Zach Yadegari, an 18-year-old tech entrepreneur with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a 34 ACT score, was turned down by 15 of the 18 colleges he applied to—including every Ivy League university—despite creating a $30 million health-focused AI app.
Yadegari is the developer of Cal AI, a calorie-counting app powered by artificial intelligence.
His success in the tech world came early, yet that didn’t translate into college admission offers from top-tier institutions like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT.
“I think college admissions place students in a rigid rubric that makes it tough for entrepreneurs like me to stand out,” he told Fox News.
Yadegari said he applied to prestigious schools, including Stanford, Duke, NYU, USC, Washington University, Vanderbilt, UVA, and Georgia Tech—receiving only three acceptances: the University of Miami, Georgia Tech, and the University of Texas.
He admitted the rejections were emotionally difficult, especially after being turned down by Stanford. “That was the final blow. All the earlier rejections hit me at once,” he told The Post.
Despite his success, Yadegari still hoped to experience the social side of college life. “I’m 18—I want to hang out with other 18-year-olds. I’m not ready to jump straight into the business world,” he said.
Yadegari, who began coding at age 7 and published his first app on the Apple Store at 12, has now officially committed to attend the University of Miami. He shared the update with his followers on X, writing: “Update: I officially committed to UMiami.”
