Meet Perth’s youngest university students, born in 2010

Perth student Maisy Grierson was thrilled to find out she had been accepted into the psychology course at Curtin University. At just 13 years old, she was the youngest to ever start the degree.

She is also one of the youngest people attending university in Western Australia with just 12 students including Maisy being born in 2010 – all at the same university.

Maisy Grierson, 13, is a student studying psychology at Curtin University.Credit: Holly Thompson

While students are not allowed on campus at Curtin until they turn 15, Maisy is studying online whilst also completing high school, and is enrolled through Open Universities Australia.

She grade-skipped twice – from kindergarten to pre-primary and then year 7 to year 8 – before realising being in a school environment was not for her.

She then began homeschooling with her mother Alison Grierson, who was a high school teacher.

Working ahead of the school curriculum but wanting even more of a challenge, Maisy then turned to university, already dreaming of becoming a criminal psychologist.

Other universities limited entry to the psychology course to 16 years old, but Curtin did not. This has since changed, but Maisy was allowed to stay on after enrolling in the second semester of 2023, just after turning 13.

She is studying two units per semester on top of her school work.

“I’m really enjoying it. The hours aren’t anywhere near as bad as I thought they were going to be,” she said.

“I think the hardest thing was getting the study times right for all the assignments and exams, and figuring out when I needed to study and how long before, but the rest is just fun.”

Her mother said it had been important to her to make sure Maisy was ready before agreeing to let her enrol at university.

“I needed to know that she was going to be okay before I said you can do it. I didn’t want her to flounder,” Grierson said.

“It’s a challenge, but she needs a challenge. She thrives when she’s given something to work at, rather than when she was at school, and it was just a little slow and repetitive.”

Although she can’t go on campus, Maisy is hoping to do more group work in the coming year and meet some of the other students in person.

She said she enjoyed working with students of all ages and the age gap between herself and other students did not bother her.

Her plan is to finish her undergraduate degree in psychology by the time she turns 18, before taking on a second degree in criminology.

Curtin University is the only university in WA with students born after 2008 enrolled. For all the others, the youngest students are at least 15 years old.

Many courses, including at Curtin, require students to be 16, or turning 16, before enrolling.

A Murdoch University spokesman said the family of any domestic students under 18 would need to be interviewed before the student was enrolled.

An academic chairperson would then be consulted and would monitor the student to provide support if needed.

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