University of Austin calls rejections ‘perplexing’
A high school senior who built an AI app that generates $30 million annually revealed that he was rejected by 15 of the 18 colleges he applied to.
Zach Yadegari wrote in a recent post on X that he scored a 34 on his ACT, earned a 4.0 GPA, and created a highly successful app that tracks calories by taking pictures of food.
Yadegari showcased his app, Cal AI, in his college applications. Within eight months, the app has racked up over five million downloads and $2 million in monthly revenue, TechCrunch reported.
In his essay portion of his applications, which he included in a reply to the post, Yadegari states that he sold an online gaming website he created for six figures by the age of 16.
18 years old
34 ACT
4.0 GPA
$30M ARR bizStanford ❌
MIT ❌
Harvard ❌
Yale ❌
WashU ❌
Columbia ❌
UPenn ❌
Princeton ❌
Duke ❌
USC ❌
Georgia Tech ✅
UVA ❌
NYU ❌
UT ✅
Vanderbilt ❌
Brown ❌
UMiami ✅
Cornell ❌— Zach Yadegari (@zach_yadegari) April 1, 2025
Still, only the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, and the University of Miami accepted his applications.
Yadegari also wrote in his essay that he initially hesitated to go to college, as professional mentors told him it wasn’t necessary. Later, he realized he’d be missing out on a meaningful life experience by skipping it.
“In my rejection of the collegiate path, I had unwittingly bound myself to another framework of expectations: the archetypal dropout founder,” Yadegari wrote.
“I realized that life was not just about financial success; it is about relationships, and about being a part of a larger community,” he wrote.
His tweet went viral, garnering over 27 million views. Thousands of users responded to the post, including the University of Austin, which called the rejections “perplexing.”
The school also shared its admissions process in the post. Students with an SAT score of 1460 or higher, an ACT score of 33 or higher, or a CLT score of 105 or higher are automatically admitted.
For those below that threshold, the policy will look at student applicants’ AP scores and three sentences about their achievements, The College Fix previously reported.
Yadegari is not the only accomplished college applicant to face multiple rejections.
Stanley Zhong, a 19-year-old with a 4.42 GPA and nearly perfect SAT score, was rejected from 16 of the 18 colleges he applied to. Meanwhile, Google offered him a PhD-level job, The College Fix reported.
Zhong and his father filed a lawsuit against the University of California system in February, alleging discrimination against Asian-American applicants.
“[Stanley’s admissions] results stand in stark contrast to his receipt of a full-time job offer from Google for a position requiring a PhD degree or equivalent practical experience,” the lawsuit states.
“Stanley’s experience is emblematic of a broader pattern of racial discrimination against highly qualified Asian-American applicants at UC,” it states.
MORE: New lawsuit targets U. California system, alleges race-based admissions
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Zach Yadegari in a podcast interview; BrettMalinowski/Youtube
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