I wanted to apply to Stanford as Early Action, but I’m looking into QuestBridge because it has some universities that I’m interested in, and I’m eligible for the program. How does it all work? Will I still be able to apply to Stanford early or is this better than applying early? I don’t want anything binding, so I don’t want to do the match. I’ve heard there’s a regular decision stage for QuestBridge as well. So does this mean I get two chances to apply? How beneficial is this? Do people have a better chance of getting into universities by applying through QuestBridge? And does QuestBridge choose who colleges see or are you automatically able to be matched as soon as you apply?
Bump! Please Respond!
Also, if you’re not matched, are your chances decreased during regular admission because the college has already “seen” you before?
@john963red, those are all excellent questions. For some answers, please click on this flowchart: https://questbridge.s3.amazonaws.com/pdfUploads/5944153be4780a04007d8476-046d1a53e0dd65608560674892e9aa66.pdf
The above being said, I haven’t seen your last question addressed anywhere. You asked, “if you’re not matched, are your chances decreased during regular admission because the college has already ‘seen’ you before?” I haven’t seen a conclusive answer to this question anywhere. Some posters will say that it can only help you to apply through QB. The argument is that you’ll have a chance to present more information about yourself via QB - with more detailed information - than say applying through the common or coalition apps.
If you apply through Questbridge to Stanford through the national college match, I believe it’s actually non-binding (I think it’s like one of two schools that are non-binding). You can also choose to opt out of the match (which I will be doing if I am selected as a finalist) and then you would be able to apply to Stanford early like you had planned. You’ll definitely have a better chance at getting into Stanford REA than national college match as the national college match is extremely, extremely selective (it kinda has to be if you’re giving away guaranteed full rides). If you do the match, you get a second chance if you don’t get matched to Stanford, and your chances don’t “go down.” Whether it’s “better” than the CommonApp is really up to the person, but the Questbridge app is generally better if you want to explain your background and hardships I believe. If you get accepted, you can rank schools and write the supplements for them, and those are the colleges you would be applying to
@john963red, as @celestialkairos explained above, Stanford is one of the colleges that you can rank via QB without the binding stipulation. The other colleges that you can rank without it being a binding agreement coming into place are: Yale, Princeton and MIT. So, if you: 1) Do QB NCM; and 2) You become a finalist; and 3) You rank those 4 colleges mentioned above; and 4) You match to one of them; then you are NOT obligated to attend. However, if you do rank colleges, even the nonbinding ones mentioned above, you cannot apply ED or EA or REA to any other schools - including Stanford. In your case, and since you are hoping to get into Stanford, you might want to do QB after all. If you do decide to apply via QB for the NCM, and you do decide to rank colleges, rank Stanford as your number one choice. However, do not rank binding colleges because if you do, and you happen to get matched, then you are obligated to attend. Another option is to apply to the NCM but not rank any colleges at all, while also applying to Stanford via restrictive early action. If Stanford doesn’t accept you in the REA round, then you can continue via QB regular decision or on your own. I hope that wasn’t too confusing to follow.
@brainstormcouture So if Stanford rejects me in their REA round, I can still apply to Stanford again through QuestBridge?
@john963red You can send your Questbridge app to Stanford REA (or your common app, either or) but to my knowledge, you can’t apply again if rejected from REA like you would be able to if you applied through NCM
@john963red, I don’t think so. It is my understanding that if a college rejects you in the REA round you cannot reapply regular decision. Read more about this topic here: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/can-i-reapply-after-early-decision-or-early-action-rejection/
IMHO, this is one of the many reasons why I recommend you consider applying through QB instead of just doing REA to any single school. If you don’t get matched via QB, you are not technically being rejected by any of the QB colleges. You just didn’t get matched for a full ride scholarship. You can then move on to the regular decision.
Here are some scenarios:
Scenario#1: You apply to the QB NCM.
Possible Outcome: You become a finalist and only rank nonbinding colleges (Stanford, Yale, Princeton and MIT), making sure to choose Stanford as your number one choice. Then when decisions come back, you get matched to your #1 choice, Stanford. Yippee, time to celebrate! No more college applications! You are going to your dream college with a full ride for 4 years!!!
Scenario#2: You apply to the QB NCM.
Possible Outcome: You become a finalist and only rank nonbinding colleges (Stanford, Yale, Princeton and MIT), making sure to choose Stanford as your number one choice. Then when decisions come back, you get matched to one of the other 3 schools. It may not be Stanford, but you should seriously reconsider because it means going to a top notch school that is willing to give you a full ride for the full 4 years. After all, we are talking about Yale, Princeton or MIT!
Scenario#3: You apply to the QB NCM.
Possible Outcome: You become a finalist, but you do not rank any colleges. This gives you the freedom to apply ED, EA, or REA to any college (including Stanford), make sure to list that you are a QB Finalist on your application. You then get accepted to Stanford via the REA round. Yippee, time to celebrate! No more work to do. You are going to your dream college. They may even throw in substantial financial aid your way (if you qualify).
Scenario#4: You apply to the QB NCM.
Possible Outcome: You do not become a finalist. This is sad, but think of how highly competitive this program truly is! It’s not a reflection on your future college success. The good news is that you are then free to apply to Stanford via REA. If Stanford does not accept you, it would indeed be very sad because your dream school rejected you. However, you can still move on with the regular decision application via QB for any of the other QB school partners. This means you’ll be submitting the regular decision requirements to the other QB schools by their regular decision deadline. Or you can do this on your own (via common or coalition apps).
Scenario#5: You apply to the QB NCM.
Possible Outcome: You become a finalist (but you do not rank colleges); or you do not become a finalist. Either way you can apply to Stanford via their REA, but then you get deferred. While this is not great news, it’s not the end of the world. Stanford will automatically reconsider your application again in the RD round. I don’t know if you can still use your QB app to submit supplemental materials to Stanford before the regular decision deadline. That is, I have no idea if being deferred during REA will allow you to use your QB app any further (please check with QuestBridge on this!). If you can’t use the QB app, then remain in contact with Stanford’s Admissions directly. Do provide them with any additional accomplishments since your REA application. This might be a good idea regardless of whether or not you can use the QB app. Here’s the really good news in this scenario, while that is happening with Stanford, you can simultaneously submit the regular decision requirements to other QB schools (just in case Stanford eventually rejects you in their RD round). Hopefully one of the other QB schools will pick you up! Alternatively, you can do this on your own (via common or coalition apps).
Whew! I hope all of the above made sense.
@john963red To echo @celestialkairos’ post:
If you apply to Stanford via QB, Stanford will be looking at your application twice; whether or not you get a 4 year scholarship ride (a.k.a. matched). They’ll consider your QB application once during the QB match and once during regular decision.
If you apply to Stanford via the common app, the only way they will look at your application twice is if you are deferred. Otherwise, Stanford will consider your application just the one time, to either accept you or reject you.
Update: My application been updated: I’m a QuestBridge College Prep Scholar!
Yes, yes, yes apply with QuestBridge! I really think it helped me get into Princeton since they got 2 extra essays from me. I also got my app looked at twice. (I was not matched, but I got in with my QB app RD). Even if you don’t get into a QB school, it’s worth it, in my opinion, just for the community you’re a part of. QB finalists are part of a FB group discussion, and it was so welcoming and helpful for any questions or problems you have in the college process.
@john963red, Congratulations on becoming a 2018 CPS! 