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Child geniuses always make the news because of their amazing accomplishments, especially when they graduate college while still young. Many of these individuals have gone on to earn multiple degrees and are now adults doing amazing work as lawyers, doctors, and professors. Who is the youngest person to graduate college?
Source: UGC
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Graduating when you are young is undoubtedly an impressive achievement. Over the years, a few people have graduated from college several years before they hit their teens or in their early teen years. Discover some of the youngest college graduates showcasing their remarkable achievements and the impact they have made in their respective fields.
Who is the youngest person to graduate college?
Education often comes with milestones, but some young achievers have broken the norm by completing college long before their peers. These young achievers prove that age is not a barrier to achieving greatness. Below are some of the youngest college graduates who achieved this feat at a very young age.
| Name | Age (at the time of graduation) |
| Michael Kearney | 10 |
| Adragon De Mello | 11 |
| Laurent Simons | 11 |
| Moshe Kai Cavalin | 11 |
| Eugenie Carys de Silva | 11 |
| Tanishq Abraham | 11 |
| Sho Yano | 12 |
| Clovis Hung | 12 |
| Gregory Robert Smith | 13 |
| Ruth Lawrence | 13 |
| Alia Sabur | 14 |
| Erik Demaine | 14 |
| Carson Huey-You | 14 |
| Kim Ung-Yong | 14 |
| Kathleen Holtz | 15 |
1. Michael Kearney
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 18 January 1984
- Age at graduation: 10
- Graduation year: 1994
- Degree: BA in Anthropology
- School: University of South Alabama
Michael Kevin Kearney is an American college teaching assistant and game show contestant. He holds the Guinness World Record for being the youngest college graduate. In 1994, he graduated from the University of South Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology at 10 years and 4 months old.
Despite being diagnosed with ADHD, he excelled academically, later earning numerous master’s degrees and a doctorate. At 21, Kearney had collected four undergraduate degrees and a year later, he received his doctorate in chemistry.
2. Adragon De Mello
Source: UGC
- Date of birth: 8 October 1976
- Age at graduation: 11
- Graduation year: 1988
- Degree: Computational Mathematics
- School: University of California
Adragon De Mello is recognised for being one of the youngest college graduates in history. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, with a degree in computational mathematics in 1988 at age 11.
At the time, he became the youngest college graduate in U.S. history, a record that was later broken in 1994 by Michael Kearney. Adragon is the only child of Cathy Gunn and Agustin Eastwood De Mello.
3. Laurent Simons
Source: Getty Images
- Year of birth: 2009
- Full name: Laurent Simons
- Age at graduation: 11
- Graduation year: 2021
- Degree: BA in Physics
- School: University of Antwerp
Laurent Simons is a Belgian child prodigy who has stunned the world with his exceptional academic achievements. Born in 2009, he completed high school at the tender age of six and earned a bachelor’s degree in quantum physics at the University of Antwerp in July 2021 at the age of 11.
He earned the record as the youngest 11-year-old university graduate at Antwerp University. Simon began his studies at TU Eindhoven at the age of nine; however, he left the university before completing his degree due to disagreements with the institution.
4. Moshe Kai Cavalin
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 1998
- Age at graduation: 11
- Graduation year: 2009
- Degree: Associate’s degree in Mathematics
- School: East Los Angeles Community College
Moshe Kai Cavalin was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1998 to a diverse family background. His mother is Taiwanese, and his father is Brazilian. Moshe Kai attended East Los Angeles College, graduating with a near-perfect GPA.
Cavalin graduated from East Los Angeles College with a degree in mathematics in 2009 at the age of 11 and has been working at NASA since 2015. He later graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.
5. Eugenie Carys de Silva
Source: UGC
- Date of birth: 16 June 1998
- Age at graduation: 11
- Graduation year: 2013
- Degree: BA in Intelligence Analysis
- School: American Military University
Eugenie Carys de Silva was born on 16 June 1998 in Manchester, England. Her father is a Sri Lankan-born Physics and Chemistry Professor. She is an academic widely recognised for being the youngest person to ever graduate from Harvard University.
Eugenie started high school at age 9 and graduated from the University of Missouri High School at age 11. At 11, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Intelligence Analysis from American Military University and completed a master's degree in Intelligence Studies from Harvard University at 13. She also holds numerous degrees from various notable universities.
6. Tanishq Abraham
Source: UGC
- Date of birth: 10 June 2003
- Age at graduation: 11 years
- Graduation year: 2015
- Degree: Associate’s Degree
- School: American River College
Tanishq Abraham's parents are Bijou Abraham, a software engineer, and Taji Abraham, a veterinarian. He is an American child prodigy who became widely known for his exceptional intellectual abilities from a young age.
He graduated high school at 10 years old with a 4.0 GPA. At 11 years old, he obtained 3 Associate Degrees also with a 4.0 GPA. At 14 years old, he graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering. He recently graduated at 19 years old with a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
7. Sho Yano
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 22 October 1990
- Age at graduation: 12
- Graduation year: 2003
- Degree: BA in biology
- School: Loyola University Chicago
Sho Timothy Yano is an American physician. He is a former child prodigy and has an estimated IQ of 200. He was born on 22 October 1990 in Portland, Oregon, United States. His mother, Kyung, is from South Korea, while his father, Katsura, is from Japan. Yano was reading at age 2, writing at age 3, and composing music at age 5.
At age nine, Yano graduated from the American School of Correspondence. At age 12, he earned a BS in biology at Loyola University Chicago. He then received his PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology and an MD from the University of Chicago.
8. Clovis Hung
Source: UGC
- Year of birth: 2010
- Age at graduation: 12 years
- Graduation year: 2023
- Degree: 5 Associate’s degrees in Science and Mathematics, Social Behavior and Self-Development, Arts and Human Expression, Social Sciences, and History
- School: Fullerton College, California
Clovis Hung was born in 2010 in Southern California, United States. In 2023, he gained widespread attention as one of the youngest graduates in the world, earning five associate degrees from Fullerton College in California by the age of 12.
His remarkable accomplishments include degrees in History, Social Sciences, Social Behaviour and Self-Development, Arts and Human Expression, and Science and Mathematics.
9. Gregory Robert Smith
- Date of birth: 9 June 1989
- Age at graduation: 13
- Graduation year: 2003
- Degree: BA in Mathematics
- School: Randolph-Macon College
Gregory Robert Smith was born on 9 June 1989 in Pennsylvania, USA. By the time he was 14 months old, Gregory could recite books from memory, and by age two, he could solve math problems.
Gregory began high school at the age of seven and graduated within a few years. He later graduated from Randolph-Macon College at the age of 13. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times for his work advocating for children’s rights.
10. Ruth Lawrence
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 2 August 1971
- Age at graduation: 13
- Graduation year: 1985
- School: University of Oxford
- Degree: BA in Mathematics
Ruth Lawrence was born in Brighton, England, to Harry Lawrence and Sylvia Greybourne. She is a mathematician, professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology.
In 1985, at the age of 13, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. She became the youngest British person to gain a first-class degree and the youngest to graduate from the University of Oxford in modern times.
11. Alia Sabur
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 22 February 1989
- Age at graduation: 14
- Graduation year: 2003
- Degree: BA in Applied Mathematics
- School: Stony Brook University
Alia Sabur is an American materials scientist who holds the record for being the world's youngest professor. Sabur was born in New York City, New York. She attended Stony Brook University, where she earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and graduated at the age of 14.
She then pursued further education in materials science and engineering at Drexel University. The Guinness Book of World Records named Sabur the World's Youngest Professor, replacing Colin Maclaurin's mathematics Professorship at the University of Aberdeen at the age of 19.
12. Erik Demaine
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 28 February 1981
- Age at graduation: 14
- Graduation year: 1995
- Degree: Computing Science
- School: Dalhousie University
Erik D. Demaine is a Canadian-American professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former child prodigy. He was born on 28 February 1981, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to Martin L. Demaine and Judy Anderson. Erik was home-schooled until entering university at the age of 12.
At 14, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in Computing Science from Dalhousie University in Canada. He later earned a Master's degree in Mathematics at age 16 and a PhD at age 20 from the University of Waterloo. At twenty, Demaine became the youngest Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
13. Carson Huey-You
Source: UGC
- Date of birth: August 2002
- Age at graduation: 14
- Graduation year: 2017
- School: Texas Christian University
- Degree: BA in Physics
Carson Huey-You is a child prodigy who is the youngest person to graduate from college in the state of Texas and among the youngest in the world. He was born in July 2002 to Claretta Kimp and Andre Huey-You, a former pilot. His parents divorced when he was very young.
Carson graduated from Texas Christian University on 13 May 2017 at the age of 14 with a bachelor's degree in physics. In late 2019 at age 17, he obtained a master's degree in physics.
14. Kim Ung-Yong
Source: UGC
- Date of birth: 8 March 1962
- Age at graduation: 14
- School: Colorado State University
- Degree: Ph. D. in physics
Kim Ung-Yong is a South Korean civil engineer and former child prodigy. Born on 8 March 1962, he gained international attention for his incredible IQ, which was measured at 210. Kim entered university at the age of 4 and received an invitation to work at NASA at 7.
He completed his university studies and eventually earned a Ph.D. in physics at Colorado State University before he was 15.
15. Kathleen Holtz
Source: Getty Images
- Date of birth: 1989
- Age at graduation: 15
- Graduation year: 2004
- School: California State University, Los Angeles
- Degree: BA in Philosophy
Kathleen Holtz, born in 1989 in California, United States, is known for becoming the youngest licensed attorney in California's history. Kathleen started college when she was ten.
In 2004, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from California State University, Los Angeles, at the age of 15. She joined UCLA School of Law and completed her Juris Doctor three years later.
Who was the youngest to graduate college?
The youngest person to ever graduate from college is Michael Kearney. He graduated from the University of South Alabama in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree at the age of 10 and went on to earn several degrees.
Who is the 11-year-old college graduate?
There have been a few exceptional 11-year-old college graduates over the years. One notable one is Tanishq Abraham, who graduated with an Associate’s Degree from American River College.
Who is the youngest person to ever graduate from Harvard?
Eugenie Carys de Silva is the youngest person to ever graduate from Harvard University. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Intelligence Analysis from the American Military University at 11.
Michael Kearney is the youngest person to graduate college, earning a bachelor’s degree at just 10 years old. Other prodigies who graduated exceptionally young include Moshe Kai Cavalin and Alia Sabur. These graduates have defied age norms and achieved remarkable academic success.
Legit.ng recently published an article about the most popular teen actors in Hollywood and beyond. Hollywood is evolving, with many teen actors bringing fresh talents to the industry.
Popular teen actors are known for their outstanding roles in various notable Hollywood movies and television shows. Aiden Arthur and Noah Schnapp are some of the famous teen actors in Hollywood. This article lists some of the popular Hollywood actors who are below 20 years old.
Source: Legit.ng
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