Hired by Google as L4 but rejected by top colleges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It tells something wrong as 16 out of 18 colleges reject his application. With higher education, Stanley can be trained more valuable for his skill set to serve the nation. If this rejection case happens to many talented students, it will be the loss of the nation.

Stanley is already trained.

There is potential for him to go through the training of master, phd programs. He has the potential to develop more advanced technology with these advanced training. It’s not just the training for a job. In my humble opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anyone from U Md computer science dept on this forum?

U Md should try and convince him to come to U Md - There are many national opportunities for him Nearby …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So many lame excuses for plain and simple racism on this thread. Sad!

100%

If this was a black or Hispanic kid that had these stats and got shut out, the tune would most certainly be different.

And the saddest part is that most of these posts are from people that consider themselves anti-racist.

I agree that there is a lot of racism on this thread. We are all speculating and hopefully the parents and student gets an answer on what happened.

Maybe the student was just unlucky, but jumping to the conclusion that this happened because he is Asian is not supported by the evidence that is available to us via the article. Most of the schools the student applied to do not take race into consideration and many admit students primarily on stats. Looking at the list, besides targeting schools with good computer science programs, it seems like the student also picked schools where being Asian shouldn’t penalize him based on the school demographics, and prior admissions practices.

We don’t know what his essay was like, or if his teachers wrote weak recommendation letters. However, I doubt his essay or rec letters were terrible given that he got into Texas and Maryland. Also, CalPoly doesn’t even have essays or rec letters. University of Washington also doesn’t have recommendation letters.

This happens more often than not and should not be explained by the usual excuses such as bad essays, bad LoR etc. It is racism pure and simple.

My DC graduated in the top 1% of TJ and was rejected by 7 out of 8 schools applied to with 4.0/4.6+ GPA and 1600 SAT and ton of awards, Chem Olympiad, various ECs, writing awards, leadership positions, advanced orchestra, National Merit Scholar, volunteer awards etc. etc.

and your son could have had bad essays and LORs. You can rule it out because he's your son but that's not reality.

"bad" essays are subjective, as are LOR.

I thought the UC system does not do the LOR

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t seem well rounded. Very one dimensional. All he does is computers.

+1

-1 I just went through the college app cycle last year. Colleges looking for "well rounded" is not necessarily true. They look for people who have passion, leaders.

The problem for this guy is that he is 1. Asian and 2. CS major. Those two combinations are already a heavy strike against you.

3. And he is a male. He has a higher chance if he's bi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t seem well rounded. Very one dimensional. All he does is computers.

+1

-1 I just went through the college app cycle last year. Colleges looking for "well rounded" is not necessarily true. They look for people who have passion, leaders.

The problem for this guy is that he is 1. Asian and 2. CS major. Those two combinations are already a heavy strike against you.

3. And he is a male. He has a higher chance if he's bi.

Even more bump if he is non-binary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coding is just a technical skill that many people can acquired. Back to the 90s, so many people took a class and become a programmer. Coding skill is so common that it just like a technician in a special field. On the top of the pyramid are those smart people who innovate big ideas and great architecture. There is not evident this kid is extremely smart in that. This kid started coding from very early age. Bill Gate did coding at very age. That is fine. It's because a that time, not many people knows how to code. But now, millions of people knows how to code. even AI is can code too. Doing things millions can do at early age just wasting time. He shouldn't spend his childhood doing coding - a low level jobs like a technician. He should be learning Math, exploring literature and histories. Good colleges are looking people who are special, who are smarter than any others, but not kids who start doing easy thing early. This case is not a race discrimination, and don't get it wrong.

Sad to see Asians attacking Asians like this.

AI can do math and read literature and history books too.

And since Stanley has a 4.4 GPA, that means he did study advanced literature and history.

He did all that and also starred a successful busines whe most teens dropped out of school for a year to play Minecraft. Have you started a successful business?

The only consolation here is that Stanley is too good for college. Hell probably be engineering director in 5-10 years if he stays at Google, making Big Law money and having a lot more fun.

Only on DCUM would somebody use the term “Big Law” money when talking about Tech.

You do realize that kids looking to make it in Techntalk in multiplies of 100x “Big Law” money.

Let’s not sell this kid short!

Yes, my DC is a quant and makes about 470K after 4 years with only BS (although from the best CS program in the country) so saved 3 years and $250K. Likely to make $700 to $1.5M in another 4 to 5 years.

This is great. How many hours a week do they normally work? DC received an offer for a quant internship, the compensation is super high but I wonder how many hours they end up working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IDK, maybe he didn't take his apps seriously.

That seems relative.

It could be that his essay was lackluster. Maybe his recs were not good?

IMO, college admissions does appear to be a crapshoot.

My DC is a CS major at UMD and knows someone with amazing stats and background, and they also got rejected to those schools, as did DC, and DC doesn't have that kind of high caliber background like this student or OP's example though their stats are higher than OP's example. So DC now doesn't feel as bad for being rejected at those schools knowing how such high stats with great background students also got rejected to those schools.

Oh well, that just means UMD will get stronger and stronger. Go Terps!

^- THIS!!! Terp Alum and Terp Mom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coding is just a technical skill that many people can acquired. Back to the 90s, so many people took a class and become a programmer. Coding skill is so common that it just like a technician in a special field. On the top of the pyramid are those smart people who innovate big ideas and great architecture. There is not evident this kid is extremely smart in that. This kid started coding from very early age. Bill Gate did coding at very age. That is fine. It's because a that time, not many people knows how to code. But now, millions of people knows how to code. even AI is can code too. Doing things millions can do at early age just wasting time. He shouldn't spend his childhood doing coding - a low level jobs like a technician. He should be learning Math, exploring literature and histories. Good colleges are looking people who are special, who are smarter than any others, but not kids who start doing easy thing early. This case is not a race discrimination, and don't get it wrong.

Sad to see Asians attacking Asians like this.

AI can do math and read literature and history books too.

And since Stanley has a 4.4 GPA, that means he did study advanced literature and history.

He did all that and also starred a successful busines whe most teens dropped out of school for a year to play Minecraft. Have you started a successful business?

The only consolation here is that Stanley is too good for college. Hell probably be engineering director in 5-10 years if he stays at Google, making Big Law money and having a lot more fun.

Only on DCUM would somebody use the term “Big Law” money when talking about Tech.

You do realize that kids looking to make it in Techntalk in multiplies of 100x “Big Law” money.

Let’s not sell this kid short!

Yes, my DC is a quant and makes about 470K after 4 years with only BS (although from the best CS program in the country) so saved 3 years and $250K. Likely to make $700 to $1.5M in another 4 to 5 years.

This is great. How many hours a week do they normally work? DC received an offer for a quant internship, the compensation is super high but I wonder how many hours they end up working.

dp.. my DS is a CS major, super high stats. I told DS to look at quant, and he said no because he heard they work crazy hours. He wants work/life balance. Both my spouse and I have decent work/life balance, and that's what DS wants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coding is just a technical skill that many people can acquired. Back to the 90s, so many people took a class and become a programmer. Coding skill is so common that it just like a technician in a special field. On the top of the pyramid are those smart people who innovate big ideas and great architecture. There is not evident this kid is extremely smart in that. This kid started coding from very early age. Bill Gate did coding at very age. That is fine. It's because a that time, not many people knows how to code. But now, millions of people knows how to code. even AI is can code too. Doing things millions can do at early age just wasting time. He shouldn't spend his childhood doing coding - a low level jobs like a technician. He should be learning Math, exploring literature and histories. Good colleges are looking people who are special, who are smarter than any others, but not kids who start doing easy thing early. This case is not a race discrimination, and don't get it wrong.

Sad to see Asians attacking Asians like this.

AI can do math and read literature and history books too.

And since Stanley has a 4.4 GPA, that means he did study advanced literature and history.

He did all that and also starred a successful busines whe most teens dropped out of school for a year to play Minecraft. Have you started a successful business?

The only consolation here is that Stanley is too good for college. Hell probably be engineering director in 5-10 years if he stays at Google, making Big Law money and having a lot more fun.

Only on DCUM would somebody use the term “Big Law” money when talking about Tech.

You do realize that kids looking to make it in Techntalk in multiplies of 100x “Big Law” money.

Let’s not sell this kid short!

Yes, my DC is a quant and makes about 470K after 4 years with only BS (although from the best CS program in the country) so saved 3 years and $250K. Likely to make $700 to $1.5M in another 4 to 5 years.

This is great. How many hours a week do they normally work? DC received an offer for a quant internship, the compensation is super high but I wonder how many hours they end up working.

dp.. my DS is a CS major, super high stats. I told DS to look at quant, and he said no because he heard they work crazy hours. He wants work/life balance. Both my spouse and I have decent work/life balance, and that's what DS wants.

I think it makes sense to work crazy hours for a few years when someone is young and has no family yet. They will make a ton of money as a quant and can switch to a normal and balanced job later. DC majors in both CS and math and interviewed for both quant and software engineer roles at the same company, and the company decided to offer a quant role.

[Anonymous]

Google has plenty of engineers without college degrees. Why did this make the news at all?
This person wasn't at the very top of the class at Gunn and applied mostly to extremely competitive places where tons of amazing Bay Area kids applied. A few decisions were surprising but I'm almost more surprised this story got coverage (maybe if everyone had rejected him and he got the job).
Is it just the Google name drop?

[Anonymous]

Californian here. I am not surprised he got rejected from the top 5 UCs. He is from a high performing school located in a rich suburb. Look at factors #12 and #13 being used by UCs in reviewing applications:

12. Academic accomplishments in light of your life experiences and special circumstances, including but not limited to: disabilities, low family income, first generation to attend college, need to work, disadvantaged social or educational environment, difficult personal and family situations or circumstances, refugee status or veteran status.
13. Location of your secondary school and residence.

https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/how-to-apply/applying-as-a-freshman/how-applications-are-reviewed.html

Affirmative action has been banned in California but the UCs find a way to accept the students they want. Even the calculation of UC GPA is biased against students who take a lot of APs. The bonus points for taking APs is limited to 8 points which is equivalent to only 4 AP subjects.

[Anonymous]

What reports about this are failing to mention that Stanley Zhong’s father Nan Zhong is a software engineering manager at Google (I’m sure that helped Stanley get his job). Nan Zhong previously co-founded two startups, created the #1 ranked communication app on Android (featured by Fortune and Amazing Android Apps for Dummies), and raised $10 million in venture capital. Before that, he led the team that built AWS’s Elastic Load Balancing service.

Wanna place bets on how involved Daddy was on everything from the code and use of AWS architecture to the incorporation and promotion of “his son’s” startup? This is starting to smell like one of those winning science projects that looks so impressive and you can’t believe a student came up with and executed it…and then you find out the kid’s dad just happens to work for a company in the very industry the project is closely related to. I’m wondering now if all the rejections had something to do with computer science faculty at the various schools he applied to putting two and two together about who Stanley’s dad is, and suddenly instead of being impressive, Stanley’s main claim to fame of having a startup was looking like he got his daddy to do his homework for him and let him take the credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What reports about this are failing to mention that Stanley Zhong’s father Nan Zhong is a software engineering manager at Google (I’m sure that helped Stanley get his job). Nan Zhong previously co-founded two startups, created the #1 ranked communication app on Android (featured by Fortune and Amazing Android Apps for Dummies), and raised $10 million in venture capital. Before that, he led the team that built AWS’s Elastic Load Balancing service.

Wanna place bets on how involved Daddy was on everything from the code and use of AWS architecture to the incorporation and promotion of “his son’s” startup? This is starting to smell like one of those winning science projects that looks so impressive and you can’t believe a student came up with and executed it…and then you find out the kid’s dad just happens to work for a company in the very industry the project is closely related to. I’m wondering now if all the rejections had something to do with computer science faculty at the various schools he applied to putting two and two together about who Stanley’s dad is, and suddenly instead of being impressive, Stanley’s main claim to fame of having a startup was looking like he got his daddy to do his homework for him and let him take the credit.

Watch the interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What reports about this are failing to mention that Stanley Zhong’s father Nan Zhong is a software engineering manager at Google (I’m sure that helped Stanley get his job). Nan Zhong previously co-founded two startups, created the #1 ranked communication app on Android (featured by Fortune and Amazing Android Apps for Dummies), and raised $10 million in venture capital. Before that, he led the team that built AWS’s Elastic Load Balancing service.

Wanna place bets on how involved Daddy was on everything from the code and use of AWS architecture to the incorporation and promotion of “his son’s” startup? This is starting to smell like one of those winning science projects that looks so impressive and you can’t believe a student came up with and executed it…and then you find out the kid’s dad just happens to work for a company in the very industry the project is closely related to. I’m wondering now if all the rejections had something to do with computer science faculty at the various schools he applied to putting two and two together about who Stanley’s dad is, and suddenly instead of being impressive, Stanley’s main claim to fame of having a startup was looking like he got his daddy to do his homework for him and let him take the credit.

haters gonna hate

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I think it makes sense to work crazy hours for a few years when someone is young and has no family yet. They will make a ton of money as a quant and can switch to a normal and balanced job later. DC majors in both CS and math and interviewed for both quant and software engineer roles at the same company, and the company decided to offer a quant role.

Ew, I don’t think that makes sense at all. How are you going to have the time to meet people and have relationships and develop relationship skills in order to be able to eventually meet the right person, be able to recognize them as the right person, and have a healthy relationship with them that could lead to getting married and having kids, if you’re just working all the time with no life outside of work? A lot of kids who are really into computers and programming are already working at a deficit of social skills and life experience to begin with. On top of that, work crazy hours so you can’t enjoy the freedom that comes with being young and single, and only cut back once all your time outside of work is going to be tied up with midnight feedings, shuttling kids between soccer games and ballet recitals, etc.? Sounds like a recipe for later regrets and resentment. And for what? Sure you’ve socked away a lot of money, but how much do you really need? And you’ve piddled away the best years of your life working for a soulless company that isn’t making the world a better place, and can be argued is making it a worse place? Sorry, no thanks. I’m glad I went into the environment and now sustainability fields. I make a comfortable living and can look myself in the mirror. Glad my daughter wants to work in human rights, not just chase dollars doing something soulless.