Teen Tech Prodigy Behind $30M AI App Faces College Rejections Despite Impressive Achievements

Teen with 4.0 GPA who built the viral Cal AI app was rejected by 15 top universities | TechCrunch

Zach Yadegari, the high school teen co-founder of Cal AI, is being hammered with comments on X after he revealed that out of 18 top colleges he applied to, he was rejected by 15. Yadegari says that he got a 4.0 GPA and nailed a 34 score on his ACT (above 31 is considered a top score). His problem, he's sure -- as are tens of thousands of commenters on X -- was his essay. As TechCrunch reported last month, Yadegari is the co-founder of the viral AI calorie app Cal AI, which Yadegari says is generating millions in revenue, on a $30 million annual recurring revenue track. While we can't verify that revenue claim, the app stores do say the app was downloaded over 1 million times and has tens of thousands of positive reviews. Cal AI was actually his second success as well. He sold his previous web gaming company for $100,000, he said. Yadegari hadn't intended on going to college. He and his co-founder had already spent a summer at a hacker house in San Francisco building their prototype, and he thought he would become a classic (if not cliche) college-dropout tech entrepreneur. But the time in the hacker house taught him that if he didn't go to college, he would be forgoing a big part of his young adult life. So he opted for more school. And his essay said about as much. He posted the whole thing on X. It repeatedly said how he never planned on going to college and documented his experience making ever more money as a self-taught coder. He wrote how VCs and mentors reinforced the idea that he didn't need college. All until he had an epiphany: "In my rejection of the collegiate path, I had unwittingly bound myself to another framework of expectations: the archetypal dropout founder. Instead of schoolteachers, it was VCs and mentors steering me toward a direction that was still not my own," he wrote. College would help him "elevate the work I have always done" so he now wanted to learn from humans, not just books and YouTube. His penultimate paragraph declared, "Through college, I will contribute to and grow within that larger whole, empowering me to leave an even greater lasting, positive impact on the world." Despite the grades, test scores and real-world achievements, he was rejected by Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, Duke, and Cornell, among others. He was, however, accepted by Georgia Tech, University of Texas, and University of Miami. Still, his tweet about the many rejections went viral, with over 22 million views, more than 2,700 retweets and upwards of 3,600 comments. Many of the comments blasted the essay as "arrogant," saying that was the problem. Others blasted the college acceptance system as the problem (with all the usual criticisms there). Probably the more insightful comments were the ones pointing out that colleges are looking for candidates who seem thirsty for education and will likely graduate. His essay read like had barely convinced himself to attend. Even Y Combinator's Garry Tan weighed in on X, not with feedback for Yadegari, but with his own "confession" that he was also widely rejected and waitlisted on his college apps "because I rewrote my essays after reading Ayn Rand's 'The Fountainhead.'" Rand's Objectivism philosophy appears to be a permanently controversial topic, it seems. (Tan, however, did get into and attended Stanford.) Yadegari tells TechCrunch that he's still figuring out his next steps but was fascinated by the response his X post received. "It was interesting to see many different perspectives, but ultimately, I'll never know exactly why I was turned down. At the end of the day, when I wrote my essay, I hoped admissions offices would perceive me as authentic because that's all I ever want to be." Yadegari also says he's come to realize that business success isn't the greatest achievement of his 17-year-old life. Having obtained some of that, "I realized that life was not just about financial success," he said, "It is about relationships, and about being a part of a larger community."

A Teen Who Built an App Bringing in $30 Million in Annual Revenue Was Just Turned Down By 15 Top Colleges

Users on X suggested that Yadegari's personal statement was to blame. A high school teen behind an AI app generating $30 million in annual revenue just got rejected by 15 top colleges, including Ivy League schools like Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton. Tens of thousands of commentators on X are sure that it was his personal statement that got in the way. Zach Yadegari, the 18-year-old co-founder of the photo calorie app Cal AI, shared his experience with college admissions last week in a post on X. Yadegari disclosed that he had a 4.0 GPA and a 34 ACT score. ACT scores are reported out of a maximum of 36; Yadegari's score places him among the top 5% of test takers. He also had his app, Cal AI, as a project that he shared with colleges. Cal AI allows users to take a picture of the food on their plate and have the app automatically log the meal's calories and macronutrients. Yadegari released Cal AI in May, and in the eight months since its launch, the app has garnered over five million downloads and more than $2 million in monthly revenue, he told TechCrunch. Cal AI has a 4.8-star rating on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, with at least 80,000 reviews on each store. Related: A Teen With Cerebral Palsy Pitched a Creative Product in School. He Got a B- -- Then Grew the Business to $5 Million a Year Anyway. Despite Yadegari's achievements, he was rejected from 15 of the 18 schools he applied to, with only Georgia Tech, the University of Texas, and the University of Miami extending him acceptances. Yadegari posted screenshots of his personal statement, which described how he went from coding at the age of 7 to building Cal AI and interviewing his first employee to work on the app. The essay overarchingly tracked how Yadegari went from vowing to never attend college to wanting to attend university to connect with other students. "College, I came to realize, is more than a mere right of passage," he wrote. "It is the conduit to elevate the work I have always done." A user on X commented that Yadegari's personal statement signaled to admissions officers he would likely drop out. "Personal statement indicates that you're a high probability to drop out," they wrote. "So they gave your spot to someone that actually wants to graduate college." Over 20,000 other X users liked the comment. College applications to top schools have been on the rise. The New York Times reports that the Ivy-Plus schools, or the eight Ivy League colleges plus MIT, Duke, the University of Chicago, and Stanford, received more than triple the number of applications in 2022 than they did two decades prior. As of January, applications to colleges rose 7% compared to last year at the same time. More than 1.2 million high school students applied to college this year, submitting 6.7 million applications to colleges, according to Common App data. Average SAT scores have also slightly inched up over the past three decades. In 1994, the average score was 1,003, while in 2024, the average score was 1,024, per PrepScholar. Related: Teen Brothers Started a Side Hustle on Facebook Marketplace That's on Track for $1.2 Million This Year: 'Quit My Job and Went All In' Yadegari told TechCrunch that at the end of the day, he isn't sure why he was rejected from so many schools. He's still figuring out what he plans to do. "Ultimately, I'll never know exactly why I was turned down," he told the publication. Another X user asked why Yadegari wanted to go to college when he had already had professional experiences. "My motivation [for] going to college is just to have a social life," Yadegari replied.

No Ivy tag needed: Rejected by Harvard, MIT, Yale, and Stanford, this teen built a multi-million dollar company

Zach Yadegari, owner of a $30 million AI company, was rejected by several elite US universities despite his 4.0 GPA. His college admissions essay questioned the need for college but later expressed a new perspective. He was accepted into Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Miami.Zach Yadegari, an 18-year-old entrepreneur with a perfect 4.0 GPA and a thriving AI startup, was rejected by several top US universities, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford. His company, Cal AI, generates $30 million in annual revenue. After sharing his rejections on X, his story sparked widespread debate online. Yadegari's early interest in technology Yadegari began coding at the age of seven and created his first app by 12. At 16, he sold an online gaming business, paving the way for his latest venture, Cal AI. The company, founded during his junior year of high school, uses artificial intelligence to scan food images and track calorie intake. The app quickly became a leader in its niche, generating millions in revenue. Speculation over college admissions essay Many were surprised by Yadegari's rejection despite his strong credentials. Some online discussions suggested that his college admissions essay may have influenced the decision. In his essay, he initially questioned the necessity of college education, which some believed may not have been received well by admissions committees. An X user commented, "if this is how you represented yourself to MIT, I can understand why it would want to reject you." However, Yadegari's perspective on higher education evolved during a visit to Kyoto's Ryoan-ji rock garden. In his essay, he described how the experience changed his view, making him see college as an opportunity for learning rather than an obstacle. Accepted into Georgia Tech and University of Miami Despite rejections from Ivy League schools, Yadegari secured admission to the Georgia Institute of Technology, a top engineering school in the US. He was also accepted into the University of Miami, ensuring strong academic opportunities for his future.

Exclusive | Teen tech whizzkid's company made $30m last year but he was still...

An 18-year-old with a near perfect GPA founded a business which made $30 million in its first year -- but that isn't enough to woo college counselors these days. At least that's Zach Yadegari's experience as he was rejected by fifteen out of the eighteen schools he applied to, despite a 4.0 GPA and score of 34 on the ACT. The 18-year-old business founder shared his string of college rejections to X, where the post racked up more than 27 million views -- with many shocked by elite higher ed's apparent allergy to the entrepreneurial spirit. "I didn't expect to be accepted to all of these colleges, however, I did expect to at least be accepted to a couple of the top schools I was applying to," Yadegari told The Post. "I think that entrepreneurial accomplishments may not be fully appreciated." The Rosslyn, New York, public schooler is already a self-made success before graduation. He learned to code at age 7, was giving lessons at age 10, and had an app in the App Store by age 12. In his junior year, Yadegari founded Cal AI, an app that calculates how many calories are in a meal just by snapping a picture. It now makes tens of millions a year. Nonetheless, the teen applied early to the University of Pennsylvania, where he was rejected. During the regular decision round, he was turned down by Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Washington University in St Louis, Columbia, Princeton, Duke, USC, the University of Virginia, NYU, Vanderbilt, Brown, and Cornell. "I held out hope for Stanford, but then when I opened their rejection letter, all of the prior rejections just flooded in and really hit me at once," the Roslyn High School senior said. Ultimately, he was only accepted by Georgia Tech, the University of Miami, and the University of Texas. In addition to posting his rejections and acceptances, Yadegari shared his personal essay, which told the story of how he changed his mind about going to college. "I began my own journey fiercely independent, determined to forge my own path," he wrote. "Now, I see that individuality and connection are not opposites, but complements... In this next chapter, I want to learn from humans -- both professors and students -- not just from computers or textbooks." His brutal application results sparked a fierce debate online. "Honestly though, is college for startup founders[?]," one user asked. "The skills you are seeking are not to be found in college. "To its core, college should be for people who fundamentally want to further research and science, not job seekers. You're clearly on your way without it, do they need you?" "Zach, don't change a thing about yourself," another user responded. "Go forth boldly, with the confidence you display here. One day those same universities will come begging to you to grow their endowment. Laugh in their faces and keep doing what you do." Elsewhere in his personal essay he wrote: "One million dollars of revenue. In the last 30 days ... Was this hedonistic treadmill of capitalism what the rest of my life was designated for? ... In the rejection of the collegiate path, I had unwittingly bound myself to another framework of expectations: The archetypal dropout founder." Yadegari believes admissions officers didn't appreciate his business ventures. "I'm convicted in my belief that the admissions offices are not adequately weighting building a company and opening up jobs compared to other extracurricular activities such as volunteer work," Yadegari told The Post. Of course there's no way to hear the deliberations that went on inside of these ivy-covered admissions offices, but he very well may be right. Rather than encourage runaway success, colleges can hold back kids with professional escape velocity. Academia has clearly not been a hospitable place for precocious entrepreneurs. Cases in point include Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, and Larry Ellison who are all dropouts, although it should also be pointed out they left to pursue their businesses which were on the path to becoming household names. Colleges frequently teach kids what to think, rather than how to think. They often push rote memorization, crush creativity, and funnel students through onerous requirements. It's a massive, expensive, and time consuming conformity process. Perhaps Yadegari's willingness to admit that he once was opposed to going to college was a turnoff to admissions officers -- but they should be glad to have won back one of the growing number of young people who are skeptical of the value of college. More than two thirds of Zoomers believe they don't need a degree for success. "There definitely is growing skepticism [about college]," Yadegari said of his peers. "I think [my results] could discourage people who are trying to follow a similar entrepreneurial path from applying to these schools." Yadegari says he will probably head to one of the three colleges that admitted him, though he's not sure he'll make it through four years. "I'm just going to go to build relationships, and then at whatever point I think I'm ready to move on to the next stage of my life, I will," he said. One college admissions consultant explained that attitude may have been apparent through Yadegari's personal statement and worked to disadvantage him. The statement offers "no clear reason why he would benefit from attending college ... At its essence, the personal statement must convey who the candidate is beyond his or her accomplishments and how they'll uniquely contribute to the campus," Christopher Rim, founder and CEO of college admissions consultancy firm Command Education, told The Post. But Yadegari's whole experience is more illuminating as proof that being too precocious -- or even being confident enough to admit that you don't necessarily need college -- is a turnoff to elite higher ed. Colleges want to mold students into their own vision of a model citizen. Someone who arrives on campus already walking the walk -- and raking in $30 million in their own right -- is a threat to that model.

18-year-old millionaire CEO of AI company rejected by 6 Ivy League schools - VnExpress International

Zach Yadegari, the 18-year-old CEO and founder of a healthcare startup, revealed that he was rejected by multiple prestigious U.S. universities, including six Ivy League schools. Yadegari leads Cal AI, a nutrition-tracking app that uses artificial intelligence to analyze food images and monitor calorie intake. Under his leadership, Cal AI has experienced significant growth, reportedly generating US$30 million in annual recurring revenue and surpassing one million downloads. In an interview with Yadegari in November 2024, Forbes wrote: "In an era where artificial intelligence is revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, a 17-year-old high school senior is making waves in the health and fitness tech space. Zach Yadegari, co-founder and CEO of Cal AI, has built a nutrition tracking app that's challenging legacy industry giants by leveraging AI and innovative marketing strategies." Despite his business success, a 4.0 GPA, and an impressive ACT score of 34 out of 36, Yadegari faced rejection from several prestigious universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. On April 1, Yadegari publicly shared on his X account the list of 18 universities he applied to, revealing he was accepted by only three: Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, and Miami University. The 15 institutions that rejected him included top-tier universities such as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Stanford, and MIT. His post has since garnered over 27.3 million views. In another post on X, also shared on April 1, Yadegari published his college admissions essay. In the essay, he described beginning programming at age seven and earning $30 an hour teaching others by age 10. By 12, he had launched his first app, and at 16, he left an online gaming company. He founded Cal AI while still in high school, and the app quickly grew, generating millions in revenue. Initially, Yadegari didn't think university was necessary, stating strongly that "I will never go to college," but later changed his mind, feeling he was "missing something." "College, I came to realize, is more than a mere right of passage. It is the conduit to elevate the work I have always done. In this next chapter, I want to learn from humans-both professors and students -- not just from computers or textbooks." "Now, I see that individuality and connection are not opposites, but complements. We are all individuals, but we are also part of something larger. Through college, I will contribute to and grow within that larger whole, empowering me to leave an even greater lasting, positive impact on the world," he wrote. While many commenters suggested the universities that rejected him missed out, others speculated that his previously strong stance against college education, expressed in the essay, may have contributed to his rejection. Despite not gaining admission to Ivy League schools, Yadegari remains optimistic. Among the universities that accepted him, Georgia Tech is renowned for its engineering and technology programs, while the University of Miami offers other promising opportunities. Many believe Yadegari's entrepreneurial success highlights that traditional academic pathways are not the only routes to success.