Chang studies equations in her calculus class in the Armory.

Not many people can boast getting a 1490 on their SATs at age 12.

Zanetta Chang can.

Bouncing out of her calculus class in Reckord Armory last Tuesday sporting a Hello Kitty backpack, Chang, a bubbly and articulate 12-year-old from Glenn Dale, met her mom, Hui-yen Chang, in their usual pickup spot. This is her second semester at the university.

“Everyone treats her so nicely here,” Hui-yen said. Chang doesn’t seem bothered by the fact that she is at least six years younger than most of her classmates and laughs when asked if she gets any funny reactions from students and teachers. She said she’s “had experience being stared at.”

Chang, who usually e-mails her teachers before the first day of class to give them a heads-up, is taking three university classes this semester: intermediate Chinese, calculus I and piano. She also is taking two classes, chemistry and a computer programming course, at Prince George’s Community College. She started taking classes there two summers ago.

Many of the students filing out of her calculus class seemed used to the youngster’s presence. Ross Arnett, a freshman physics major, said he was “sort of surprised,” but that he was more surprised at how “down-to-earth” Chang is.

However, she has gotten some stronger reactions. In her biology class at community college last semester, she said a fellow student assumed she was the daughter of someone in the class. When they started a lab one day, she saw Chang participating and commented, “Shouldn’t your mom be doing that?” Chang replied that she was actually in the class.

Chang was 4 years old when a teacher first discovered she was ahead of her peers. Her kindergarten teacher at Catherine T. Reed Elementary School in Prince George’s County noticed Chang was bored during class and began keeping her in at recess so she could do extra work from higher grade levels, she said.

Chang then began home-schooling and teaching herself with educational workbooks, which continued until she started at the community college at age 10. She said she did a lot of the work on her own and, when asked why she wanted to, she shrugged, giggled and said, “I just did it.”

Chang has some close company as a young college student. Her brother, Zenas Chang, is a 16-year-old microbiology major who has been at the university since he was 11. In a phone interview, Zenas said he hopes to graduate soon and is considering medical school after graduation. His sister began taking college classes when she was 10, a year earlier than Zenas, and he jokingly said, “She’s kind of rubbing my face in that.”

Like Chang, Zenas was also home-schooled for several years, but spent a year at Eleanor Roosevelt High School when he was 10.

“I guess you could call me a high school dropout,” he said, laughing.

Zenas said he occasionally runs into his sister on the campus, usually when she needs a ride. Although they each made separate decisions to come to the university, Zenas said he thought his sister would feel comfortable at the large school.

Chao-hsi, their father, also agreed they made the right choice. “We think we have been lucky with Maryland,” he said. He and Hui-yen, who are both originally from Taiwan, are graduates of the university.

When asked if people are surprised when they find out he and his wife have two children who are under 18 and in college, he said, “We try to keep it low key … if people ask, we say it, but otherwise we don’t go out and broadcast.”

On top of her class schedule, Chang takes painting lessons and goes to a dance class twice a week. She said she also enjoys biking, horseback riding, drawing and reading fiction books. She gets to see most of her friends when her mom teaches them piano lessons at her studio.

Chang also has a talent for the piano. Last semester, she won the talent show at Prince George’s Community College, showing up other college students with two pieces. Her prize was a $500 scholarship to the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood, which takes place in August, but she said she is not sure she wants to go.

Cleveland Page, Chang’s piano teacher and piano chair at the university, has known her family for several years and referred to Chang as “very determined.” Before he began working with Chang, he was Zenas’ teacher. “They are really fun kids to teach,” Page said. “They work hard.”

Although Chang hasn’t declared a major, she said she is thinking about doing something with biology, like her brother is. She’s in no rush because, as she put it, “I still have plenty of time.”