A highschool teen behind an AI app producing $30 million in annual income simply received rejected by 15 high schools, together with Ivy League colleges like Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton. Tens of 1000’s of commentators on X are certain that it was his private assertion that received in the way in which.
Zach Yadegari, the 18-year-old co-founder of the picture calorie app Cal AI, shared his expertise with school admissions final week in a publish on X. Yadegari disclosed that he had a 4.0 GPA and a 34 ACT rating. ACT scores are reported out of a most of 36; Yadegari’s rating locations him amongst the highest 5% of check takers.
He additionally had his app, Cal AI, as a challenge that he shared with schools. Cal AI permits customers to take an image of the meals on their plate and have the app mechanically log the meal’s energy and macronutrients. Yadegari launched Cal AI in Might, and within the eight months since its launch, the app has garnered over 5 million downloads and greater than $2 million in month-to-month income, he advised TechCrunch.
Cal AI has a 4.8-star ranking on the Apple App Retailer and Google Play Retailer, with no less than 80,000 opinions on every retailer.
Regardless of Yadegari’s achievements, he was rejected from 15 of the 18 colleges he utilized to, with solely Georgia Tech, the College of Texas, and the College of Miami extending him acceptances. Yadegari posted screenshots of his private assertion, which described how he went from coding on the age of seven to constructing Cal AI and interviewing his first worker to work on the app.
The essay overarchingly tracked how Yadegari went from vowing to by no means attend school to desirous to attend college to attach with different college students.
“Faculty, I got here to comprehend, is greater than a mere proper of passage,” he wrote. “It’s the conduit to raise the work I’ve at all times accomplished.”
A person on X commented that Yadegari’s private assertion signaled to admissions officers he would probably drop out.
“Private assertion signifies that you are a excessive likelihood to drop out,” they wrote. “So that they gave your spot to somebody that really desires to graduate school.”
Over 20,000 different X customers appreciated the remark.
private assertion signifies that you are a excessive likelihood to drop out
so that they gave your spot to somebody that really desires to graduate school
— WPA ?? (@warpaul) April 1, 2025
Faculty functions to high colleges have been on the rise. The New York Occasions experiences that the Ivy-Plus colleges, or the eight Ivy League schools plus MIT, Duke, the College of Chicago, and Stanford, obtained greater than triple the variety of functions in 2022 than they did twenty years prior.
As of January, functions to high schools rose 7% in comparison with final 12 months on the identical time. Greater than 1.2 million highschool college students utilized to school this 12 months, submitting 6.7 million functions to high schools, based on Frequent App information.
Common SAT scores have additionally barely inched up over the previous three many years. In 1994, the typical rating was 1,003, whereas in 2024, the typical rating was 1,024, per PrepScholar.
Yadegari advised TechCrunch that on the finish of the day, he is not certain why he was rejected from so many colleges. He is nonetheless determining what he plans to do.
“In the end, I will by no means know precisely why I used to be turned down,” he advised the publication.
One other X person requested why Yadegari wished to go to school when he had already had skilled experiences.
“My motivation [for] going to school is simply to have a social life,” Yadegari replied.
This text is a part of our ongoing Younger Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of being a younger enterprise proprietor.