A 19-year-old tech prodigy, Stanley Zhong, and his father, Nan Zhong, are suing 16 US universities after Stanley was rejected despite his exceptional academic achievements.

Zhong, who holds a 3.97 GPA and a 4.42 weighted GPA, scored an outstanding 1590 on the SAT, placing him among the top 2,000 test-takers out of over two million annually. At just 13, he had already received an offer to work a Ph.D. job at Google, and by October 2023, he had joined the company as a full-time software engineer.

Rejected by 16 universities

Despite his stellar credentials, Stanley was denied admission to 16 of the 18 universities he applied to, including five schools in the University of California (UC) system.

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According to the New York Post, he was rejected by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal tech, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell University, Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and the University of Wisconsin. He was accepted only at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Maryland.

Lawsuit against UC system

Frustrated by the rejections, Stanley and his father have filed a lawsuit against the UC system, alleging that the university discriminates against high-achieving Asian-American applicants. Notably, they are pursuing the case without legal representation, as multiple law firms declined to take on their claim.

“I did hear that Asians seem to be facing a higher bar when it comes to college admissions, but I thought maybe it’s an urban legend. But then when the rejections rolled in one after another, I was dumbfounded. What started with surprise turned into frustration and then finally it turned into anger,” his father told the Post.

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“There’s nothing more un-American than this. I don’t think [these schools] give a damn about the damage they’re doing to these kids,” he added.

Allegations of racial bias

So far, the Zhong family has filed lawsuits against the University of California system and the University of Washington, alleging that these institutions engage in discriminatory admissions practices that unfairly disadvantage highly qualified Asian-American applicants. They plan to file additional lawsuits against other schools.

In a 300-page lawsuit crafted with the assistance of AI tools ChatGPT and Gemini, the family claims that Stanley’s rejection from multiple UC campuses was motivated by racial bias.

“[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. Stanley’s experience is emblematic of a broader pattern of racial discrimination against highly qualified Asian-American applicants at UC,” the lawsuit states.

The family is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and “such other and further relief as [the] court deems just and proper.”

For now, Stanley has put his college plans on hold but has not ruled out pursuing higher education in the future. Following online backlash over his lawsuits, he has chosen to step away from media attention.