Meet Zach Yadegari—18-year-old millionaire entrepreneur—turned down by Harvard, MIT, Stanford
02 Apr 2025

Zach Yadegari, an 18-year-old tech prodigy and millionaire, has been rejected by several prestigious American universities.

Although he boasts a stellar academic record with 4.0 GPA and a successful start-up, he was still denied admission to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford and MIT, among others.

The New York-based teen, whose AI firm Cal AI generates $30 million in annual revenue, took to X to reveal the colleges that rejected his application.

Yadegari's journey into the world of tech and entrepreneurship
Early start

Yadegari's foray into tech started at a tender age. He began coding at just seven, and launched his first app at 12.

By 16, he had already exited from a successful online gaming business. His latest venture, Cal AI, was launched during his high school junior year.

The app uses AI to track calories from food images and quickly became the fastest-growing in its category with millions in revenue.

Securing admission to Georgia Institute of Technology
College acceptances

While he was rejected by several top-tier institutions, Yadegari did get into the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), one of America's top engineering colleges. He also got into the University of Miami.

The low acceptance rate shocked many X users, with some blaming it on his sense of entitlement and a bad college admissions essay.

College admissions essay sparks interest
Personal reflection

In his college admissions essay, Yadegari revealed that he had once thought higher education was unnecessary.

However, a visit to the Ryoan-ji rock garden in Kyoto changed that, and he began to see college as an opportunity to learn, not an obstacle.

He wrote, "College, I came to realize, is more than a mere rite of passage. It is the conduit to elevate the work I have always done."