I’m applying to the Questbridge College Match this year, and i wanted to get advice as to my chances to getting in based on my credentials and personal information.
Unweighted gpa: 3.93
Weighted gpa: 4.12
Class rank: top 2.7% of class
My race: North African, Tunisian.
Most of my classes have been Honors, which is why my weighted GPA isn’t very high. My high school offers only 6 AP classes, and I was told I couldn’t take thr AP’s unless I took the Honors/standard class first (ex. taking Honors Chemistry before AP). I basically ran out of time, with taking the most important classes in Honors form instead of the AP version. I took all honors classes for my math, except this year which is College-level, all Honors for my Science classes as well, except for this year which is AP, I took my sophomore year of ELA during the summer of my freshman year, just because my dad wanted me to be busy and NOT have fun relaxing. So I finished my ELA credits last year with Honors Literature, and did super well in it. I took a few dual credit courses as well, and I always take way too many electives.
I plan on majoring in Cognitive Sciences or Applied Psychology.
My family’s income is $20,000 yearly, if not a little less, for a five person family, including my chronically ill sister and disabled mother. My parents are divorced, I am a first-generation student, and my dad is an immigrant. Both parents are also not home very much, so I take care of my siblings, cook, as well as shop for us, as well as work in my father’s business, and translate for him. We live on a smaller farm with tons of animals as well, so it’s my sole job to take care of all of them.
I wrote my personal statement about an early-morning walk. It sounds weird, I know. But I did. I am personally never very confident about anything I do, but all the people who have read it told me it was amazing. For my other essay, I haven’t decided on which essay to submit, but the options are A- overcoming my hatred for Winter, or B- changing my opinion about a quote my dad always uses in reference to our family life.
For my activities, I founded/ Co-founded two organizations in Tunisia (I go there a lot), which included a need-based English tutoring organization for poverty-stricken students there, as well as a trash pick-up and bin distribution program, as there are literally no trash bins in Tunisia until recently due to political stuff. It’s very garbagy there.
I also teach Arabic at my local mosque, do work with my father, take part in NHS. I was a Student Gov Senator in my 9th grade, as well as AVID Scholar my 9th grade year.
I mainly draw off of my experiences in Tunisia. I lived there for a while, and it was honestly, very VERY impactful for me, seeing a whole new dimension of the word “poor”. I decided to start studying psychology based off of this as well, as mental health and processes are very taboo in my culture. You only talk about how you feel when you’re crazy.
Anyway, I’m honestly just hyperventilating thinking about all of this. I never thought I’d be able to go to college, because we are pretty poor, especially with my sister and mother’s medical expenses, and just how our family dynamic is. I keep thinking something will come up and I’ll just get rejected from everything I put my heart into.