Is There Any Downside to Applying to Questbridge?

My son has high stats, strong ECs, etc., and we definitely qualify financially. He’s not first generation or URM, though. Almost all of his reach schools participate in Questbridge, so it would seem to be worth a shot to apply, but is there any downside? We only learned about Questbridge recently, and his GC is not very familiar with it. If he’s not a finalist, does that mean the schools wouldn’t see his QB application if he later applied to them through the Common App? Or would they see both anyway? Obviously there are extra essays to write, and it looks like he would have to report all test scores (he would rather not submit one of his subject tests), but are there any other downside risks?

My son went through the process last year. It was a rollercoaster of emotions. In the end, my son wasn’t chosen. Only about half of the finalists are admitted either through the match or in regular decision. My son qualified financially, gpa and test scores, but was lacking in extra curriculars. If your son selects colleges during the match and doesnt get chosen he has the option of having those apps switched to regular decision. If there is a downside, I would say it is missing the opportunity to apply ED to schools. ED admit rates are higher than RD. It looks like the finalist notification date is mid October this year. There are a lot of forms and essays that need to be submitted by Nov. 1st. My son felt very rushed and didnt do as well on his essays as he would have if he had taken more time. Also, most of the QB schools are need fully.met schools, so you can get a similar financial package applying on your own

The finalist notification date is prior to the ED deadline for most schools, so if he’s not a finalist, he can still apply ED somewhere, right? But then if he is a finalist, I’m assuming he could decide at that point whether to continue with the QB process or drop out of it…or am I missing something? He’s thinking that he’ll apply and see whether he even gets to the finalist round and then decide. He’s working on his Common App right now, too, so he’ll have that ready either way. He doesn’t mind doing the work with a low chance of success, but he doesn’t want to do it if it could somehow hurt his chances down the road.

I meant if he is a finalist and does the match he’s not allowed to apply anywhere ED. (Though from reading posts on facebook it sounded like other finalists did). On Dec 1, if its like last year, if you find out he wasnt matched its too late to apply ED at a lot of colleges.

My son felt like QB put him at a disadvantage, but I’m not sure why. If he had been selected I’m sure he’d feel differently. Luckily he is at a college he loves, so it all worked out! Good luck!!

Thank you for the information both here and in your other posts, BubbaP! I think we’ve decided that he will not apply to QB after all. We have the low income, EFC of zero, etc., but a college rep from a QB school told us that they really look at students who have overcome significant hardship, and looking at the questions on the application, I can see that they are looking at a lot more than just low income struggles. Since we are a stable two-parent household, non-URM, non-refugee, non-first generation, it probably doesn’t make sense for him, and I would rather see a student who excelled despite both low income AND one or more of those other challenges get the spot. Plus, most of the QuestBridge colleges have policies to meet full demonstrated need without loans anyway, and, in fact, that’s how our older son was able to go to one of them before we’d even heard of QuestBridge (or College Confidential).

Yes, it can be a disadvantage if you are a finalist, white and not first generation. Colleges don’t have extra funds for students in this situation, and you are broadcasting that you are low income. You are better off applying on your own, paying the fee, and looking for a need-blind school.

Actually, most schools are not need-blind even when they say they are. QB is an award that shows colleges you have been through significant hardship.

My daughter was really interested in Harvard and Cornell before becoming a QB finalist. As you know, they’re not on the list. So if she gets matched, those schools will no longer be a possibility. So there’s the question of, “what if…?”

I just wanted to correct a misconception about ED. Many of the QB schools will allow you to roll your application into ED if you rank them and you’re not matched. My D is a finalist and if she’s not matched she will be applying ED to her top choice- they simply extend the deadline for finalists.

If you look up the demographics of those who get matched, almost half are white so that has nothing to do with it. And if your efc is truly 0, then that’s a hardship in itself. I would have applied.

@cher2019 Interested to know, was your child first gen?

Have read about or know of a number of applicants (at least five applied from daughter’s high school this year) and it seems that only white + first gen or URM/Asian (some also first gen) became finalists. Hardship, incl. very low income, was not a factor in her H.S. for students that met income/grades criteria. Per online forums like CC and Reddit test scores were all over the place for finalists (25-35) so lowish test scores should not be a deterrent. Obviously limited sample size. White + homeschooled (not first gen) seemed to be another targeted demographic for QB.

If anyone who was selected and was not first gen/white that would be helpful info. for others asking same question as OP @BirdintheHand, are they a good candidate or not, esp. as first gen comprises 73% of finalists this year. I understand OP chose not to pursue. The non finalist status was useful for our daughter as she used it as a way to improve her essay and decided not to apply SCEA to a school in order to strengthen her application.

Daughter’s first gen friend (Asian, immigrant parents) who became finalist wrote last minute essays for QB (started 3 days before during the school week) and it didn’t seem to matter as far as becoming a finalist (very strong applicant otherwise), but he said his supplements (and Common App) were not good because of the limited time and he wrote essays, again, last minute. This may be a potential downside to applying as @BubbaP said above.

My D is a finalist. She is Hispanic/Caucasian and not first gen (I have a graduate degree and my husband a bachelors). She is homeschooled. Interested to know where you got the info that homeschool was a good thing this year? It’s typially an uphill climb to be a homeschooler.

My daughter is white and non-first-gen. Goes to public school. I also think its beneficial to remember there are two decision makers in this process, the first of which is QuestBridge, who determines their finalists based on a review of all College Match application components. The second, of course, is the Admissions Committee at each ranked college. Since all finalists are low income, I am sure each college has their own criteria they emphasize more, i.e, first gens are favored heavily at one university, URMs at another. No idea how this whole thing will turn out, but felt it was worth a try :). Best of luck to all, God Bless!

@milgymfam and @PatronusMom Congratulations to your daughters on becoming finalists!

@milgymfam I got that info. from perusing old threads on here and on the QB Reddit forum. I only recall seeing one homeschooler who wasn’t a finalist, he had a high GPA and 36 ACT, and didn’t post again. There were definitely quite a few finalists that were homeschooled (some only up to high school), both white not first gen and some homeschooled URMs. More finalists post than NF so it’s really hard to know what that means.

@PatronusMom I’m glad to hear your daughter was selected. I was beginning to wonder if “high achieving, low income students” was an accurate description of what QB was looking for.

@cafe9999 interesting. I’m very active in a few homeschool groups and QuestBridge is generally not on anyone’s radar, so not many homeschoolers (anecdotally) are applying. Additionally, the QuestBridge official stats have homeschoolers as a minuscule perecentage of finalists. I would be especially curious to see the finalist rate vs match rate for homeschoolers. It’s hard to prove rigor/fit, especially if you’re not recreating school at home. I just wonder where the notion of it being something sought after by QuestBridge comes from. My D dropped schools off her list that just weren’t really homeschool friendly- that seems to be the more common side of the coin.

As an aside, I’d argue that not being homeschooled for high school means you’re not a homeschooler in any meaningful way for QuestBridge purposes.

@milgymfam You could try writing QB and asking them for numbers. In case I wasn’t clear I haven’t seen anywhere official that says homeschoolers are being “sought after by QuestBridge.” If, however, you search with key words “homeschool” and “QuestBridge” and/or scroll through past posts you may be surprised at the numbers proportionally (unless there are just a lot of homeschoolers posting online skewing the results). I would not be surprised if QB is delivering certain demographics to partner colleges and letting them review from there. I can imagine homeschoolers as being an interesting group, many with strong ECs and test scores, and a unique experience.