Hey guys, I’m currently a junior and I know I still have a while until the quest bridge application, but I wanted to know if I have a good chance at becoming a finalist. So my household income is $65,502 (as of 2018) for a family of eight. The thing that worries me is that I’m right at the cutoff line for elgible applicants and I’m not a first generation student( my mom went to community college and my sister is a freshman at UT Austin) and my parents bought a house about two years ago that’s worth $240,000, but they’ve only paid off about $45,000.( Does this still count as an asset of they haven’t paid it off yet? And will this effect my EFC?) For me, my extenuating situation is that I have to help take care of my grandmother who has seizures and is unable to work, my parents are immigrants from Liberia, I have to help out with my siblings more than the average student, and I drive about 45 minutes to go to a better school. Also, my mom got remarried to my stepfather, so do I have to report my biological fathers income? I haven’t heard from him since like 10+ years ago, and the last we heard of him was that he had moved to China and got remarried, also he doesn’t contribute anything to us at all. I’m not so worried about my stats/ extracurriculars because I think they are to par to the schools I’m applying to, but will the things I listed about affect my chances of being matched/becoming a finalist?
I tried answering your questions in order, feel free to let me know if I missed something or need more clarification.
While $65k is the cutoff, I would just email them about your special circumstances to see if an exception can be made. These people are trying to send disadvantaged kids to college through a non-profit, so they're pretty generous with this kind of stuff. As for your house, I do believe it counts as an asset and will affect ETF, I just wouldn't know how much. Keep in mind that QB doesn't actually look at your ETF, only certain partner colleges.
You won't have to fill in information about your biological father. However, you will need to submit some extra documents explaining your circumstances (the documents won't be asked for until after you become a finalist). Typical all they'll ask for is a letter from your school counselor and if more information is necessary, they'll contact you for it.
In terms of how strong a candidate you are, you can definitely get in the program if you set your heart out to it. Stats only make up a fraction of what QB looks at, their main priority is on how you overcame significant obstacles to achieve academic success. You definitely fit this bill.
Just as an FYI, $65k income is NOT a hard cutoff. I have seen people on here become finalists with incomes in the 70-80k range. If you are able to clearly explain in the application why you have been disadvantaged financially, then you should definitely have a shot at becoming a finalist!