Rejected By 16 Colleges, Accepted by Google

Techie Sues US University for Racial BiasMr Zhong and his father, Nan, are suing the UC system claiming that the university is prejudiced against high-achieving Asian-American students.

19-year-old Stanley Zhong and his father, Nan Zhong, are suing 16 US universities which rejected his applications even though he was an exceptionally good student. Mr Zhong, with a 3.97 GPA and 4.42 weighted GPA, received an impressive 1590 on the SAT, putting him in the top 2,000 of more than two million test-takers each year.  He even had a job offer to do a PhD-level position at Google when he was only 13, according to the New York Post. Years after, he took up Google's offer of employment and has worked as a full-time software engineer since October 2023.

But his impressive academic history did not assure him a place in his wanted college. In spite of his brilliant credentials, he was turned down by 16 of the 18 colleges to which he applied, including five University of California campuses.

According to the Post, Mr Zhong was turned down by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin. He was accepted into only two schools - the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Maryland.

Disappointed by the rejection, Mr Zhong and his father, Nan, have sued the UC system, claiming that the university discriminates against high-achieving Asian-American applicants. Interestingly, they are proceeding with the case without the aid of lawyers, as several law firms refused to accept their case.

The Zhong family has so far sued the University of California system and the University of Washington, claiming that these universities practice discriminatory admissions policies that discriminate against highly qualified Asian-American applicants. They intend to sue other schools as well.

In the 300-page complaint written with the help of AI software ChatGPT and Gemini, the family accused him of being denied admission to several University of California campuses based on racial prejudice.

For the time being, the teenager has shelved plans for college but not ruled out going on to higher education later. After internet criticism over his lawsuits, he's opted out of media spotlight.