his story hit a nerve around the world. the palo alto teen rejected by 16 colleges, but was hired by google. how did he do it? on tuesday, we first introduced you to 18 year old stanley xiong, a gunn high school graduate who had a 4.42 gpa near perfect sat score and built his own ea document signing startup this past spring . as college admissions decisions came down, it was rejection after rejection. >> some of them were certainly expected. and, you know, stanford, mit, you know, it's it is what it is, right? but yeah, for some of them, like cal poly, some of the state schools, i really thought, you know, i had a good chance and it turns out, however good of a chance i had, i didn't get in. >> but shortly after the lowest point in his life came the ultimate high. stanley got hired by google as a level four

software engineer. stanley's story went viral around the world on social media and in international publications like the daily mail in the uk, hindustan times and of course, usa today. the internet has so many questions like how did he get this coveted job at google? well, we asked in stanley answered in an interview we taped earlier today while he was on lunch break from his google new employee training. stanley, it's good to see you again. >> it's great to see you. thanks for having me on. so i got to ask you, i'm sure it's been a crazy week for you. >> huge response to your story. it's in newspapers around the world. it's on subreddits with millions of subscribers. we're seeing thousands of comments on our social posts. what's your reaction to all this? you know, you first. >> this is way big of a response than i could ever have expected when i was sharing my story. so i just want to kind of thank everyone for that. i've had, you know, a lot of people reach out

to me on pretty much every social media platform i'm on. um, i want to say everyone who's reached out to me has been really positive and thank them for that. um, all my friends have reacted positively to this. um, obviously, you know, there's been some negative responses. this is the internet, after all. but overall, it's been really positive. and i think that speaks a lot to how this issue of transparency in college admissions is really resonates with so many people for sure. >> and yeah, in fact, we see most of them are like, you go, stanley, congratulations. right way to bounce back. but to recap for our audience this spring, you you were rejected by 16 out of 18 colleges that you applied to. you shared with us a small sampling of the rejection letters. here's uc davis saying, stanley, thank you, but we're sorry. there were many more. right. and you had a 4.4, two weighted gpa and a 15.90 out of 1600 on your sat scores. yet all this and you already told us

that you were you know, disappointed, although this is not unique. but what is unique is the next part because then you got this an offer letter from google. yes the google to work for them. what do you do for google? >> i am a software engineer. >> and you got an offer to join them full time? um, yep. okay. so i got to say, that's probably one of the number one things people are asking about based on those comments. how did an 18 year old land a job offer with google? how did it happen? tell us your journey. >> right? yeah, it's a bit of a long story. so i was when i was working on my startup, one of the things that we were pursuing was a case study with with amazon web services or aws. and one of the people i was working with on this case study, uh, reached out and said, hey, you

know, i think you're doing some great work if you want to apply for a job at amazon, i'll refer you and so i thought, hey, you know, that's a great opportunity. i'll go ahead and do that. and that brought me back to, uh, remembering a, a uh, email. i got back, i think, in 2019, which was, was from a google recruiter. and when i told that google recruiter, hey, you know, i'm 13, right now, i can't really hold down a full time job. they said, okay, yeah, that's fine. circle back when you're older and so i thought, hey, you know, i'm already talking to amazon. might as well talk to. and uh, i guess, you know, i went through the interview process at google and i guess it went well because here i am. wow >> wow. okay, so here's the email just to make sure. you know, i am 13 years old. that is unbelievable. why did they reach out to you in 2019? did you already do something then that would have captured their attention?

>> um, actually, they said they got my email off of my github profile. um, so i guess some code i wrote there must have impressed them. >> oh, okay. so for coders out there, put your work on github, you just never know. >> wow. okay. so stanley, most people like we said, are very supportive. some people do have some questions though. a few skeptics. right. and one thing that people have brought up is your dad is at google as well. i think also as a software engineer. so could that have played a role in your hiring some people ask. >> um, i mean, obviously i'm not super familiar with the internals of the hiring process, but as far as i know, google has, you know, a very strict, very rigorous hiring process. my dad said he didn't know who the interviewers would be at all until after the interviews had happened. so i would say that although i think my dad has been instrumental all, you know, in my journey to get to this point, he did not have any influence

over the interviews themselves. >> i see like like sharing know how to code and maybe what the culture is like and things like that. yeah. okay now, some other people think your application must have had a deficiency or red flag. could you think of anything at all? i'm sure you went back and read everything over just to torture yourself off. >> oh yeah, yeah, definitely. um for all all the rejections i had , i thought, you know, okay, well, what was wrong? right? like surely there has to be some reason, some kind of logical thing that i could point to and be like, okay, this is what went wrong. but i really, i mean, i personally, i could not find anything. and i think that is one of the reasons really i want to have, you know, this transparency is i'm sure i'm not the only one who was looking through their own college applications thinking, you know, what could i have done better at ? and really, the problem is we don't know. none of us know. and that's why i think, you know,

having this transparency is really important for, you know, students all across the country. >> right. what do you consider transparency? >> i think we really want to be able to have a y, you know, i was rejected. why? why was i rejected? um, and i think that we really need to be able to hold the colleges accountable for that sort of stuff. you know, colleges should have a, i guess, like a some sort of check, um, power check of power where they don't, they can't just, you know, make this decision and then be able to kind of, i guess like hide behind, uh, hide behind like a wall and not have to answer for. >> there's more to our interview with stanley xiong when we come back. he answers questions about his extra curricular activities and whether he still wants to go to mit or stanford. don't go

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a worldwide sparking a lot of conversations about the emissions process. yes. but today we wanted to answer questions posed by people on social media here is the rest of my interview with stanley jones from earlier today. i mean, there's definitely a huge subjective factor, right? that is hard to quantify. and some commenters said, hey, stats are not enough. sure. you had a 1590 on the sats and a 4.42, but many people did. and one person, carla said probably because he wasn't in any extracurricular activities. i mean, there's all sorts of conjectures. but carla

says it's probably the lack of x and she also says book smarts aren't everything. why did you do any extracurriculars? >> yeah, i had had, i would say, three main extracurriculars. one of them was my startup, which i think i've covered previously. and then the other two to um, one of them was open brackets. i was a co-founding member of this nonprofit which is focused on bringing coding lessons to kids in underserved communities. an and the other one was i founded the guns or guns. my school competitive programing club. and that was really meant to, you know, help bring interest to competitive programing, help teach people all algorithms, data structures and prepare them for competitive programing contests. oh, wow. >> is open brackets still up and running? oh, yeah. >> open racks is still running. we're we're currently in a semester right now. um, i personally have not had the time

or the bandwidth to teach classes myself, but i do, i, you know, still help out with technical work and to keep up to date with the great work they're doing. >> so if there are bay area kids who want is it for coding, tutoring or any kind of tutoring, they can get it for free? >> yes, primarily volume. yeah, it's all coding. okay >> all right. open brackets. we'll have to note that as a resource for kids. but i want to ask you another thing. i saw people say is how did he get so good at coding to be at a level to be hired by google? and i understand you're not entering at the entry level either, right? so kind of explain that to the layman. >> yeah. i first got into programing. i think around age ten, maybe age 11. uh, actually through minecraft. um, i really wanted minecraft and the deal with my parents was i could get minecraft if and only if i used it to learn how to code. um and so from there i started, you

know, writing programs that could build houses as i had this really nice, you know, brick house, lava chandeliers and everything. um, and i could, i found out you know, i could generate this house by just, you know, hitting enter on a keyboard. and i thought, you know, that's really neat. i can use coding to build pretty cool stuff. and and pretty soon i, you know, built cool stuff not only in minecraft but also, you know, in the real world building websites and things like that. >> and here's a picture of you at mit battle code. for those who don't know, i think that's an mit held super more exciting and challenging and prestigious competition. and you had to build something, right? and your team did really well in it as well, right? >> oh, yeah. yeah, i was. or my team got second place among the high school division. >> congratulations. yeah. and i know you were also semifinal in google code jam, which is a competition held by google. and i have to say, stanley, not to question your character or anything, but i did hear perhaps you had to sneak your way into

that competition in uh. >> yes. >> yeah. google code jam is open to ages 16 and up at the time, um, when i first participated, i think i was either 14 or 15. >> and so how did you get in? >> um, well, i mean, it's just, uh. >> do you. because it's, you know, it's like there's a, there's just a checkbox that says, you know, i'm age 16 and over and just click the checkbox, just like the way kids are at 13. >> and all of them, when they get tiktok or instagram or things like that. right. well stanley, the point is you did really well in that competition as well. i don't know if that played into google noticing you, but i do wonder, you know, this is a story with a happy ending for you. right? but for many who get the 16 out of 18 rejections, it isn't as happy. and i wonder if you, having gone to gunn high school in palo alto, which is super high achieving super competitive, everyone operates

at a very high level. how is that competition and that fear of not coming out of the college process successful? how does that weigh on you as students? >> uh oh, yeah. i mean, it's definitely a big factor. uh, students are talking about college age. even as freshmen, you know, even as middle schoolers really. um, so it's something that's very often top of mind. and um, when you're talking about grades, you know, how is this going to affect my college admission chances is, you know, am i doing enough extracurriculars, all this extracurriculars good enough, things like that. and because gunn is honestly like it's a pretty competitive environment and especially the circles i was in, we were very, you know, academically minded. um that did bring a lot of stress in terms of, you know, is this good enough? and and really the problem is we never, we never knew, right? there's no one ask, you know, am i doing good enough? because no one knows the answer.

>> do you think that's a toxic environment? >> yeah, i think it certainly very quickly can become toxic. um, my friends and i, we were really we really focused on supporting each other because, you know, we are in the end, we are all going through the same thing, going through the same process. but especially, you know, if it's online, especially when it's anonymized, that can very easily become, you know, oh, i'm better than this kid. why did they get in? and i didn't, you know, things like that. so what could make that process better. for um, i think yeah, that's a really tough question, right? because i mean, i doubt i'm the first person to have gone through this process. i've raised these questions as, um, and really, i think, again, you know, i've been harping on this a lot, but i think it really comes back to transparency and just this shouldn't have to be, you know, kind of like a guessing game where people will kind of just like, you know, shoot your best shot and you'll see, all right.

>> well, stanley, some people are also wondering if you're applying to the some of the schools that rejected you before. again mit, cal stanford, are you at the moment? >> no, i'm going to focus on, you know, the job that i got focus on working at google. >> um, you know, do as good of a job as i can there in a few years, you know, um, i'll take a look at myself and say, hey, am i missing something from not going to college? and if i think, yeah, i should go to college, then i'll reapply. >> and ultimately, why are you a coder? what do you hope to use these skills for? >> um, i mean, honestly, from a selfish perspective, i just find coding really fun. you know, i'm able to build really cool things and i just enjoy doing that from a kind of a bigger perspective. i think coding is a really powerful tool. um, if you want to make change in the world because cause of just how kind of ubiquitous it is, right? you

know, like we're holding this interview over zoom right? that's something that someone had to program, someone had to build and zoom itself is built only works because of the internet. right? and again, that's protocol. someone had to build someone had to program and implement. and so really, just because of how how universal devices are in our world, i think that if you're able to tell those devices what to do, you can have a really big impact . >> all right. well, stanley, i would ask you, how's the google food in the cafeteria? but i understand you're still onboarding this week, but you'll go on campus next week, so you let us know. okay >> oh, definitely. will. >> yeah. all right. thank you so much, stanley. >> all right. thanks for having me on. >> our conversation today with palo alto teen stanley jones. when we come back, we are going to shift gears if your weekend plans include the popular half moon bay pumpkin festival, some say too popular. theheri has a warning. you

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set a new world record with this rhinoceros sized gourd. and the question is, will there be another attendance record as the event becomes even more popular for bringing even more traffic? joining us live now to share some tips, you need to know is san mateo county sheriff, sergeant javier acosta. sergeant acosta, thanks for your time. >> good afternoon, kristin. thank you. >> does it really get congested and extremely congested? >> so this this time of year, not only is it the pumpkin festival, but we have a lot of people come out to the coast for our beautiful pumpkin patches. so highway 92 is clearly the most used route. the traffic will eventually back up to highway 280, if you can imagine

that. so we ask you to plan that plan. plan around traffic, leave with time, be patient and have a good time. it's worth it. >> that's right. for those unfamiliar, i think 92 is one lane in each direction, right? >> that is correct. and that's that's the one that really backs up. yeah. so if that is your route right. >> what do you think is the best hour to go? as in have you noticed when it starts to get really jammed up. >> well, when i used to go with my kids, we would hit the road about we try to get there by 9:00. it starts at 9:00, 9 to 5. and we didn't have any issues with traffic. and then we would leave, you know, late in the afternoon and the same thing. we didn't have any traffic coming home. so i would suggest leaving early in the morning, have a good time and head home. >> all right. so what if you wanted to avoid 92 altogether? what are some other ways for people to get to the san mateo county coast and half moon bay? >> well, not many. if i'm being completely honest. you have highway 84 pescadero creek road

and then, of course, highway one from the north and the south so 92 is probably the most convenient for most people coming from the bay area. um, so yeah, definitely expect some traffic. with that said, there is a northbound 101 closure at whipple and redwood city this weekend all weekend. so keep that in mind as well. >> oh right, right. i mean i suppose depending on if you're coming from a little farther north, you could consider taking like 280 over to one. right. and then if you're right and if you're from the south, you could do, i think, what is it, 84 woodside and then over to woodside road. >> sure. those are both options in woodside. you know over this this winter that we had woodside road or 84 was shut down for, for months. but it is wide open that is certainly an option. so you would take a 101 or 280 exit west on 84 or woodside road and that'll get you there and then come up north on on one. and then to your other point, yes, if you're coming down from the north heading south, you can cut

through pacifica and down one that way. that's an actual beautiful drive as well. yeah for beautiful for sure. >> what will your role be? what will the sheriff's be doing out there? >> so the san mateo county sheriff's office, we're the contracted law enforcement agency for the city of half moon bay. so we will be providing security. we will have a recruitment booth. we're hiring. we're going to have our sheriff's activities league out there. some of our kids will be selling cheesecakes as a fundraiser. um so on top, you know, outside of providing security, we'll be out there engaging with the community. if you see me out there. hey, tell me you saw me on on channel seven and i'll buy you a cup of coffee. >> oh, that is a deal. but there are some enforcements that you'll be doing, right? i think. something about no pets. they put that out there on their website. and i'm not sure about parking type things, you know. tell us what you guys will be watching out for. >> well, certainly the parking is an issue out there. but again, come early. um, i've worked the event in the past. i

mean, some people will get impatient in traffic. so you know we keep an eye on any form of road rage and that sort of thing. it's a great time. it's a it's a great festival. um, you know, alcohol is going to be served, so we'll just be out there making sure everyone is celebrating responsibly and having a good time. um, more importantly or equally as important was we'll be out there engaging with the community, which is what we like to do right, right. >> i'm curious what types of emergencies have you seen in the past there? >> great question. probably medical from from what i can remember working there. um the coast is beautiful. the weather is beautiful. it can go from really cold to really warm in a moment's notice. so i do remember some, you know, maybe some hydration issues and that sort of thing. so coming to half moon bay, you have to be prepared for multiple weather possibilities. >> yeah, that's smart. look, we talked about how there's going to be a lot of traffic. can't avoid that. how there's going to be parking limited options. right. is transit an option, do you know? absolutely he is. >> thank you for mentioning

that. samtrans samtrans can get you out there to and from an and that certainly is an option. >> yeah. you can check out the samtrans website to see about the routes all right. well thank you so much. that's all great information, sheriff. sergeant javier acosta, we appreciate your time and service. thank you. >> have a good one. >> all right. just a reminder, if you want to get our live newscast breaking news, weather and more with our abc7 bay area streaming tv app. it's available on apple tv. google tv, fire tv and roku. just search abc7 bay area and download it now. we'll be rig

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