<p>Hello lightseeker! I hope my response isn’t too late. I did attend the Stanford conference and I posted this on the facebook group regarding the benefits of the conference:</p>
<p>"If any of you have the time/transportation to make it to the conference, I would highly recommend that you do so. The benefits of going to the conference:</p>
<p>1) Meeting the admissions officers of all of QB’s partner schools. These might be the same people reading your application and if you get in touch with them personally and continue to keep in touch with them, it could make a big difference once they decide on your application.</p>
<p>2) If you haven’t yet, you will be able to tour some of the nation’s top universities and get a better feel for college life.</p>
<p>3) You will have a chance to meet the QB team and staff, some of the nicest people in the world! This is also a great opportunity to learn more about QuestBridge and to familiarize yourself with the National College Match Program.</p>
<p>4) You will attend college admissions workshops: These are short presentations by college admissions officers regarding how to write strong essays, how to go about the admissions process, financial aid, etc. These presentations really helped clarify a lot of things for me as a low-income student. You get broken up into little groups of about 15ish students and visit these presentations. If you have a particular dream school already in mind, this could be your chance to establish personal contact with an admission officer and to ask him/her any question you have about the school.</p>
<p>5) You will meet lots of other amazing kids who come from similar backgrounds! I got close with a bunch of people at the conference and I am still close to them today (shout-out to Helen You!). I not only became really close friends with these ‘Questies’ but I really learned a lot from them.</p>
<p>6) Because you earned it! You worked hard on that application, if you can make it, GO!"</p>
<p>Regarding your personal situation, lightseeker, Texas is pretty far and I’m not sure how much tickets would cost at this point. I was also denied a travel grant but I was able to secure tickets for about $160, round-trip from Southern California through fund raising. I also went by myself and navigated to Stanford using public transportation from the airport. If you are unable to attend the conference, it is also absolutely fine. Going to the conference doesn’t influence QB’s decision as to whether you qualify as a College Match Finalist in the next round. I would say if it is a struggle, don’t worry about it! I’m sure that there will be plenty more opportunities for your daughter Congrats on her College Prep Scholar Status!! I’m always happy to see other low-income students making the best of their situations and applying to opportunities like these.</p>