<p>I finally got around to registering with this site after checking it out off and on for the past year. :-)</p>
<p>Is anyone familiar with the QuestBridge conferences at Stanford or Yale from previous years? Maybe you've heard details from older friends or relatives who've attended in the past. I'm not asking about the limited info from the QB site but real info from anyone with better details than that. Is it worth it to make a long trip to this one-day conference? What are any extra benefits gained if our family already has a pretty good grasp of the overall college application process?</p>
<p>My kid was nominated for the Yale conference and for a couple of other things too. But we live near Dallas so either conference would be a major trip for us. (they need to hold a 3rd one in the middle of the country!) If it were financially easy for my kid to attend, she wouldn't have qualified for Questbridge in the first place! </p>
<p>I'm thinking if she attends the Yale event, it would be as part of a larger college visit road trip with me to visit several schools between Dallas and Yale that are on her short list. But it's still a major trip for our budget and if the Yale conference only covers some basic info stuff, it could end up being time we could've spent at other campuses, you know? </p>
<p>How realistic is it that attendees can meet admissions office people from several schools? I think that might be a good benefit from attending, if it's really possible. Or is this a gigantic cattle call with tons of high school students tripping all over each other trying to make connections with a handful of people who could maybe help them in the future? </p>
<p>My kid has her heart set on Wellesley after visiting there with friends last week but she still needs to make some back-up plans. </p>
<p>(PS) I think we'd be willing to pick someone up along the way who wants to attend the Yale event but has no transportation. I know what it's like to have opportunities but not the means so would like to help another kid out, if possible. Really needs to be a girl since they'd be joining a mom-daughter trip. But our trip is in the very early planning stages and you'd really have to live somewhere pretty close to our route to make this happen. Depending on how far along the route you live, you might get stuck visiting some other campuses with us too. Yes, I'm serious. (I'm a 12-year Girl Scout leader so I have tons of good references. haha) But the car is small and the trip is long and still not set in stone... just throwing this out there early.</p>
<p>I don’t know anyone personally who has attended the QuestBridge conferences because I live in a very wealthy community where no one has even heard of QuestBridge before, but if you can’t find anyone to reply to this post and share their stories, I suggest trying the QuestBridge facebook page. There are photos posted from both conferences last year. You can either message the people who commented on the photos saying they attended the conferences and try to gain some insight, or you could see if you could post a topic on the QuestBridge page, although I’m not sure if users can do that.
Good luck and be sure to post your findings!! :)</p>
<p>My son and I attended the Yale conference last year. He found it very helpful, but I would not say we already had a good grasp of the process. We live in PA, so our drive was not as long, and we also made it a college visiting trip. You would have the same chance to meet with college representatives as at a college fair, but since the reps know they have a pre-qualified, low-income group of students, the information is more specific. I believe it was worth the trip - for us.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m driving my daughter from Reno out to Stanford Memorial Day weekend. Did 500 or 1000 kids attend, and were there enough recruiters there to have some face time? We are excited to have a mother daughter trip too, but we won’t be able to see any other schools, because school is still in session on the following Tuesday.</p>
<p>I believe there are 500 kids at each conference. There was a specific time to speak to college reps, but whether you had a real chance to talk depended on how popular the school was - some lines were really long. But the reps were also accessible after and between the conference sessions - the smokers were very easy to talk to outside the buildings;)</p>
<p>@Scoutsmom: Do you know which ones were crowded? We are not interested in the Ivys’ (not feasible) but schools like Washington and Lee, Vassar, UVa, Williams etc.</p>
<p>@Olipond, I am sure that you’ll be able to talk to at least a few of the reps from the colleges on your list, either during the scheduled time or after presentations. You can, of course, also ask questions to the reps who are speaking at the sessions themselves. We had good conversations with the MIT and Columbia admissions directors (yes, the important people are there:) )
Not sure why you think the Ivies are not feasible, btw. If you’re invited to the College Prep Conferences, QuestBridge thinks they are!</p>
<p>Hi,
I’m attending the Stanford conference but will have to go alone. I’m also wondering if the trip is worth it (I’m also slightly afraid it’ll be dangerous)</p>
<p>Other than meeting the college reps, what else happens in the conference?</p>
<p>@orangfoot
Here’s a QB link to the 2011 conference schedule my son and I attended. We were not particularly application-savvy at the time (did not even know about CC), so it was helpful to us.</p>
<p>Hey! If you can’t make it to the conference or even if you do, you might check out some these liberal art colleges’ all-expenses-paid diversity programs in the fall. I attended four. (Williams, Amherst, Pitzer and Pomona) You may receive a formal invitation to apply due to your QB status and if not, search their college websites or try calling come August. I think anyone can apply. These trips are a great opportunity to not only see the campus but learn admissions guidelines and speak to admissions counselors. If you have any questions, just ask. I can tell you about some of my great experiences. :)</p>
<p>My father would like more details about the parents’ part of the conference, please. Do parents have to attend the separate program until 1:30? If they do attend, do they just leave afterwards and come back to pick up their children, or do they join their children? If they leave and come back, is there a designated place where would they come back and pick up their children?</p>
<p>@grammargirl94. My son and I attended the Yale conference last year (and, not coincidentally, he will be attending Yale in the fall ). While I remember there was at least one presentation that was different for parents and students, we spent most of the day together. You both should definitely plan to stay for Dr. McCullough’s presentation at 3:40. It was the most memorable part of the conference, for me.</p>
<p>Thank you! You said I should “plan to stay.” Does that mean we are allowed to leave at any time? I would love to attend all of the college admissions events and learn about the processes, but I don’t need to meet the admissions officers because none of the colleges have my major (special education). Am I allowed to leave and not meet them if that is my last event?</p>
<p>There’s registration, but nobody’s taking attendence, so you can leave when you’d like. I’ve taught special ed for quite a while, btw. Keep an open mind about your major - about half of college freshmen change theirs at least once.</p>
<p>100% worth it. You’ll probably hear a lot of stuff that you already know, but it’s nice to be surrounded by people with common goals and backgrounds.</p>
<p>I just got home from the conference at Yale (as well as my tour through surrounding universities as was suggested in a previous post) and I’d say it’s completely worth it to all of those who are thinking about going in the future. The Washington and Lee Senior Admissions Officer gave a brilliant lecture about the admissions essay and hearing the opinions straight from her, the highest rank of admissions whose opinions matter whole-heartedly, was a great experience. Questbridge’s founder, Michael McCullough, gave a lecture about finding happiness and flow in whatever profession or lifestyle you choose to pursue as well as an optional pre-med meeting at the end of the whole conference. Both were inspiring and challenged my stubborn, teen-aged views of my future career and college choices =) </p>
<p>The most important part of the conference, in my own opinion, was the intimate exposure to the admissions officers of all these highly ranked schools. While some kids chose to spend their breakfast and lunch breaks merely eaaating (how silly ;D), a few other brown-nosers and I ate with the reps from Bowdoin, Vassar, and MIT. It was almost as if we were talking to someone we had known for years. Half of the conversations dealt with school-related interests while the rest of the time was spent simply telling jokes and stories. I learned more in those couple hours than I ever could from a website, mass-produced letter, or short dialogue during a college fair. I can’t help but think they’d recognize my name on a regular app, let alone the extensive Questbridge app. Call it what you will, but I’d say it’s smart politics =)</p>
<p>To sum up my long-winded response: Yes, the conference was definitely worth it. Yale’s campus was absolutely beautiful, the whole day was informative, and several people reading my admissions essays will definitely recognize me. Score!</p>
<p>And to those who thought the Ivies weren’t feasible due to costs, the whole purpose of Questbridge is to deal with the incorrect statement that ‘financially lacking’ students won’t be able to afford them. Several breakdowns of the financial policies showed community college students owing $6k, public $4k, and privates, ZERO. The fancy-schmancy universities believed to be out of your reach are likely easier to afford than the back-up CCs down the street.</p>
While I do agree that the Ivies can be affordable I think it’s misleading to say the students would owe $0. I know Yale expects students to come up with $3000 in summer earnings and to work a term job to earn $1500 freshman year and $2750 for successive years. That being said, for lower income families (i.e. less than $65,000) parents are not expected to contribute so they are definitely as affordable or more so than in state public colleges.</p>
<p>Ah yes, I was referring to Unmet Need. The summer earnings and work/study DO factor in for families in various levels of income/assets/children in college/etc. However, the National College Match and roll-over Questbridge apps tend to curtail those amounts even more significantly than the previous amounts. Sorry for not clarifying which costs I was referring to.</p>
). While I remember there was at least one presentation that was different for parents and students, we spent most of the day together. You both should definitely plan to stay for Dr. McCullough’s presentation at 3:40. It was the most memorable part of the conference, for me.</p>
so you can leave when you’d like. I’ve taught special ed for quite a while, btw. Keep an open mind about your major - about half of college freshmen change theirs at least once.</p>