A teenager with exceptional academic achievements and his father are pursuing legal recourse following his rejection from 16 universities despite his outstanding grades before eventually landing a position at Google.

Stanley Zhong, who is now 19 years old, along with his father, Nan Zhong, have initiated federal lawsuits claiming that he faced discrimination as an Asian American when numerous prestigious universities, including five state institutions, turned down his application in 2023.

They highlighted Zhong’s impressive 3.97 grade point average and a 4.42 weighted GPA. Additionally, he was among approximately 2,000 students who achieved a score of 1590 or higher on the SAT, a notable accomplishment considering the over two million students who take the test annually.

He even managed his own startup, e-document signature platform Rabbit-Sign, while still in high school and was recruited by Google at the age of 13, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Several schools the teen was rejected from have lower average GPA and test scores than Stanley’s own stats, including California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo which has a middle 50 percent GPA of 4.13-4.25 for admitted engineering students. 

‘There’s nothing more un-American than this,’ Nan told the New York Post.

‘I don’t really think [these schools] give a damn about the damage they’re doing to these kids,’ he added.

The United States Supreme Court has since ruled that it is unconstitutional for a university to take into account an applicant’s race in its admission process, but the Zhongs have decided to sue the universities that rejected Stanley in states that had pre-existing laws banning racial discrimination in admissions.

Stanley Zhong, now 19, is taking legal action after he was rejected by 16 universities despite his stellar grades before he was hired by Google

A federal suit filed in California notes that Zhong was offered a PhD level position as a software engineer for Google even though he was not accepted into UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis

‘Our case is a matter of enforcing the law and holding schools responsible,’ Nan explained. 

‘It’s great the Supreme Court ruled in that case, but I think the enforcement is going to be a lot harder than just declaring its unconstitutional.’ 

He added that he has another son who is now 16 and is ‘very much worried about the prospect he’s facing’ in the college admission process.

‘My other son is part of the reason we’re fighting this battle,’ the worried father told the Post. ‘We’re doing this for other Asian kids, including my younger kid and my future grandkids.’ 

The father-and-son duo have already filed a massive 291-page lawsuit against the University of California system alleging discrimination with SWORD, Students Who Oppose Racial Discrimination – a group comprising other students who believe Asian Americans are discriminated against in the college admissions process.

The suit notes that Zhong was offered a PhD level position as a software engineer for Google even though he was not accepted into UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis.

‘[Stanley’s admission] results stand in stark contrast to his receipt of a full-time job offer from Google for a position requiring a PhD degree or equivalent practical experience,’ the lawsuit reads.

‘Wile it is true that Google’s job offer came after UC’s rejections – meaning UC could not have foreseen that Google would recognize Stanley’s skills had already reached the PhD level – the fundamental issue remains: the technical achievements included in Stanley’s UC applications were substantially the same as those sent to Google.

‘Stanley’s experience is emblematic of a broader pattern of racial discrimination against highly-qualified Asian American students at UC,’ it argues. 

He and his father, Nan Zhong, claim he was discriminated against as an Asian American when some of the nation’s best universities and even five state schools rejected his application in 2023

California voters had banned the use of race as a determinant for acceptance through Proposition 209 in 1996.

But Nan now claims he has evidence that the state school system has continued to engage in the practice.

‘First of all, in addition to Stanley there are a lot of Asian American students who actually contacted us about their college admissions stories, how they were rejected by UCs, despite their outstanding qualifications, similar to Stanley’s,’ he told ABC 7.

Nan, who is an immigrant from China, went on to claim he has proof ‘that the UC is using race, in clear violation of the law, in faculty hiring. And to the degree that it’s not only using it, but they’re also knowing it’s illegal and they’re also hiding the evidence of using it.’

He said he and his son ‘looked at some of the limited available public data, and there’s a clear suppression of Asian enrollment despite the strong growth of the Asian community here in California.’

The family is now seeking an unspecified amount of damages and is demanding a jury trial, as it also accuses the US Department of Education of failing to take action against the university system’s alleged racial discrimination.

The federal lawsuit in California also names the Department of Education as a defendant, accusing it of failing to take action against the university system’s alleged racial discrimination

The Zhongs also filed a similar lawsuit against the University of Washington and one against the University of Michigan, which a court clerk is still processing, according to the New York Post.

But the universities have thus far denied they have done anything wrong.

Rachael Zaentz, the senior director of Strategic and Critical Communications in the University of California’s Office of the President, told ABC 7 it had not yet received the lawsuit – but it is prepared to fight the allegations.

‘If served, we will vigorously defend our admission practices,’ she said, adding that she believes it and another lawsuit filed by the Students Against Racial Discrimination which alleges UC’s use of holistic admissions diminishes academic merits and hurts Asian American and white students are ‘meritless’ and ‘distract us from our mission to provide California students with a world class education.’

‘Since the consideration of race in admissions was banned in California in 1996, the University of California has adjusted its admissions practices to comply with the law,’ Zaentz argued.

‘We stand by our admission policies and our record of expanding access for all qualified students.

A similar lawsuit has been filed against the University of Washington (pictured)

‘The UC undergraduate admissions application collects students’ race and ethnicity for statistical purposes only,’ Zaentz added. ‘This information is not shared with application reviewers and is not used for admission.’

Victor Balta, of the University of Washington, also told the Post the school ‘stands behind its admissions process, and we have long recognized that our capacity is limited and we are not able to admit some very talented people and capable applicants.

‘We are reviewing the lawsuit,’ he said.

A spokesperson for the University of Michigan, meanwhile, said they have not yet received the lawsuit.

DailyMail.com has also reached out to the universities and the federal Department of Education for comment.