Yevin Nikhel Goonatilake, a 15-year-old from Leesburg, has made history as the youngest student to graduate from George Mason University with a 4.0 GPA.
The teen, a “computer science prodigy,” officially earned his bachelor’s degree from the school’s College of Engineering and Computing at GMU’s graduation ceremony on December 19.
“Doing things earlier than other people is what I’ve been doing my entire life. Personally, I think more people could do it if they want to,” Goonatilake said. “You don’t have to follow the general trend. That’s not necessarily for everybody.”
The teen is also enrolled in GMU’s Bachelor’s/Accelerated Master’s Program, which means he’ll graduate again in May 2025 with a master’s degree in computer science. He will be the youngest master’s graduate ever at GMU.
Goonatilake is the child of two computer science engineers who saw that he was gifted in mathematics around age 3. After homeschooling, Goontilake was ready to enroll in courses at Northern Virginia Community College. When he took the SAT, he earned a near-perfect 790 points (out of 800) on the math exam and a 1530 overall score out of 1600.
He graduated from NOVA in 2023 with an associate’s degree and a 4.0 GPA as the youngest student since the school started keeping electronic records in 1975.
Next, he started his coursework at GMU at age 13. Goonatilake says he didn’t tell anyone his age when he first got started. At that time, it was the norm on campus to wear a face mask due to the pandemic, so that helped him blend in with his peers.
Goonatilake is not the only young student to ever graduate from GMU — there was a 13-year-old grad in 1972 and a math major who graduated with a bachelor’s and a master’s at age 17 in 2017 — but he is the youngest to do so with a 4.0 GPA.
In addition to academics, Goonatilake plays cricket for the Baltimore Royals Sunny Sohail Cricket Academy, a minor league team.
He plans to continue to pursue cricket and wants to play for USA, and he is working on plans to enroll in a PhD course soon, NBC4 Washington reports.
Feature image by by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding
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