<p>Just thought of something: If you are matched with a nonbinding school, how long do you have to tell them whether you accept their offer?</p>
<p>^ May 1st, along with any other RD school</p>
<p>I need your guys opinion. The QB program seems great and everything but Im honestly scared. I want to do it because I qualify; this opportunity is rare and is once in a life time. I know other indivuduals (even some people here) who would die to be able to apply to this prgram. </p>
<p>Now Im scared of the binding agreement for the sole reason that I haven’t really visted none of the colleges. I’m low income as well so it’s not like I can say “Mom get your things, we’re going to swarthmore, amherst, bowdoin and some more colleges.” We can’t afford to visit all the colleges Im intersted in. What If I get into Bowdoin,UChicago, Amherst but don’t like the area, or something to that effect? It’s just nerve racking and scary; the fact of me making a decision based off of a website and a viewbook.</p>
<p>Also, I feel I have A LOT to offer in the program but I’m at a disadvantage. My GPA is 90; Top 25% of my class (over 75% of applicants are top 5% of their class). My SAT scores are 1480/2400 (The average SAT score is 1940). It’s things like this as well that makes me insecure and not want to apply.</p>
<p>Can you guys just have patience with me and give me advice? Every single peice of advice will be helpful and I WILL listen to every single one of you. This is one of the hardest decisions of my life. </p>
<p>Also, will schools see my SAT score if I retake the SAT in october, even though the application deadline is Sept. 30?</p>
<p>Any thoughts/opinions guys? It would really help.</p>
<p>Phew! Thanks, flyingllama. I thought I’d discovered the one flaw in the plan.</p>
<p>It’s so hard to explain QuestBridge to people who ask you what school you are applying to =/</p>
<p>Youdon’tsay: haha but that was good thinking on your part</p>
<p>Significa: why is it hard to explain? wouldn’t you just say the names of the schools you’re ranking?</p>
<p>They don’t understand that it’s more than a scholarship.
Also, it’s weird because it’s like applying ED to multiple schools. Some try to lecture me on how ED is binding. T_T</p>
<p>-“I’m applying to Questbridge.”
-“Where’s that?”
-“It’s a scholarship program.”
-"Oh, where are you applying to for college?
-“Noo, it’s a type of program where you can also apply to some colleges.”
-“Wait, what?”
Let your imagination fill the rest =/</p>
<p>^ haha I know what you mean</p>
<p>I’m thankful for this site. My daughter received a letter from Quest Bridge inviting her to apply, but we would not be considered low income…we’re stuck there in the middle…yep we get to take out the big loans. And, reading through some of these posts…I grew up low income inner city…but in this day I don’t know how one can exist on 14 or 15,000 per year…thank goodness there are programs like this for those who have that hardship!</p>
<p>Wait, so the test requirement for individual colleges are the same test requirements to become a finalist?</p>
<p>My question is - Will my 1 subject test be enough just to get through as a finalist, and then once I am a finalist, then can I submit my other 2 SATs which I will have taken by then? or do I need all three by Sept. 30th either way??</p>
<p>@powerbomb: No, you’re just going to need an SAT score to become a finalist (you don’t want it to be “significantly” harder to become a finalist, so just submit your SAT score), not the subject tests. When you submit your application, you’ll need to put in your testing dates (Sept/Oct) and when your scores are in they’ll forward them to your schools.</p>
<p>So yes, I think you’ve got the gist of it there.</p>
<p>@beatfreaks: You’re not doing ANY HARM if you apply. You increase your chances by just applying, so why hesitate? It’s free, you’ll have started your college apps early (so you can use those essays for RD), and you give yourself the opportunity to see what colleges want in you.
But let us look at this realistically: you have a VERY low SAT score, and your ranking is a little low. However, if you raise your SAT to the 19-2000 range, I can see you becoming a finalist. There are certainly more lower-ranked kids than finalists with low SAT scores. The SAT is an easier measure of rank than class rank as it measures you across the nation rather than across one school.
You CAN make decisions without visiting the school. If you do happen to get your SAT up and matched to a school, they may fly you out to visit (I believe Bowdoin did this last year). Obviously, if you hate the school, a talk with the adcom would be appropriate. I myself am very low-income and have no means to fly out to New England. I am very sure of what environment I want to be in. All the schools on the list are very good academically: what you need to figure out is where you want to live, how much diversity you expect, etc. This is easier to do nowadays with all of the student-made videos (U nigo, TheU, Youniversity, College Click TV) online, and written reviews as well. You can get a VERY good idea of what the atmosphere is like from students (I know, because I’ve spent a lot of time on the UCLA campus and I’ve read reviews and they are pretty much spot on). So I’m sure you won’t have a problem with the binding issue. If you end up not being able to decide, rank the non-binding schools.</p>
<p>Finally: the SAT question has been answered very thoroughly on here and on the QB website. If you are taking the October SAT, then you can forward it.</p>
<p>To CC members, </p>
<p>Let’s brief up my situation:</p>
<ul>
<li>Transferred student (been here for 7 months) = will be US permanent citizen by the end of this year</li>
<li>Low Income</li>
<li>VERY low SAT scores</li>
<li>ranked top 10% of the class (gpa : 3.92/4.0)</li>
<li>No SAT II Subject Scores</li>
</ul>
<p>It’s there anyway I could explain my disadvantages? I thought about the essay as a medium and I already have a QB account but I’m struggling to find the prompt? Please help?
I will definitely listen to whatever you say!</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>The prompts are in the application under essays. Have you considered taking the TOEFL as a better medium on which to show your skills? If you can’t/won’t, consider taking the SAT over as well as the ACT. Often those who do badly on the SAT find the ACT works better for them, and this applies vice versa.
You are clearly a good candidate GPA-wise, so it’s really your scores that are holding you back. You will NEED SAT 2 scores to be eligible for some schools; you can take these tests and turn them via forwarding, I touched on that in an earlier post.</p>
<p>I would recommend you copy that post into an email to QB directly, they can actually help you a lot.</p>
<p>Thank you Alex! and yes, I am determined to raise my score to that range, I know I can do it. Thank you for helping me out with my situation =]</p>
<p>And I’m sure you’ll make it, with enough work and determination!</p>
<p>If I don’t get finalist status, then can I re-apply “normally” again during RD as if I had never even known what QB was in the first place? Or is it the same policy where, if I get rejected ED, then I can’t re-apply…??</p>
<p>Yes. It’s a win-win either way. If you make it to the finale, your chances are increased; if you don’t you can apply RD with the same application that you used for QB (it’s less strict than (in most occassions) than some of the schools RD application). This si the reason why I’m going to apply; we’re lucky to have such an opportunity. You know how many people would die to be able to apply to those colleges with the QB app?</p>
<p>If you don’t become a finalist, you can apply RD and it won’t affect you. QB will even forward your applications for you, I’m pretty sure, but you won’t get the fee waivers. </p>
<p>The ED process won’t reject you from reapplying. If you don’t become a finalist, you won’t be forwarded in the ED process, so the colleges won’t know about it.</p>
<p>14 of the schools will accept the QB application from non-finalists. Check the Regular Decision Table found here: [QuestBridge</a> National College Match - Regular Decision Table](<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/students/post_match.html]QuestBridge”>http://www.questbridge.org/students/post_match.html)
This table also lists each college’s fee waiver treatment for finalists and non-finalists during Regular Decision.</p>