Published on 12:00 AM, March 12, 2011

<i> A schoolgirl of 11 with an IQ of 162</i>


She is 11 years old and enjoys swimming and playing the recorder. But while Victoria Cowie insists she is just like any other girl her age, in one respect she is very different.
The schoolgirl has just been admitted to Mensa after scoring 162 in an IQ test better than the 160 thought to have been achieved by Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates.
The result puts her in the top 1 per cent of the British population in terms of intelligence.
Victoria, who has been offered scholarships to four prestigious fee-paying schools, said: 'When I got the results, I was really surprised.
'It's quite daunting to be compared to great minds, but it feels good also to be thought of as that clever.
'I really enjoy puzzles and working things out and I think I'll go on to study sciences, especially biology, when I'm older.'
Victoria took the adult admission tests for Mensa, the society for people with a high IQ.
As well as surpassing brilliant scientists and Microsoft founder Mr Gates, her score gives her a higher IQ than Sigmund Freud, who is thought to have had an IQ of 156, Napoleon Bonaparte, with 145, and Hillary Clinton, with 140.
Only those with an IQ of 148 and above the top 2 per cent of the population qualify for Mensa. The average IQ is 100.
Her mother Alison, 44, said she was proud of her daughter. 'When she was at nursery she had the reading ability of a child twice her age and she won science awards at school,' Mrs Cowie added.
'We always knew she was clever she was always in the top sets and her teachers always praised her but we never quite thought she'd be in Mensa.
'She's just a normal child to us. She likes acting, dancing and singing and she's not the kind to always have her head stuck in a book.'
Mrs Cowie added: 'We've never pushed her or put pressure on her we're definitely not pushy parents.
'Victoria does what she wants to do and we just give her the option. I just wish she'd tidy her room more.'