Teen Tech Entrepreneur Behind \$30M Health App Rejected by All 8 Ivy League Schools

Tech prodigy Zach Yadegari, 18, who holds a perfect 4.0 GPA and a 34 on the ACT, was surprisingly turned down by 15 of the 18 colleges he applied to — including all eight Ivy League schools.

Yadegari, a successful tech entrepreneur, has already amassed over $30 million in revenue from his AI-powered calorie tracking app, Cal AI, even before starting college.

Despite his academic and entrepreneurial accomplishments, he was rejected by every Ivy League institution as well as MIT, Stanford, Washington University, Duke, USC, the University of Virginia, NYU, and Vanderbilt.

The teen described the college application process as turbulent and disheartening, given his notable achievements.

According to Yadegari, the widespread rejections may stem from the fact that he doesn’t fit the mold of what elite universities typically seek, suggesting that these institutions prefer applicants who “fit in a box.”

“I think that college admissions tries to place students in this rubric, a very tight box, that makes it difficult for students with achievements outside of school, like an entrepreneur, to really stand out,” he told Fox News.

Yadegari shared that his desire to attend college stemmed from missing out on “a lot of social events” in recent years, highlighting his longing for a more typical college experience despite his entrepreneurial success.

“I’m 18, I want to hang out with other 18-year-olds. I don’t want to go straight into the business world, just yet,” he added.

The University of Miami, Georgia Tech, and the University of Texas were the only institutions to accept Yadegari’s application, amidst the rejections from other top universities.

“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 teen, who started coding at the age of 7 and had his first project on Apple’s App Store by 12, revealed that he only began to feel the weight of his situation after receiving a rejection from Stanford.

“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,” Yadegari previously told The Post.

Despite the mental anguish, Yadegari is not letting it affect him. He compared his situation to other successful entrepreneurs who thrived without higher education. He has now decided to attend the University of Miami.

“Update: I officially committed to Umiami,” Yadegari wrote to his followers on X.