Google Engineer Rejected by 16 Colleges Wins Round in Bias Suit Against University of Washington

U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle last month refused to throw out Stanley Zhong's claim that the university discriminated against him as an Asian American applicant, allowing a case filed in February 2025 to move toward the evidence-gathering stage. Zhong, 19, had applied to 18 colleges as a senior at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California, in 2023. Sixteen turned him down, including the University of Washington, where he had applied to study computer science at its Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Google hired him as a software engineer that fall, into a role his lawsuit says typically requires a doctorate.

The company had approached him for an interview at 13, according to his complaint, then withdrew it on learning he was too young to hire. His suit argues that no merit-based reason explains the rejections and that Asian American applicants are held to higher standards than others.