot at Cambridge University in England, working with one of the most prominent researchers on the science of intelligence.

What are you doing, Scott?

What are you doing?

But Scott's mentor, Nick McIntosh, set him at ease.