Meet Yevin, the 16-year-old tech guru with a Master’s Degree and a perfect GPA score of 4.0 out of 4.0.
At the age of 16, Yevin Goonatilake has earned both a Bachelor’s degree (undergraduate) and a Master’s degree (postgraduate) in Computer Science from George Mason University in the USA. With each degree, he gained a perfect 4.0 GPA.
The Leesburg, Virginia, native made university history by being the youngest individual ever to get a master’s degree from George Mason University (GMU). Five months previously, he completed his undergraduate degree at the top of his class, as reported by Northern Virginia Magazine.
“Doing things earlier than other people is what I’ve been doing my entire life. You don’t have to follow the general trend”, Yevin revealed in a statement.
George Mason University is ranked among the top 60 public universities in the USA.
The parents of Yevin are both computer science engineers. They both spotted his gift and love for numbers at the age of 3. At the age of 11, Yevin had already earned enough academic credits to enroll at Northern Virginia Community College.
He completed his associate degree at Northern Virginia Community College in 2023 with a perfect GPA before he transitioned to GMU. At GMU, he was accelerated into a bachelor-master’s program.
However, most of his course work were conducted online because of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, which made him advance and also continue his programme without the academic community not knowing his age. When asked if he had told anybody his age before, he said he does not recall any incident as such. “I don’t think I told anybody,” Yevin said.
Aside Yevin’s academic prowess, he is also a professional cricket player, where he balances the stress of training, traveling for games, and tournaments alongside his academic schedules. He revealed that playing cricket gives him a social and physical advantage to stay grounded.
In terms of his next steps, Yevin is considering pursuing a PhD to teach and conduct research, but he is open to alternative options.
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