What do you do when you are rejected by 16 of the 18 universities where you applied? In Stanley Zhang’s case, he applied to Google for an open position as a Software Development Engineer and was offered the position.
Zhang graduated from high school with a 3.97 GPA and 1590 SAT scores. He also started his own tech company at 16 called RabbitSign, where he and his team created an e-signing application. He knew it was a longshot to be accepted by Stanford, MIT, Carnegie Mellon and UC Berkeley, but he wasn’t expecting to be rejected by so many of his home state universities of California. He could have attended 1 of the 2 universities that accepted him (University of Texas and University of Maryland). However, he decided to take a chance and apply directly to Google where they had an open position as a Software Development Engineer. After already receiving 16 rejection letters, he wasn’t concerned about receiving #17. At 18, he was hired by Google. As you read the article and/or watch the video, you will see that he plans to spend a year at Google and then decide if the time is right to reapply to higher education or continue working for Google. One thing for sure, having a resume with a year’s experience as a software engineer at Google right out of high school, combined with his GPA and SAT scores, only makes him a more desirable applicant to any university.
Setbacks can either be opportunities to grow or reasons not to grow. Stanley Zhang chose to grow. Click the link below to read and/or watch Zhang’s motivational response to his setbacks.
https://people.com/high-school-graduate-rejected-over-dozen-colleges-lands-jobs-at-google-8364398