<p>I know this is a thread for results and such, but I wanted to leave some ADVICE for future applicants.
Your teachers and counselors are the most valuable resources you have. Use them!
I swear I would’ve been lost without my college/career counselor’s help and without her faith in me; she’s been my biggest supporter through various applications. My teachers (current and past) have been so open to giving me really critical advice, and even if I didn’t agree with some advice, it was still really helpful.
(Side story: I emailed my counselor and the two teachers who wrote me recs right away after I got my decision, and I was so excited I only sent them a screenshot and a million exclamation points in the subject line. They were all so excited that my counselor was like “AHHHHH!!!” and “I’m so happy! I’m dancing!” and one of my teachers emailed me back a ton of emojis. They’re so proud and supportive of me- I seriously love them all and picked the best people to go to for help and recs.)
I realize that not everyone has friends who frequently publish articles and/or are English/journalism majors in college, but still have your friends peer review your essays! They can tell you if your essays are truly YOU and if they really reflect who you are.
Never doubt yourself (without being pretentious). Seriously. Go into the QB application (and other applications) with confidence; believe in the work you’ve done in the past years. If you doubt yourself, it’ll show through; if you really believe, with valid reason, that you deserve this, your voice will come off as confident and strong.
(That said, many people are VERY qualified to be selected as a finalist but don’t. That doesn’t mean that you didn’t deserve this- the applicant pool becomes more competitive each year, and they just don’t have room for everybody. Don’t let a rejection drag you down!)
Avoid cliches in your essays. I didn’t do the diversity option on the second essay because I honestly felt like it’s overdone and cliche; I chose the significant experience prompt because I knew I could really show who I am and how things continue to shape my life. I was also able to beautifully connect this to my dreams of becoming a pediatric oncologist, so it was the perfect choice for me. Choose the prompts that can best reflect who you are, and then make sure you really direct them with a central theme or idea that really pushes your essay forward. Don’t be afraid to leave yourself vulnerable and just be raw; if these are done right and carefully, they can really showcase the rounded person you are. (I say done right and done carefully because you don’t want to be overdramatic or just focus on emotions or wail through the entire essay. These need careful balance, but the rewards can be amazing.)
Congrats to all the finalists out there! I’m so excited!!</p>
<p>Also, I forgot to add this to my advice, but I just want to quickly add that you should totally take advantage of the additional information section to go over all your other activities. The application doesn’t really let you put a lot of activities/clubs in, so this section was key for me to really show everything I’ve done in high school.</p>
<p>Decision: Finalist</p>
<p>Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): R: 730 M: 550 W: 610 (Composite)</p>
<p>•ACT: 27</p>
<p>•SAT II: N/A</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis):N/A</p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A</p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc, AP English, Honors Physics, Anatomy & Physiology, Chemsitry II Honors, Psychology & Sociology, Economics, Spanish IV AP</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): College Prep Scholar</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
National Honor Society (President)
Future Business Leaders of America (President)
Arrow Leadership Team (President)
Senior Class Officer (President)
National Spanish Honor Society (Public Relations Chairman)
Book Club (Secretary)
City Revitalization Corporation Youth Council Member
Upward Bound TRiO</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: Too busy 
</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service:
Blood Drive Volunteer/Organizer
County Democrats
Peer Tutor
~300+ Total Hours altogether</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: Upward Bound TRiO Summer Academy</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8</p>
<p>•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: 9</p>
<p>•Teacher Rec #2: 9</p>
<p>•Counselor Rec: 7</p>
<p>•Additional Rec: N/A</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): Pennsylvania</p>
<p>•Country (if international applicant): United States</p>
<p>•School Type: Public</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: Caucasian</p>
<p>•Gender: Male</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: 30k</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Generation</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths: I had one essay that had a great hook and really shined. I also have a large quantity of leadership positions/extracurriculars. They are all local and thus aren’t spectacular or anything, but I tried to distinguish myself in that I discussed specific goals/achievements in different positions. I tried to weave my application into a finely tuned story that made me the perfect fit when colleges would be looking to fill a certain type of seat.</p>
<p>•Weaknesses: Definitely test scores.</p>
<p>•Why you think you were selected/rejected: I wrote some pretty unique essays, and I think the rest of my application helped make up for my less than stellar test scores.</p>
<p>Colleges ranked: University of Pennsylvania, Emory University, University of Southern California (in that order)</p>
<p>General Comments: To any future applicants reading this down the road that are thinking they aren’t good enough to get this award or an award like this: Stop it! I honestly didn’t think I’d make it here. Just do your best and above all, believe in yourself.</p>
<p>For those who are Non-Finalists, are you receiving emails from other colleges you didn’t rank? My friend and I were talking about this today, and we thought it was kind of weird. Does QB give our applications to other colleges that might have interest in us, or is this just marketing at its best?</p>
<p>Finalist! woo party</p>
<p>Objective:
•SAT I (breakdown): 2340 - one time - 800CR, 740M, 800W</p>
<p>•ACT: 35 (36, 36, 35, 34, 11)</p>
<p>•SAT II: 800 Math 2, 790 Lit, 790 USH, 780 Bio</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): unavailable, around top 5% i think</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (5), Bio (5), USH (5), Psych (5), Enviro (self study-4), US Gov (self study-4) </p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis): </p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: ap calc bc, ap chem, ap stats, ap latin, ap lang, honors physics</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar w. Distinction, some small things</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Founded 2 clubs, editor of 2 school publications, research internships, grief counseling facilitator, some small things.</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: tutor for a company and also a private tutor.</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service: grief counseling facilitator</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: research internship, job</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. I thought they were really great at the time but now looking back I’m kinda cringing haha. But they were absolutely the best parts of my application. Wouldn’t have gotten finalist without them. Extremely heart felt, humble, and personal.</p>
<p>•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1:
Latin teacher. Should be pretty good. Probably average to slightly above average.</p>
<p>•Teacher Rec #2:
English teacher. Should be decent as well. </p>
<p>•Counselor Rec:
He told me that it was probably the best rec he’s written! that was totally unexpected but super cool! Peeps, don’t worry if you aren’t super close with your counselor. I only talked to him about three times my whole high school career prior to this year. I submitted a SUPER thorough and SUPER personal “brag sheet” (kind of like an information sheet) so that’s the only reason why I got a great rec.</p>
<p>•Additional Rec:</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NJ</p>
<p>•Country (if international applicant):</p>
<p>•School Type: Medium public</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: Chinese</p>
<p>•Gender: F</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: Technically $40k ish, but with complications, that went down to $30k ish due to spending situations. Also, I receive Social Security so about 18k will stop being received once i turn 18.</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): death of parent</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths: ESSAYS. I’ve been blessed with some great writing skills, which outshines the blemishes on my app haha. Scores and gpa too.</p>
<p>•Weaknesses: maybe ECs? I thought they were decent though. I don’t think I have an identifiable weakness so much as general lacklusterness (nothing flashy, eye-catching.)</p>
<p>•Why you think you were selected/rejected: Essays. Came across as a genuine person.</p>
<p>Colleges ranked: none</p>
<p>General Comments:
Ok so I prowled this thread from last year wondering if this was even worth applying. I am NOT part of the ~75% of QB finalists who are first-gen, in fact, one parent has a master’s, the other has a graduate degree. And I’m definitely not as low income as the others (EFC might not be 0 in many cases)</p>
<p>Let me emphasize that while I have good scores, ec’s, etc., the only thing that got me in was my essays. They were very very very personal and super emotional. I wrote about my experiences with a parent’s death and all the ways that it affected me. PLEASE don’t try to appear strong when writing about tragedies. Don’t downplay your heartbreaks. Pour your emotions out and let them scar the paper. Make them scar the reader even more. When you’ve done that, that’s when you come back strong and speak about your triumphs. Moreover, you’ve really got to sound like a human being. Sentence variation. Fluidity. Organic writing. </p>
<p>To those who did not receive finalist: I’ve gotten enough rejection to know that this is not the end. We will be fighting the same battle when it comes to EA/ED/RD, and I wish you so much luck.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Actually, ranking colleges has nothing to do with becoming a finalist. I didn’t rank colleges and I became a finalist. I asked QuestBridge directly and they told me that ranking colleges has nothing to with their decision regarding your application. The only reason I’m saying this is because I don’t want other students to feel pressured into ranking colleges that they’re not fully interested in, only because they think it will increase their chances. I decided not to rank because it restricts you from applying early to other colleges, and I know I need to to increase my scholarship opportunities elsewhere by applying early.
Anway…we have really similar stats (test scores) haha.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<p>Objective: •SAT I: 1890 R:650 M:600 W:640</p>
<p>•ACT: 29 composite</p>
<p>•SAT II: n/a</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.7 weighted/3.7 unweighted</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 17/565 (3rd percentile)</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis): 9th: Human Geography (4) Environmental Science (3)
10th: Psychology (4) World History (4)
11th: APUSH (4) European History (4) English Lang (4(</p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a</p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Biology, AP Statistics, DE Government, DE Macro, DE Social Psych, DE Abnormal Psych, DE Spanish, Chorus, Creative Writing</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Honor with distinction</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Environmental club (vice president), chorus (vice president) national honor society (treasurer), drama club, school musical</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: worked at family business (restuarant) from january 2012- may 2013, camp counselor february 2014- curretnly</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service: national honor society and environmental club, 160+ hours</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: work</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): I won’t rank my essay by number, but I was very happy with my bio essay. i wrote about my family’s business loss at the same time as both of my grandfathers passing. I know my grandfathers passing is “basic” but the financial loss was significant. My second essay wasn’t a strong topic, but I thought it was at least well-written.</p>
<p>•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1/2: I have absolutely no idea how good my teacher recs were. Both of the teachers who wrote them love me, but I didn’t see them.</p>
<p>•Counselor Rec: My counselor is the most impersonal man ever, but he has a 5 page form for everyone to fill out which is basically a fill-in-the-blank for a recommendation.</p>
<p>•Additional Rec:</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): Florida</p>
<p>•School Type: Public</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: white</p>
<p>•Gender: female</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: $40000</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): my family lost their business two years ago, but other than that nothing really</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths: Essay.</p>
<p>•Weaknesses: I don’t see my scores as weaknesses, but there’s definitely higher. I think me being white and my income may have something to do with it. I also have no idea how my recommendations went. I kind of regret not being more on top of those.</p>
<p>•Why you think you were selected/rejected: I looked at the stats, and honestly I think my income had a big part of it, despite the fact that my family lost their business. The average income was about $30000, and I think my family is around $40000. Maybe if my scores were higher it would’ve made a difference.</p>
<p>Colleges ranked: Brown, U Chicago, Rice</p>
<p>General Comments: I’m pretty upset I didn’t make it, but not completely let down. I still have another ACT to take, and this way I can apply ED to Brown.</p>
<p>Decision: Finalist!</p>
<p>ACT: 32 Composite
GPA: 3.98
Senior Year Course Load:
Physics I and II for Scientists and Engineers (Calc)
Calculus II, Differential Equations, and Multivariable Calculus
General Chemistry I and II
Macroeconomics
English 12
Drafting I</p>
<p>(No APs offered)</p>
<p>Rank: 4/205 Unweighted
ECS: Mentoring elementary (11, 12), Hospital (12), Leo (10,11,12), SADD (10,11,12), Tutoring (10,11,12), Robotics (12), STEM club (12) … couldnt participate in things during first two years of high school due to family problems… third year was difficult because I worked so much.
Income: 32 k a year, but mother pays hospital and medical bills that add up to at least 7,000
Work Experience: average: 30 hours per week all year (lots during school year)
Teacher Recs: amazing!</p>
<p>Extenuating Circumstances: Extreme. Abusive, heroin-addicted parents, foster care, homeless dropout brother, alcoholic abusive stepfather, dad passed away from drug usage last year during exams, severely ill mother… i could go on forever. Had to work extreme hours to be able to pay for college courses at the local college because my school is disadvantaged and rural, so it has no AP courses… also helped pay for food, bills, etc… my own car, insurance, gas, etc.</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you!</p>
<p>Decision: Finalist</p>
<p>Objective: </p>
<p>•ACT: 30</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.75</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): none</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis): n/a</p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis):n/a</p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: gov, econ, lit, stats, french 4, womens studies, music history, physics, human sexuality, women in lit</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none, but i mentioned being on honor roll and receiving the scholar athlete award at my school</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech and Debate (founder/secretary), Fellow for the Ro Khanna 2014 campaign, actress for HS drama department, make-up artist for musical</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: I own my own cookie business</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service: Reading Partners Tutor and Volunteer at my local museum</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: work/volunteering, Stanford Summer Humanities</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): autobiography 7.5-8: not terribly well written but very sad
essay #2: 8- could have been better but also kinda sad
•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1:
9- teacher knew me pretty well and we got along
•Teacher Rec #2: 10 - sophomore teacher for algebra 2 trig who was the loveliest person ever and she really liked me and she knew how hard i could work
•Counselor Rec: it was pretty good so like 8-9</p>
<p>•Additional Rec: n/a</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): CA, but born in peru</p>
<p>•Country (if international applicant):</p>
<p>•School Type: public ~ 2000 students but i take most of my classes at a cc</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: Latina - Peruvian</p>
<p>•Gender: Female</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: ~20,000</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): immigrant, urm, disabled, brother is in the hospital</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths:
probably that my personality really showed through my essays/short answers. also my life has been pretty tough/sad so yeah, also
•Weaknesses:
um probably that my GPA and test scores werent the highest also i didnt have any major awards
•Why you think you were selected/rejected:
probably cause ive been through a lot in my life, yet i also do a lot and i am very passionate about things
Colleges ranked: n/a</p>
<p>General Comments:</p>
<p>Decision: Finalist</p>
<p>Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t Report</p>
<p>•ACT: 31</p>
<p>•SAT II: Spanish 780</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.8</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio: 3, Physics: 2, European History: 3, Spanish Lang: 5</p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis):</p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: AP Psych, AP Gov/Econ, Honors Brit Lit, AP Spanish Lit., AP Stats</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Lol</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Secretary for a national honor society, involved in Spanish Honor Society, various other volunteering clubs</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: Interned for a local non-profit the summer after my freshman year</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service: 300+ hours at local hospital, 80 at public library</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: Summer classes at local community college</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): I didn’t really like them…6? It’s not a typical essay, I hope. I wrote it about summer camp.</p>
<p>•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Waived rights so idk
•Teacher Rec #1: Junior year English teacher</p>
<p>•Teacher Rec #2: Spanish teacher for 2 years</p>
<p>•Counselor Rec: probably impersonal, she doesn’t know us very well</p>
<p>•Additional Rec:</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): CA</p>
<p>•Country (if international applicant): USA</p>
<p>•School Type: Public</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: Hispanic</p>
<p>•Gender: Female</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: Around 30K</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first-generation, female interested in science, other</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths: Hooks, class rank</p>
<p>•Weaknesses: Essays, test scores, grades</p>
<p>•Why you think you were selected/rejected: My background and the story I have the privilege to tell.</p>
<p>Colleges ranked: (Definitely not expecting anything) Stanford, Yale</p>
<p>General Comments: Congratulations to all my fellow finalists! And for those not matched, be assured that this is not the end. Don’t let a single obstacle define you. No matter what happens, you’ll end up where you need to be.</p>
<p>Hi! How did you become a Huffington Post teen blogger?</p>
<p>@isong5000</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I’m just wondering if any of you other QB finalist that are waiting on the match results, have been receiving emails from QB about preparing a back up plan just in case you don’t get matched.</p>
<p>I realize that the odds are slim of getting matched and that it’s aways a good idea to have a good plan “B” but I just wondered if this is their standard email OR are they trying to tell me something. :-)</p>
<p>@HappyCamper2015 Hi, I got that message too. I really hope this isn’t a slight nudge saying we didn’t get in haha</p>
<p>Pretty sure it’s just a standard email they send out to everyone, but do keep in mind the slim chances. You should already be planning as if you won’t receive the scholarship. (finding out QB’s RD stuff, CommApp Reg, etc, etc)
I really hope it’s not a hinting message though, because I too received the email… 
</p>
<p>Decision: Finalist</p>
<p>Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 1980 (720 CR, 610 M, 650 W) (I have since brought this up to a superscored 2100 following the October test date, but hopefully it will be higher when November SAT scores are released in the next week or so! Fingers crossed!)</p>
<p>•ACT: 34 (35 E/W, 31 M, 33 S, 10 Essay)</p>
<p>•SAT II: N/A</p>
<p>•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0; 4.64 weighted</p>
<p>•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/140</p>
<p>•AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human Geography (4), AP World History (4), AP US History (4), AP Statistics (4), AP Language and Composition (5)</p>
<p>•IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A</p>
<p>•Senior Year Course Load: Health Science 3, AP Biology, Latin 3, AP Literature, Health Science Direct Study (Clinical Internship) - I also take dual enrollment courses at a local state university, American National Government this semester and Intro to Economics next semester</p>
<p>•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Sunshine State Scholar</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Red Cross/Health Science Club (Co-Founder), Support Group (Mentor [10, 11], Co-President [12]), Aerospace Club (Mission Specialist), School Newspaper (Staff Writer [9] and Co-Editor [10]), Latin Club (Secretary [10, 11], Forum Coach [12]) (I have more, but this is what I could list on the app)</p>
<p>•Job/Work Experience: Certified Emergency Medical Responder, Certified Nursing Assistant student - have some clinical experience from this</p>
<p>•Volunteer/Community service: Health and Rehab Center volunteer, EMR volunteering, school service through NHS, etc</p>
<p>•Summer Activities: helping my grandmother, who is in declining health</p>
<p>•Essays (rating 1-10, details): Biographical (7/10), Essay 2 (8/10) - They were slightly out-there/creative. I was worried it would backfire! Talked about learning about my ambitions for a future career in medicine started when I helped my unemployed mother take care of my grandparents. My other essay was about how my mother discovered she was adopted and part Choctaw, which fueled my love and need for diversity in education.</p>
<p>•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: (8) Didn’t see but was probably really good - although it was submitted past deadline!</p>
<p>•Teacher Rec #2: (8) Submitted on time and probably good</p>
<p>•Counselor Rec: (7) Might be generic, didn’t see. Although she did talk about me in glowing terms when interviewed for the school newspaper about my Finalist status</p>
<p>•Additional Rec: N/A</p>
<p>Other
•State (if domestic applicant): FL</p>
<p>•Country (if international applicant): USA</p>
<p>•School Type: Charter</p>
<p>•Ethnicity: White/Native American</p>
<p>•Gender: Female</p>
<p>•Income Bracket: $50,000-60,000</p>
<p>•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): maybe Native American background helped?</p>
<p>Reflection
•Strengths: ACT score, essays, class rank, unique ECs</p>
<p>•Weaknesses: some of my ECs are all over the place (scattered interests), average SAT score</p>
<p>•Why you think you were selected/rejected: Not sure! Maybe my ECs or my essays helped me</p>
<p>Colleges ranked: Columbia </p>
<p>General Comments: SO SO SO happy and amazed I was selected as Finalist. Really grateful for even the opportunity of being matched to my dream school. To the other Finalists who ranked, congratulations and good luck throughout the Match process! To Non-Finalists and Finalists applying RD/ED, good luck as well! You all deserve it!</p>
<p>Apparently when people have checked their QB account they see “Optional Regular Decision Form” Does anyone else see this on their account?</p>
<p>^^ Nevermind everyone received the form. Just gotta wait 7 days to know for sure</p>
<p>I didn’t get that form. I thought that wasn’t suppose to be available until after December 1st.</p>