[Gunax]

It's true that unis and corporations care about different things.

However, I am surprised that he would only be accepted at two of those universities, given the grades, SAT, and competitive coding. Most of those schools are solid but non-name branded.

[lazyasciiart]

Some interesting hypotheses in the thread based on other people’s anecdotal experience: didn’t care to write application essays, didn’t take expected minimum classes (e.g 2 years of social sciences or whatever). For example Cal Poly says minimum 4 years of English classes in high school and they recommend 5 years by doubling up or doing early college.