National College Match - 2009-2010

<p>Well 72% aren’t…</p>

<p>Bubbe-</p>

<p>As a Questbridge 2008 Finalist -</p>

<ol>
<li>Did you ignore applying thru Questbridge Match and just apply to 1st choice school EA? (mentioning of course, on your app. that you were a Questbridge Finalist?)</li>
</ol>

<p>skyraptor says: I applied using Questbridge to two schools: Yale and Stanford. B/c of how Questbridge works, you have to either apply to Questbridge 1st round OR the school’s SCEA program (you can’t do both). However, if you don’t get matched, you DO get to apply to the schools via RD.</p>

<ol>
<li>Did you apply thru Questbridge Match choosing 8 partner schools?</li>
</ol>

<p>skyraptor says: You can pick a maximum of 8 partner schools. Keep in mind that some of the schools are binding if you are accepted (just like ED).</p>

<ol>
<li>Did you apply thru Questbridge Match & choose only the ‘non-binding’ partner schools ?</li>
</ol>

<p>skyraptor says: Yale and Stanford are both nonbinding. I was a Finalist but didn’t get matched w/ either. In the regular decision process, I was wait-listed at BOTH places (but eventually got accepted at Stanford)</p>

<ol>
<li>If no Match - To which schools did Questbridge forward your application for Reg. Decision -??</li>
</ol>

<p>skyraptor says: Questbridge automatically forwards your applications for regular decision (unless you specifically indicate that you don’t want them to)</p>

<ol>
<li>If no Match and ALSO denied admission Re: Reg. decision to ANY Questbridge partner schools - To which ‘outside’ schools did you apply? ie. Harvard, WashU etc.</li>
</ol>

<p>skyraptor says: b/c Questbridge was a long shot for me (but well worth the effort, especially since the partner schools got to see more of my essays), I also applied to the following schools: UCLA, UC Berkeley, UCI, UCSD, Reed, Pomona, Pitzer, Harvard, and CSULB)</p>

<p>Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to help :)</p>

<p>These are prob stupid qs, but can sum1 clearly and concisely explain questbridge? and did the deadline past. Thanks!</p>

<p>[QuestBridge</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://questbridge.org/]QuestBridge”>http://questbridge.org/)</p>

<p>basically, questbridge is “another way” to apply to the schools they are partnered with. so look at the list of schools that are part of questbridge… and if you like them, apply to them through questbridge. you can always apply to other schools not part of questbridge. however, please note that questbridge was made for low-income students… so if your parents make more than $60,000/year you should just apply the regular way. questbridge is nice for low-income students because they give more room for essays to explain your circumstances or special situation. it’s also nice because you don’t have to pay for application fees within their process.</p>

<p>oh, and the deadline for soon-to-be seniors will be in september. the only deadline that already passed was for juniors, but the “main” deadline is still-to-come.</p>

<p>i tried introducing the concept to you, but there is still a lot about questbridge you will have to go learn about. good luck!</p>

<p>So Stanford is my #1 choice but I am also considering questbridge because my mom has low income (48,000), I have unusual circumstances (father was an abusive alcoholic), and I would also like to apply to other top schools…</p>

<p>So should I do stanford EA, because I know I have a better chance of getting in EA than through QB, or should I do QB because of my circumstances and it overall gives me a better shot for the top schools?</p>

<p>Please advise me!</p>

<p>Here are my stats if you are wondering:</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Asian Indian
School: Competitive Public (~500 students in each grade)
Area: Northern California</p>

<p>GPA (UW: 3.98) (W: 4.31)
Weighted is low because my school does not offer AP for grades 9/10, and it does not weight grades for honors classes in 9/10</p>

<p>Class Rank: 1/499</p>

<p>Courseload: Most rigorous and advanced as possible</p>

<p>Junior Year GPA (UW: 4.00) (W: 4.83)
AP Calc AB A- / A
AP US Hist A- / A
AP Psych A / A
Honors English A / A
Honors Chem A- / A-
French III A / A-</p>

<p>Very rigorous senior year
AP Econ
AP Gov
AP Physics
AP French
Academic Decathalon Team
Journalism
Math 1B (Calc BC) at Junior College OR AP Stats
English 1A (basically AP Eng) at Junior College OR AP Eng</p>

<p>SAT I: 2080
M 770
CR 690
W 620
(I know it is very low, esp. the writing, but I am studying very hard for it, going to retake, and hopefully I can break 2200, a 120 pt jump, so please take that into consideration before saying I have no chance at all with that SAT)</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests: took in June, not sure yet</p>

<p>Extracurricular:</p>

<p>Member of National Honor Society (Grades 9, 10, & 11)
Member of California Scholarship Federation (Grades 9, 10, & 11)
Member of School Honor Society (Grades 9, 10, & 11)</p>

<p>President and Founder of my own political awareness club, we discuss current events and politics (11)</p>

<p>Community Achievement Award (Grades 10,11)
North Coast Section, CIF Scholar Athelete (Grades 9,10, & 11)</p>

<p>School Badminton Team (Grade 9) Varsity (Grades 10 & 11)</p>

<p>Volunteer at Regional Library (120 Certified Community Service Hours, I know its not much, but I use my time to try to improve the library instead of just piling on hours by shelving books) (9,10,11)
Founding Member of the Library Teen Advisory Council (10,11)
Only Youth Member of Official Library Advisory Board (11)</p>

<p>Paid Internship at a Biotech Company Located In Silicon Valley
Interned as a Reasearch and Development Analyst, published a research White Paper availible on company’s website (9,10,11)
Possible Letter of Rec from CEO</p>

<p>California Boy’s State 2009, going this saturday!</p>

<p>USAF Academy Summer Seminar (So someone told me its a free education and I decided to check it our because i did not know about Fin aid or Questbridge, but I am definiteley not applying there, but I will list it because it is a competitive program to get into)</p>

<p>Page Editor of Award Winning School Newspaper (12)</p>

<p>Academic Decathalon Team, always wins county and usually places in top 4 for state, only accepts seniors (12)</p>

<p>Started my own landscaping business to help my mom pay the bills, makes around $500 a month, and I dont do any work actually, just connect my friends to people who want their lawn mowed and I take half</p>

<p>I Hope that helps, any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks</p>

<p>ib62, remember that forum members aren’t going to review your application and decide upon your admissibility. In other words, don’t rely on what others say. If you are truly a worthy candidate then you’ll know based upon your decisions next school year. The only advice I am going to give you is that you have to shape who you want to be, not what others want you to be. After all, that is the main factor that you will be conveying to colleges. Good Luck!</p>

<p>someone touched upon this a little but I wanted to make clear. For each school that you choose to apply to do you have to pay an application fee? I know you can only pick a max of 8 schools, but I was just wondering.</p>

<p>^blackrose21, no, there’s no application fee required for Questbridge; when you fill out your commonapp forms, for forms of payment, just check the “Other Fee Waiver” option.</p>

<p>^skyraptor, o ok thanks.</p>

<p>Let me just say that while QB does give you an advantage, if you end up NOT being a finalist or not getting matched, it does not mean that no school will accept you. Likewise, being a finalist does not guarantee that you will be matched at all (I remember one girl on here who was rejected from all her match schools :/). I was not a finalist (this really crushed my self esteem for a while), did not apply to Stanford using the QB app, but I still got in (albeit off the WL in RD). My reasons were that I wanted to use updated information (which QB wouldn’t let me do) and that I wanted to spend more time on my essays (the time frame between knowing that I was not a finalist and the deadline for SCEA was too short for me). I did mention that I was selected for the QB conference in my app however, and I think that was a plus. I’m writing this to say that while QB is an extremely useful tool (it def gave me an edge in preparing me for college app writing ahead of my peers) if you don’t get selected for finalist/get matched, please don’t get too discouraged. Also, being a Questbridge Prep scholar does not guarantee that you will make it to the finalist round (I mistake I made). </p>

<p>Best of luck to future applicants! :)</p>

<p>Wow, darling, you’re the first person I ever heard of who was a prep scholar, yet not a finalist. That’s interesting. I don’t want to peel open any painful wounds, but do you have any theory as to why that might have happened?</p>

<p>Oh it’s totally fine. I’ve totally moved past it, I actually think if I was a finalist, it wouldn’t have helped me that much anyway as my essays would have been so rushed. I’ll be happy to answer any more questions. </p>

<p>After looking at the stats of people accepted/not accepted as finalists, my stats were significantly higher than some of the people accepted as finalists. My theory is that QB is looking for a specific group of people: low income, first generation to attend college, or minority etc. Which is great, as that’s exactly what QB’s mission is: to get low income students to attend college. I didn’t fall into the first generation or minority (I’m an Asian female).</p>

<p>My parents both went on to graduate school programs, which meant that even though their degrees don’t help our financial situation at all (we are low income as we just immigrated to the US, etc) my family looks very well educated on paper. I did try to explain this on my application, but I think my family wasn’t the type of family they were trying to help. I might be way off base here, but I think that’s why I didn’t make finalist. At the time, I was really upset, especially as I was already going through some horrible self esteem issues about college (i’m the first person in my family to apply to college the traditional way, my sis did CC) so that made me really discouraged and it took a while for me to get over that. But I really did move past it, and I’m extremely happy at how my college process turned out. Even though Claremont McKenna killed their QB program, they still accepted me (I used the QB app for RD) and gave me extremely generous FA. Generous as to it’s a full ride generous (tho w work-study, of course). The same is true for Stanford (no QB app, still full ride based on need w work-study). I’ve been very blessed. </p>

<p>My point on posting on here is to repeat that for low-income students, not getting matched/being a finalist really isn’t the end of the world. Be smart, apply to not only QB schools with amazing FA policies but also for merit scholarships. I got one from USC and Regents for UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI and UCDavis (basically full rides) and while they weren’t my first choice schools, it was just wonderful to have that sense of security and know that even if I didn’t get into my top schools I would be able to not burden my family and myself with loans. My goal when applying to college was to have 0 burden to my parents, and somehow I have been blessed enough to accomplish that. What is heartbreaking to me is when people spend the money to pay for applications and time on writing essays, get into schools like USC and realize they cannot go at all because they can’t get FA (this is one of my close friends who will be attending community college instead). He made the mistake of not applying for merit scholarships from schools that offer them.
Do QB, but know that QB isn’t the only path to getting into a fantastic college w great FA. I actually really enjoyed my time at the QB prep conference, so no regrets there, plus I met someone who turned out to be my mentor during this college process. I’m very grateful to QB.
Best wishes to all :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s a great take-home point for many readers of this thread.</p>

<p>Haha…it’s finally our turn to apply to college and I’m freaking out.</p>

<p>Okay, so I got accepted into Questbridge College Prep Scholarship but only to the Yale Conference, and the college visit nominee thing. Does that actually help, even though I wasn’t able to attend the conference, and still have not received anything from the college visit thing? and also, my sister got the college match thing last year, does anyone know how that would reflect on my chances? (they already gave a scholarship to one member of my family, maybe they would want to give another family a chance?) :)</p>

<p>Dang…I used to think I had a good chance, but this scholarship seems out of this world hard to get :&lt;/p>

<p>Oh yeah! And I got the summer program at Embry too, but sadly, I had to deny…</p>

<p>Who (else) will be at Yale tomorrow?</p>

<p>What would the advantage of using Questbridge’s application for regular decions versus the college that you are applying to application?</p>

<p>I don’t quite comprehend your question, but if you’re asking about the advantage of Questbridge during RD, the answer is quite simple. If you make it as a finalist, and get rejected from the college match program colleges see that you were a finalist, and they want to broaden their diversity (cliche, I know) so they take students were finalists much easier.</p>

<p>Think of it this way. Last year, around 4000 people applied to Questbridge. 2000 were finalists. 300ish were matched to schools. And 700+ were accepted into RD. :D</p>

<p>o ok but the 700+ that were accepted into RD, were they all finalist?</p>