2017-2018 QuestBridge National College Match Finalists Result Thread

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
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Please replace the “[a” below with just “[” before posting.

[aB][asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted [/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred [/color][/size]**
[aB][asize=4][acolor=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected [/color][/size]**

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA (if applicable):
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

Other:

Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/rejected:

2

Decision: Finalist
Schools Ranked: Duke, Yale Princeton, USC, Columbia, Stanford, Dartmouth
Rank of Questbridge Essays (1-10): 8/10
Rank of teacher recommendations (1-10): 10/10
Rank of counselor recommendation (1-10): 10/10

Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Weighted GPA: 4.58
SAT I score: 1420/1600 ~ 740 Math 680 Reading
ACT (composite, essay, english, math, science): n/a
SAT II (subject, score): Physics, 690 math 2, 630
Rank (numerical or percentile): 1/447
All AP test scores: environmental science (4), human geography (4), European history (3), music theory (3), Calculus ab (3), Physics (3), US history (2), chemistry (1), English Lang. And composition (3), spanish Lang. (3)
IB: n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Government, AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, AP English literature, AP Spanish literature
Major Awards: Top 10 of 2018 (grades 9 - current), President’s award (grade 9 - current), tennis award (11th grade), 4.5+ honor roll (11th grade - current), 4.0+ honor roll (9-10 grade)

Extracurriculars: Volunteered/shadowed at a pharmacy; volunteer at local library; tutor at community foundation for middle school children and tutor at local library for elementary school students; piano (hobby); tennis (3 years on varsity).
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Volunteer/Community Service: volunteer at local pharmacy, library, and community organization (as mentioned above).

State: California
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Armenian
Gender: female
Income Bracket: >$20,000
Assets: n/a
Extenuating Circumstances: n/a
Stand out info: first-gen college student

Why do you think you were or were not selected as a finalist?
I believe my essays and recommendation Letters were a huge reason why I was selected as a finalist. My test scores aren’t that great, my gpa is good, and my extra curricular activities aren’t many. I really tried to be as genuine as possible in my essays and showed my true self. The teachers I chose to write my recommendation letters know me VERY well! So, they were obviously able to write about me in a way that accurately displays how they see me as a student and just a person.

3

Decision: Non Finalist
Schools Ranked: NONE
Rank of Questbridge Essays (1-10): 1st one - 5 = I had to rush this one due to Hurricane Harvey. I’ve been reading it again a few times after I had to submit it and the more I read, the more I cringe. 2nd one - 9 = I think this was a very transparent essay and I’m proud of it. I took risks on all my essays and short answers, in the end, they didn’t pay off but its OK. Had my Lit teacher read both essays, said they had good voice and were great, but ever since I submitted it I knew it was not up to my standards.
Rank of teacher recommendations (1-10): 8-10, I’m really close to both of them and gave them both like 6 pages of a different info sheet about me. You never know though
Rank of counselor recommendation (1-10): 9, really close with her as well compared to other students.

Unweighted GPA: 3.81/4
Weighted GPA: 4.58/5
SAT I score (composite, old SAT: R, W, M; new SAT: CR+W, M, total essay score if applicable): didn’t take
ACT (composite, essay, english, math, science): 31C, 26E, 31M, 32R, 33S, 8W
SAT II (subject, score): none
Rank (numerical or percentile): top 8% 61/837
All AP test scores: 5 Stats, 5 APUSH, 4 Bio, 4 Lang
IB: none
Senior Year Course Load: PreAP Psych(AP next semester), AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP Euro, Debate (took AP Econ and Gov during the summer)
Major Awards: none

Extracurriculars: Boy Scouts (9-12th), Debate (10-12th)
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service: 250+ hrs, mainly at the nursing home and hospital

State: TX
School Type (public, private, online, etc.): Large public
Ethnicity: SE Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: Exactly 40k
Assets: 5k, but family 100% owns house (250k)
Extenuating Circumstances: none really
Stand Out Info (e.g. first gen college student): first gen

Why do you think you were or were not selected as a finalist?
Kinda surprised. My stats are up to par. I think my biggest downside was my essay. I’ve always realized that I’m a very self-critical person, but I think my QB Essay 1 was a huge letdown. it was disjointed and really awkwardly written. Another “downside” is my school and location, in my school profile, it stated I lived in a middle/upper-middle-class town, which is true. I had no disadvantages academic wise, my school is top notch (#2) in my large metropolitan area. It also might be that we own our house completely.

My ECs were lacking as well. I stupidly put 2 different volunteer hospital programs as 2 ECs even though they were both hospital programs. I wasted a valuable slot in my ECs. I also stupidly put “family responsibilities” as 5hrs/week. I completely underestimated my time looking back on it and I think it made it seem really fishy. I don’t know what I was thinking, probably that I didn’t want to look like I was whining, but still managed to do that later in my Additional info section… rip

Looking back, I think I exaggerated my extenuating circumstances, in a pool of people who have their parents divorced, drug addicts, or they’re raised by single parents, or even lower income than I am, or have ailing family members to take care of, I mentioned like 2 times that my mom had neck problems and that I had to take care of the house, but when compared to everyone else’s finalist circumstances, mine seems like chores and I think QB saw that. Coming from a well-off area, but not being well-off per say, I thought my life was a bit rough, but now I realize that I am truly blessed after reading everyone’s story. Way more people deserve this more than I do.

Last thoughts: I’m surprisingly taking this pretty well, probably since I didn’t rank. Oh well, time to finish my ED. I’m reminding myself about the posts where a QB alumni(?) said that he knew a lot of his friends who were at his alma mater who didn’t get into QB, but got into his school. I know I can improve on my Essay #1 and turn it into my ED school, but not fully sure if I should use my QB app… lot’s of inherent mistakes

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This discussion was created from comments split from: Questbridge Finalist 2016-2017 Results.

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Objective:

Decision: Non-Finalist

SAT I (breakdown): 1550; 770 Math, 780 Reading
SAT II: 790 Math II, 780 Literature, 760 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.83
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~15%, school is highly competitive and one of the best in the state but doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): APUSH (5), Euro (5), US Gov (5), Music Theory (5), Bio (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Calculus BC, AP French, AP Economics, AP English Literature, Wind Ensemble
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Statewide theater award, finalist in music program and performed at Carnegie Hall, New England-wide political scholarship, National Merit Commended, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Theater (student director, award-winning actor/dancer), Band (section leader), Marching Band (section leader), Model UN (president), NHS (officer), political intern (founder and coordinator of a regional branch of a political campaign in order to encourage grassroots political engagement among high school students)
Volunteer/Community service: interned at the State House, interned for a city councilor’s re-election campaign, interned at some prestigious political organizations, played music for charity
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Short Answers: some of them were pretty good (8/10), some of them were fine but not remarkable (6/10).
Personal (8/10): wrote about growing up low-income in a high-income neighborhood as well as very personal issues about abuse, and how theater and music helped me overcome my challenges and allowed me to assume control of my life (kinda cheesy)
Intellectual Curiosity (10/10): really unique, wrote about my love of music theory by talking about, among other things, the Simpsons, being burned at the stake, calculus, and clouds.

Teacher Rec #1: AP Euro, waived, but definitely 10/10, has called me one of the best students she’s had
Teacher Rec #2: Pre-Calculus, waived, probably 9/10, knows a lot about my work ethic and personal struggle to improve my initial B in the class to an A
Counselor Rec: waived, probably 8/10, wrote my rec first because I’m one of her favorite students

Other

State: MA
School Type: Public School (1000 students)
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 65k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): parents didn’t go to college in the US, low-income, idk what else

Reflection

Strengths: Stats, ECs, recs, some essays
Weaknesses: Class rank, short answers, income bracket (on the high end)
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: My income is on the high end, and I don’t think my personal essay quite had that standout quality they were looking for. I’m not particularly disappointed, since I have several other scholarships under my belt to help me pay for college. Congrats to the finalists!

6

Finalist
Schools Ranked: Yale University, Columbia University, Stanford University, Princeton University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, University of Virginia, Emory University, University of Southern California, Swarthmore College, Wesleyan University (in that order)

SAT I (breakdown): 1220
ACT (breakdown): C 28 E 32 M 27 R 30 S 23 (yup… that Science score is correct)
SAT II: 1330
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 92.25/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): DNR
AP (place score in parenthesis): school only has 1 AP class – we have AP Chem
IB (place score in parenthesis): school doesn’t have IB
Senior Year Course Load:

  • AP Chem
  • Government CC
  • English 12CC
  • Nonfiction II
  • Senior Project (Writing)
  • Print and Online Publication IV
  • Calculus
  • Academic Research
    Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
    2x Scholastic Art & Writing National Medalist, Wellesley College Book Award, Questbridge Junior Prep Scholar, Finalist in Columbia College Chicago Young Authors competition, Hollins University Poetry competition, and then various state scholarship…

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Girls Learn International (Founder/President), Literary Magazine (Head-Editor – we rank top 30 in country), Class President (all 4 years), Robotic Business Team (Captain), Inter-Club-Council (council head), Student Board Representative, Newsletter (head editor), Debate (historian), Writer’s Club (forum leader), Model UN (winning delegates… so we kind of advise in meetings), and Tennis (I just hit the ball… sometimes… no leadership)
Job/Work Experience: I babysit every weekend, worked at Panera Bread my junior year, and I interned with the Democratic Party.
Volunteer/Community service: over 300+ hours in school (NHS, running after-school events, fundraisers for non-profits) and out of school (Democratic Party phonebanks and canvassing, reading and playing bingo with old people at the nursing home across my street)
Summer Activities: journalism camp @ Yale, mentorship with the Adroit Journal, and a month at Welseyan for an arts intensive. (I was able to afford these by 1.) raising money for myself (sending letters to biz.) 2.) getting awarded scholarships by the programs)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9, I consider myself a fairly good writer. I’d like to think others do too.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 10.

Teacher Rec #1: (teaches creative writing and print and online classes) My teacher told me she drafted the rec a few times to make sure it was “perfect.” She really covers my financial and home situation in depth. I am very close with her, since I have had her all four years.
Teacher Rec #2: A CC English teacher of mine. She is eager to see me match somewhere — she was the one to introduce me to Questbridge in the first place. I have no doubt she can highlight my enthusiastic approach to learning.
Counselor Rec: eh… I’m pretty sure it was pretty generic, but nothing negative.

Other:

Intended Major: Creative Writing and International Relations
State (if domestic applicant): VA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Magnet School
Ethnicity: African American/Arab/White
Gender: She/Her
Income Bracket: ~10,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Reflection

Strengths: definitely my EC’s, essays, and Recs.
Weaknesses: GPA is definitely on the weaker side – so are my SAT/ACT scores.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: I have a story that demonstrates tenacity. I don’t have the best home situation – so I really emphasize the sanctuary school has been for me and how I’ve utilized every opportunity.

7

Decision: Matched

Match to: Dartmouth
Schools Ranked: Dartmouth, UPenn, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Yale, Stanford, University of Virginia (in that order).

Objective:

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): N/A
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): N/A
SAT II (Reading, Math, Composite): 630, 720, 1350
Weighted GPA: 4.143
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/244
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP English Composition (3) (my school does not offer that many AP classes.)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP US History, AP Calculus, AP Biology, English 100, Psychology 100, Spanish 3A/3B (online), Botany.
Major Awards: Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poem, Gear UP Scholarship, National Honor Society, Science, Math, Social Studies, and English District Award, Junior Tennis Champions Center Camp Award.

Subjective:

[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Tennis Team, National Honor Society, and DECA.
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Ululani Pharmacy (got a pre-internship with help of my counselor), Hilo Medical Center (radiology department), and also worked in a Doctor’s Office.
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Hilo Medical Center in the Progressive Care Unit as a volunteer, Salvation Army Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless.
[ *] Summer Activities: Above.
[ *] Essays: English is my second language and I moved here in eighth grade (five years ago). I did not speak English so I worked hard as you can tell. French is my first language and I kinda “mastered” English in a year (eighth grade). My essays were about overcoming the language barrier in such a short amount of time and my determination to achieve great academics. My supplemental essays were pretty good too I guess.
[ *] Teacher Recommendations: My AP English teacher wrote my first recommendation. 10/10 since she knows me well. She’s always supportive, and still can’t believe that I can speak english so fluently with no accent. My second recommendation was probably good but maybe a 7/10. The teacher knows me but you know.
[ *] Counselor Rec: Counselor recommendation was amazing and moving (I read it). She knows me well and was one of the first people to believe in me.

Other

[ *] State (if domestic applicant): Hawai’i
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: Black, African American
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Income Bracket: about $22,000
[ *] Assets: $0
[ *] Property: Rent
[ *] Extenuating Circumstances:
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Why you think you were matched general comments: My essays were really, really good. I’m not bragging but I was really happy with my essays. My SAT score is OK. My internships helped me I think and the fact that my dad makes about $22,000 annually is a bonus. Overall, I don’t know why Dartmouth accepted me but I am happppppy. Anything is possible. I have only been speaking english for five years, and I have accomplished so many things academically. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.

8

Decision: Matched

Match to: Dartmouth
Schools Ranked: Dartmouth, UPenn, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Yale, Stanford, University of Virginia (in that order).

Objective:

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): N/A
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): N/A
SAT II (Reading, Math, Composite): 630, 720, 1350
Weighted GPA: 4.143
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/244
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP English Composition (3) (my school does not offer that many AP classes.)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP US History, AP Calculus, AP Biology, English 100, Psychology 100, Spanish 3A/3B (online), Botany.
Major Awards: Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Poem, Gear UP Scholarship, National Honor Society, Science, Math, Social Studies, and English District Award, Junior Tennis Champions Center Camp Award.

Subjective:

[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Tennis Team, National Honor Society, and DECA.
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Ululani Pharmacy (got a pre-internship with help of my counselor), Hilo Medical Center (radiology department), and also worked in a Doctor’s Office.
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: Hilo Medical Center in the Progressive Care Unit as a volunteer, Salvation Army Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless.
[ *] Summer Activities: Above.
[ *] Essays: English is my second language and I moved here in eighth grade (five years ago). I did not speak English so I worked hard as you can tell. French is my first language and I kinda “mastered” English in a year (eighth grade). My essays were about overcoming the language barrier in such a short amount of time and my determination to achieve great academics. My supplemental essays were pretty good too I guess.
[ *] Teacher Recommendations: My AP English teacher wrote my first recommendation. 10/10 since she knows me well. She’s always supportive, and still can’t believe that I can speak english so fluently with no accent. My second recommendation was probably good but maybe a 7/10. The teacher knows me but you know.
[ *] Counselor Rec: Counselor recommendation was amazing and moving (I read it). She knows me well and was one of the first people to believe in me.

Other

[ *] State (if domestic applicant): Hawai’i
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: Black, African American
[ *] Gender: Male
[ *] Income Bracket: about $22,000
[ *] Assets: $0
[ *] Property: Rent
[ *] Extenuating Circumstances:
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

Why you think you were matched general comments: My essays were really, really good. I’m not bragging but I was really happy with my essays. My SAT score is OK. My internships helped me I think and the fact that my dad makes about $22,000 annually is a bonus. Overall, I don’t know why Dartmouth accepted me but I am happppppy. Anything is possible. I have only been speaking english for five years, and I have accomplished so many things academically. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you.