Google vs College: Google hires 18-year-old as software engineer after 16 colleges reject him
Despite his achievements, Stanley was rejected by 16 out of the 18 colleges he applied to as a computer science major
- Oct 16, 2023,
- Updated Oct 17, 2023 7:19 PM IST
Stanley Zhong, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Palo Alto, California, has been hired by Google as a full-time software engineer. This comes after he faced rejection from 16 colleges, including prestigious Ivy League and state schools.
Stanley, a graduate of Gunn High School located in the heart of Silicon Valley, had an impressive academic record with a 3.97 unweighted and 4.42 weighted GPA. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SATs and even launched his own e-signing startup, RabbitSign, during his sophomore year (can be equated to 10th standard in India). He claims that his startup could become important as the physical signing of documents might soon be a thing of the past.
Despite his achievements, Stanley was rejected by 16 out of the 18 colleges he applied to as a computer science major. The list includes top-tier institutions like MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. He was accepted only by the University of Texas and the University of Maryland. Initially, Zhong considered opting for the course at the University of Texas but chose the Google campus for a full-time job as a software engineer, over the college campus.
According to a report by ABC’s 7 News, Zhang was surprised after being rejected from the colleges. However, he did acknowledge that college admissions are complicated especially in Ivy League and top colleges. He also believes that his pool of applicants which includes some of the best talent in computer science is highly competitive.
Rejected by:
- MIT
- Carnegie Mellon
- Stanford
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
- UCSD
- UCSB
- UC Davis
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- Cornell University
- University of Illinois
- University of Michigan
- Georgia Tech
- Caltech
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin
Accepted by:
- University of Texas
- University of Maryland.
Zhang’s story has caught the attention of Congress in the United States. A witness brought up Stanley’s case during a hearing about affirmative action at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Affirmative action is a decades-old effort to diversify campuses which was outlawed in June by the US Supreme Court at most colleges and universities.
Also read: 'Condemn this historic evil': Google CEO Sundar Pichai vouches to fight antisemitism in workplace
Also read: Indian-American ex-Google exec Aparna Chennapragada to lead Microsoft’s generative AI efforts
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine
Stanley Zhong, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Palo Alto, California, has been hired by Google as a full-time software engineer. This comes after he faced rejection from 16 colleges, including prestigious Ivy League and state schools.
Stanley, a graduate of Gunn High School located in the heart of Silicon Valley, had an impressive academic record with a 3.97 unweighted and 4.42 weighted GPA. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SATs and even launched his own e-signing startup, RabbitSign, during his sophomore year (can be equated to 10th standard in India). He claims that his startup could become important as the physical signing of documents might soon be a thing of the past.
Despite his achievements, Stanley was rejected by 16 out of the 18 colleges he applied to as a computer science major. The list includes top-tier institutions like MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. He was accepted only by the University of Texas and the University of Maryland. Initially, Zhong considered opting for the course at the University of Texas but chose the Google campus for a full-time job as a software engineer, over the college campus.
According to a report by ABC’s 7 News, Zhang was surprised after being rejected from the colleges. However, he did acknowledge that college admissions are complicated especially in Ivy League and top colleges. He also believes that his pool of applicants which includes some of the best talent in computer science is highly competitive.
Rejected by:
- MIT
- Carnegie Mellon
- Stanford
- UC Berkeley
- UCLA
- UCSD
- UCSB
- UC Davis
- Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
- Cornell University
- University of Illinois
- University of Michigan
- Georgia Tech
- Caltech
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin
Accepted by:
- University of Texas
- University of Maryland.
Zhang’s story has caught the attention of Congress in the United States. A witness brought up Stanley’s case during a hearing about affirmative action at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Affirmative action is a decades-old effort to diversify campuses which was outlawed in June by the US Supreme Court at most colleges and universities.
Also read: 'Condemn this historic evil': Google CEO Sundar Pichai vouches to fight antisemitism in workplace
Also read: Indian-American ex-Google exec Aparna Chennapragada to lead Microsoft’s generative AI efforts
For Unparalleled coverage of India's Businesses and Economy – Subscribe to Business Today Magazine