@solarsystem where did you find that? Not doubting you, just curious. I wasn’t planning on doing that.
For anyone ranking Notre Dame, do we put RD or EA for the CSS? bc on the qb website it says to put EA for the common app, but it doesn’t say anything for CSS
Should I rank schools for the National College Match? The school I want to go is Duke and wondering if I should apply through the Match or through ED?
@theboyoverthere do ED, your chances are much higher than by doing the Match.
MaybeHarvard, I am curious about the idea that your chances are much higher through ED than Match. ED includes athletes and legacies, in other words students who are basically invited to apply through ED with the understanding that they have a very good probability of admission. So while I do think you are right, that it probably gives an “edge,” I also wonder if a student who has 6 or 8 schools ranked then has 6 or 8 “edges.”
I am asking because this is exactly the convrsation that S and his dad and I have been having. He decided that although he has clear favorites, he would not do ED at just one, so as to ioncrease odds.
Duke stated this: “Some schools do encourage athletes and alumni children to apply Early, but our philosophy is to encourage all students for whom Duke is a clear first choice to apply E.D. and gain that benefit. As a result, our admit percentage isn’t skewed by any group of applicants.”
I was a finalist, and WOW. Compared to the boatload of you who were both rejected and accepted, I am an idiot.
@GreekLethe theres many colleges that state it on the qb website, but here’s an example from Columbia:
“As a QuestBridge applicant you are welcome to use any information from your QuestBridge application (essays, recommendations and lists of extracurricular activities); however, you must transfer the information onto the Common Application or Coalition Application.”
@solarsystem oh, thank you! I’ve only looked into Brown, and never came across anything of this sort, but this is very nice to know. I appreciate it!
Have any colleges stated whether they prefer a new essay or for us to use one from the qb app?
@GreekLethe no problem!!
@JohnyFromChicago most of them say its fine to use your qb essay, but it wouldnt hurt to make a new essay if you fell like it would be stronger. thats what i did.
**Decision: Accepted **
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (i forget the breakdown lol. didn’t report this)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (35 English, 35 Math, 35 Reading, 33 Science)
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 750 Physics, 740 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/813 i think
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo (5), Chem (4), World History (4), Calc BC (4), Comp Sci (3 rip), Physics C: Mech (5), APES (5), Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): School doesn’t offer this
Senior Year Course Load: Band, AP Stats, AP Spanish Lang, AP Bio, AP Gov, AP English Lit, AP Macroecon, Calculus 3 (at a local community college)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing super big. PSAT commended, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, and some school awards.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Marching band for four years (assistant drum major, drum major), Biomedical Engineering Society (president and founder), CSF, Key Club, Interact, Spanish Honors Society, Math Honors Society, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Parents have a struggling business so I work part time managing it. I also tutor.
Volunteer/Community service: Not much of either. Just events for clubs that I’ve gone to.
Summer Activities: My biggest one was an internship at Caltech after my freshman year. Spent over 100 hours here and we worked on a biomed project. Definitely one of my spikes. After sophomore year, I spent the whole summer working on an independent project and I went to China for two weeks to volunteer at a poor middle school in rural China to teach English. This year, I spent a month at UCSD for COSMOS learning about optics and photonics.
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Biographical (10): I thought this essay was really good. Everyone that read it said that it sounded like me and that it was also very strong. I wrote about the long drives I took getting to elementary school, followed by the long drives to Caltech. I focused on how these expanded my world and how I realized I wasn’t limited to what I was given (i.e. being low-income). I sent it to one of my friends and her mom cried reading it
Intellectual curiosity (8): Also a decently strong essay, but I didn’t spend as much time doing this one. I talked about my uncle becoming blind and how that affected me by making me realize how important sight is to us. A lot of m
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 8? This was my pre-calc and calc BC teacher. I was very close to her but she was also busy when she was writing my letter so that might have made it more rushed. She wrote my letter of rec for COSMOS the past two years, and I got in last year so it must have been decent.
Teacher Rec #2: 6 ish. APES teacher from junior year. Wasn’t very close to him but I was one of the higher-achieving students in his class. Also wrote my letter of rec for COSMOS.
Counselor Rec: 10 
She was very excited about writing the letter and told me that she said that I was a “few in a career” type of student. She and I never talked a lot, but from the few times we did talk and what she heard about me from my teachers she seemed to like me.
Additional Rec: 10 also. Band director of four years. He is very supportive of my academics and has always recognized me as high achieving. Also will provide a unique viewpoint of me because of my leadership within the band and outside of the classroom.
Intended Major: Biomedical Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): Cali
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large public school (over 3000 kids)
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $35,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): uh none really.
Reflection
Strengths: GPA and ACT score probably. I think my internship at Caltech and other events over the summer really helped my application, because other than that I don’t have anything that makes me unique.
Weaknesses: SAT subject and AP scores. They’re alright but not outstanding. I also don’t have any national awards and I don’t really stand out in anything. All of my strengths are just me being a good student, basically.
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: I was pretty surprised I was accepted. All of my friends with stats like mine were rejected so I was expecting to get rejected as well. I think my biographical essay really brought out my personality and brought a new perspective to my application. Congrats to all the finalists!! And to non-finalists, don’t worry about this. It seems that Questbridge looks for a certain type of kid, so don’t beat yourself up. You’re all gonna go to amazing places no matter what happens. Good luck to everybody applying to colleges this year and the upcoming ones!!!
[asize=4][acolor=#008000]Decision: Accepted [/color][/size]
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1240-crw:590 m:650
ACT (breakdown): C:27- W:31 M:30 R 25 S:29
SAT II: n/a
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9 // W- 4.69/5.00
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): (unofficially) tied at 10/200 (my school doesnt release ranks
AP: Chem(4) / US Govt (4) / APUSH 3 / Latin 3 / World History 3 / Lang 3
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Calc ab, AP physics 1, Greek honors, marketing field experience (internship), AP human geography
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, Rutgers University Book Award,
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): symphony + 2 wind quintets (1st chair and lead for clarinet quintet), cheer (2 years varsity). Soccer (varsity, summer conditioning and communication)
Job/Work Experience: summer work program (2 years), intern for fairgrounds and an environmental rehabilitation business (regional), small food business (like a mini grocery store)
Volunteer/Community service: NHS, student gov
Summer Activities: work, conexus intern summit (not actual intern, story for another time lol!).
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Bio-9 I was subtle about the tug that race had on my identity (I had so many people read it, from adults to my peers.) sparking intellect-6 I wrote about sewing and how it combines my creativity and problem solving. I hinted at my low income status, it wasn’t whiny. I tried to avoid complaint about school’s dumb rules.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
I waived all my rights
Teacher Rec #1: >6 my AP Chem teacher, she’s so sweet and known me for 2 years. Not super close but I wrote a letter to her AP students about ins and outs of class. I think that made me stand out to her.
Teacher Rec #2: >6 Latin teacher for 2 years. He was head of student gov. I was rejected freshie year but was accepted to student gov junior year. Now I’m vp!
Counselor Rec: I’ve only know him for a lil bit. But cried in office because of stress last semester while scheduling senior year. But I ended up recollecting myself and came back to ask to be enrolled in lit. But I’m thriving senior bro (class of 2018 ya)
Additional Rec: none
Interview: non
Other:
Intended Major: Chem, accounting, pre med
State (if domestic applicant): IN
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public charter
Ethnicity: SE Asian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 40-45k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
First gen for 4 year college/ I have an upward growth in my life despite my grandma’s declining health.
Reflection
Strengths: my writing and recs. GPA and course rigor.
Weaknesses: my scores are trash omg, maybe had a few typos here and there in written responses
Why you think you were accepted/rejected: I’d say my character and genuine care for others shines through. Because let’s be real fam-my scores are not the best. This also proves that scores aren’t everything. I think my trend of growth over the years was shown thru my EC and role in the school. I’m unconventional and my writing definitely exemplified that. I thought they were risky, but hey the risk was worth it.
Finalists, I have a problem with sending my scores for SAT subject test. The tests that I took in my freshmen year doesn’t appear because I took over 6 tests. It says that for my score report, they can only show the most recent 6 tests I’ve taken. If I request archived test report, it will take me five weeks to get it sent to the college. Apart from that, I sent the two subject tests today, which will roughly arrive in two weeks. That’s already past November 1st, and I’m not sure if score reports have to be arrived by that date. Even if we send it on October 19th, it will arrive on November 2nd, so I don’t get how score reports work. Does it have arrive to the colleges by November 1st?
QB said we were supposed to get an email about joining the finalist Facebook group. Has anyone gotten it? I haven’t.
@mmm2017
Check your spam??? Theres like 1,000+ scholars on the fb page lol
Not sure we are talking about the same group. You’re saying there are a 1000+ members of the 2017 Finalist Facebook group that was only started few days ago? I don’t mean the regular QB Facebook group. I haven’t gotten anything about it since the finalists were announced. Have any other finalists not gotten this invitation?
@mmm2017 yes the finalist group has nearly 2,000 members now. Email QB and ask about your situation.
OK thanks! I just emailed them.
Can someone tell me when they got the email with the Facebook Finalist link? Thank you guys!