Student with 2 published books, 4.2 GPA and 1560 SAT score rejected by Harvard, MIT, Yale and Princeton

A high school student with two successful books, a 4.2 GPA, an SAT score of 1560 out of 1600 and a slew of other accolades was purportedly rejected from Harvard, MIT, Yale and Princeton, much to the surprise of many. 

TikTok user Limmy (@Limmytalks), who posts reviews of college applications on his account, highlighted the case of the alleged overachieving male student in a recent series of posts. 

“This is the most insane college application I’ve ever seen in life!” the TikToker opened in his first post about the unnamed student. According to the email submitted to Limmy, the student claimed to be a bestselling author of two math books that sold 10,000 copies and generated $300,000 in revenue. 

The student was reportedly "featured in a national TV documentary," awarded a "Strogatz Prize for Math Communication" and featured on the Arab America Foundation's "20 Under 20" list. 

The student, who claimed to have 200,000 followers on his math and physics page online, also purportedly won various math and science awards, including a faculty’s "best student award," a "Grand Award at the County Science Fair," third place in the National Science Bowl and the MIST Nationals Math Olympics, and a two-time finalist at the National Chemistry Olympiad. 

The teen also reportedly became a Science Team Founder & Captain, a Wolfram intern at 17, a docent at The Smithsonian Institution and played for the varsity wrestling & football teams.  

Limmy, who accepts public submissions of interesting college application stories for his TikTok account, revealed in a follow-up post that the student was accepted to NYU, Stanford, West Point and Washington University, but the Ivy League schools, along with a few others, placed him on their waiting lists or rejected him outright. 

Further research revealed the student to be Hamza Alsamraee, creator of the Instagram page Daily Math. More from NextShark: Netflix teases revenge K-drama ‘The Glory,’ starring Song Hye-kyo According to his website, Alsamraee is currently a student at Stanford University. 

He was featured on the Arab America Foundation's 20 under 20 in 2020 and is the author of the Amazon bestseller "Advanced Calculus Explored: With Applications in Physics, Chemistry, and Beyond." 

Alsamraee's rejections from Harvard, MIT, Yale and Princeton particularly surprised many of the commenters. 

Many opined that the rejections indicated that schools give other, less accomplished students a chance because high-achieving students would likely succeed no matter where they went to school. 

“I think the student are [sic] just too smart, rich, athletic to [sic] Harvard,” a commenter wrote. 

“Harvard rejected them because they felt he didn't need to go to Harvard and would be fine without,” another chimed in. 

Some suggested that the student's Arabic background might have played a role in the rejection, while others cited Harvard’s affirmative action admissions policies. 

In 2014, a lawsuit claimed the university had rejected highly qualified Asian applicants to maintain racial diversity. 

“He is Arab so no Harvard [sic] u all forgot,” wrote a commenter. 

“Harvard only accepts from affirmative action and legacy students with daddies who pay fat,” wrote another.

GRTWT.