Reply to Tech Prodigy and College Choices: Balancing Advanced Skills with Less Prestigious Schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP you might be interested in this story
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stanley-zhong-google-software-engineer/

My kids experience was similar and I can assure you that Ivy League schools are most certainly not looking for kids gifted in programming or technology for their CS programs.   [/quote]

Stanley Zhong had a 3.96 unweighted GPA, though. OP's kid is getting some Cs. That's a big difference.[/quote]

The other big difference is that he attended Gunn High school which is one of the most competitive in the country. I read an estimate that his GPA put him only in the top 9% of students which meant around 40 other students had higher GPA's at his school taking the most rigorous classes. So trying to get in as a CS major when so many other students are ranked higher at your high school is going to be tough.

The other huge difference is Stanley's father, Nan Zhong, is a Software Engineering Manager at Google. Previously he co-founded two startups, created the #1 ranked communication app on Android (featured by Fortune and Amazing Android Apps for Dummies), and raised $10M in venture funding. Before that, he led the team that built AWS's Elastic Load Balancing service.  So not surprising he got hired at Google.

OP kid is taking regular classes. If he is at a rigorous private school then the B's and C's might make sense but if he is at a public school where most have massive grade inflation getting C's looks really bad. In life and any job you have to be willing to get through the tedious boring stuff to be able to concentrate on what interests you. It doesn't matter if you have the skill if you aren't willing to do what it takes. Prestigious schools are for students who have the skill AND  the drive AND the ability to do what it takes to be successful. [/quote]

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