Official Questbridge Finalist Results Thread

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
1

<p>This is a thread for all the Questbridge Finalists to post their stats and what colleges they were accepted into. The primary purpose is to discover how much Questbridge helps. Thanks.</p>

<p>
[quote]

Accepted :
Waitlisted :
Rejected :</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown):
[</em>] ACT:
[<em>] SAT II:
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis):
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load:
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
[<em>] Job/Work Experience:
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service:
[<em>] Summer Activities:
[</em>] Essays:
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation:
[</em>] Counselor Rec:
[<em>] Additional Rec:
[</em>] Interview:
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant):
[</em>] Country (if international applicant):
[<em>] School Type:
[</em>] Ethnicity:
[<em>] Gender:
[</em>] Income Bracket:
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths:
[<em>] Weaknesses:
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
[/ul]General Comments:

[/quote]
</p>

2

<p>I will begin posting some stats/stories from already established results threads:</p>

<p>Ichigo</p>

<p>I was admitted with no where near the statistics mentioned by others. My SATs were over 2200. I took them one time. My PSATs were similar. I did not take any test prep, but I did borrow several test books from the library and did most of them. (I kinda thought they were fun.) We could not afford to hire a coach, even if we could find one locally. </p>

<p>No one at my school has ever been admitted to Harvard before, or at least not since the 1960’s, which is as far back as anyone has been teaching there.</p>

<p>I had good essays that my composition teacher read and helped me with, but they were 100% my ideas, just organization help. </p>

<p>I decided I was going to Harvard in 9th grade, so I took the hardest classes I could find, hoping they would prepare me. My school doesn’t offer many APs, so I took many of mine through distance learning that my school arranged. The APs I took at my school weren’t great: 3 on US history, 4 on both English, 5 on Calculus AB. </p>

<p>I’m sure my application looked kind of rough compared to others, but I did what the Harvard college night people said to do- took the toughest classes I could get.</p>

<p>I got a letter from QuestBridge to participate in their program, but we were just over their normal maximum income. They continued to send me their emails which had really good advice and timelines in them. QuestBridge sent me the letter based on my “high” SATs and the socio-economic status of my zip code. If you get an offer from them, take it. At first we didn’t know if it was legitimate, but a friend researched it and found it was. Their emails alone were really good.</p>

<p>I chose extracurriculars based on my interests, not what I thought would get me into college. The only thing I didn’t really want to do was a team sport, but my mother talked me into it so I’d feel like part of a group. It worked and I stayed with it for 4 years- probably more to be on the team than to participate in sports.</p>

<p>I am awed to be accepted at Harvard, and my family is excited that Harvard’s financial aid is pretty much what they said it would be from reading their site. (That was not the case with the other “elite” schools I was accepted at.) </p>

<p>The best thing that has happened to me is I now feel like a real role model at my (lower middle class) school. Once people found out (and it was a really big deal once they realized it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke), girls started coming up to me saying they were inspired by me and were going to put more effort into school. I felt really proud to have people say that to me and hope I can live up to everyone’s expectations.</p>

3

<p>Decision: Waitlisted to Harvard</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Reading 800 Writing 630 Math 460
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Bio 680 800 US Lit 700 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.69
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/549
AP (place score in parenthesis): US History 4
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov. AP Bio. AP(Independent Study) European History AP Lit. Hardest courses at school
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS (President) Mock Trial (President) Band (President) Orchestra (President, Concert Master) Speech and Debate(Secretary and two time state champion)Varsity Tennis,Badminton,Soccer and Softball, Captain of Flagline, Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (very prestigious in our state)President of French Club, Girls State Delegate, All-region/district/state violinist/cellist, Principal lead in plays,dance (jazz,hip hop) and choir (lead) ect.
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: 500+ hours
Summer Activities: AFS student ambassador to Turkey, Girls State
Essays: Excellent, very compelling and unique
Teacher Recommendation: Excellent
Counselor Rec: Good
Additional Rec: My tennis/flagline coach = superb
Interview: 2 hours and absolutely wonderful
Other
State (if domestic applicant): AZ
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public, I do not know how competitive, but we send kids to Ivies/top schools every year
Ethnicity: African American
Gender:F
Income Bracket: Below 50,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM,First Generation, speak three languages, music?, Questbridge Finalist
Reflection
Strengths: ECs, Music, ESSAYS!!! and Recs
Weaknesses: Math (which is why my GPA is dead) and SATs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Honestly? My story was pretty different. I am very happy with this and will stay on and hope for the best come May!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted = Amherst, Swarthmore,Wesleyan, Bryn Mawr,Mt Holyoke, Vassar,Sarah Lawrence, Haverford. Rejected: Princeton, Dartmouth, Wellesley, Barnard, UChicago
General Comments: I am happy but also sad. Would have loved to be accepted outright but i will work damn hard to get in off the waitlist. I am very happy with my LACs.</p>

4

<p>Decision: Accepted to Harvard</p>

<p>~Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2010 (very appropriate - but not high at all)
ACT: 30
SAT II: 800 Spanish, 710 Chemistry, 710 Math I, 700 U.S. History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (103.7/100)
~Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1st out of 78 (Magnet School) & 2nd out of 817 (Whole Class)
AP (place score in parenthesis): Spanish (5) (Did not take class), U.S. History (5) ~ Not many APs offered to Juniors
Senior Year Course Load: 5 APs = Comp.Sci., Physics C: Mechanics, Calc AB/BC, English Lit, AP Bio.
~Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc): National Hispanic Scholar, AP Scholar with Honor, Questbridge Finalist, Head of the Class, Ventures Scholar, Top 10 Scholars (all 4 years)</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National Honor Society (President), League of United Latin American Citizens (President), Church Youth Group (Representative), Altar Server Church (Cross Bearer -10 yrs.), Tennis, Football, Robotics (Management Sector), UIL: Science, Math, Social Studies, Number Sense</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: Personal Tutor for Middle & High School Students
Volunteer/Community service: >600 hours. Habitat for Humanity, Laredo Haitian Relief Project, Church, Cleaning Daycares, Food Bank, Caroling to Elderly, Tabs for Cancer Patients
~Summer Activities:
Internship with U.S. Congressman Henry Cuellar (Served as Constituent Services Representative)
MIT Junior Fly-In Program,U.S. Naval Academy Summer Seminar, National Hispanic Institute CWS, Catholic Youth Conference</p>

<p>Essays: Very Touching, Unique
Teacher Recommendation: Very personalized
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec: Congressman Henry Cuellar
Interview: Great! Very engaging
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Huge but Under-served Public School (approx. 4,000 students)
(at most, 1 student goes to an Ivy a year)
Ethnicity: Mexican-American
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Low
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first generation college in U.S. (Parents studied in Mexico)</p>

<p>Reflection:
Strengths: Great deal of Civic Engagement, Internship, Personal Essays (A window as to who I am and my background), Questbridge Application (very inclusive)
Weaknesses: Standardized Testing (Should’ve enrolled in a course or at least studied more) / Tried to compensate
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Tried to exhaust all possible resources within my reach. Congressional Recommendation (went in depth as to how I interacted with people and my ambition (positive connotation))
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
ACCEPTED: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, MIT (EA), Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown (Walsh Foreign Service), Amherst, Williams, Notre Dame, Rice,
WAITLISTED: Yale, Wash&Lee
Rejected:None</p>

<p>General Comments: CONGRATS TO EVERYONE!! && I JUST COMMITTED THANK YOU GOD!!!</p>

5

<p>Decision: Accepted to Harvard</p>

<p>Objective:</p>

<ul>
<li>SAT I (breakdown): 800 CR, 750 M, 690 W</li>
<li>ACT: 34 English, 32 Writing, 34 Math, 34 Reading, 34 Science</li>
<li>SAT II: 800 US History, 750 Math II, 700 Lit</li>
<li>Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.94</li>
<li>Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 1%</li>
<li>AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), US History (4), Physics B (4)</li>
<li>IB (place score in parenthesis): school did not offer</li>
<li>Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Chem, AP Stats, AP Calc AB, Economics, Government, Spanish IV, JROTC IV (Have taken all honors and AP classes offered)</li>
<li>Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Questbridge Finalist, National Merit Finalist</li>
</ul>

<p>Subjective:</p>

<ul>
<li>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): SADD (Chapter Leader) and SADD Support (An offshoot of SADD that focuses on developmental assets rather than awareness) (Founder), Student Bible Study (Leader), Student Public Access TV Show (Script Writer), Student Literary Magazine (Editor), Speech Team</li>
<li>Job/Work Experience: None</li>
<li>Volunteer/Community service: Coach for a Not for Profit, tutored Somalian Refugees, Key Club</li>
<li>Summer Activities: Junior Statesman Summer School at Stanford (a cyber-politics course and one on leadership and public service), Summer School Chem, Summer School World History</li>
<li>Essays: One summarizing my life and how I succeeded in school despite abusive parents who never supported me, one about riding on the city bus and social justice</li>
<li>Teacher Recommendation: My AP US Teacher and Chem Teacher (both very aware of my extracurricular efforts and goals)</li>
<li>Interview: Went very very well. I talked about depression era self help books, getting to the state speech tournament by overcoming a speech defect that they told me in middle school couldn’t be helped, my thoughts on how critical success factors could be the solution to generational poverty, and my thoughts on how Freud’s Id, Ego, and Superego are representative of democracy in the way that Plato’s Logic, Spirit, and Appetite were representative of the city state in The Republic. I also spoke a lot about being out of step with a lot of the school politically and having to pull teeth to keep the extracurriculars from totally fading out.</li>
</ul>

<p>Other</p>

<ul>
<li>State (if domestic applicant): Indiana</li>
<li>Country (if international applicant):</li>
<li>School Type: Parochial</li>
<li>Ethnicity: didn’t answer, but have some Hispanic</li>
<li>Gender: male</li>
<li>Income Bracket: below the poverty line</li>
<li>Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not sure exactly.</li>
</ul>

<p>Reflection</p>

<ul>
<li>Strengths: I built my application very strategically and successfully showed I had overcome a number of obstacles in my life even without any substantial support. My essays and interview appealed to progressive and old fashioned idealism. I was able to turn the weaknesses of my application at face value into the most notable strengths. </li>
<li>Weaknesses: poor transcript freshman year, lack of notable awards, seemingly weak extracurriculars</li>
<li>Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Because I appealed to the American Dream and showed myself as a complex individual and put everything together strategically.</li>
</ul>

<p>Accepted: Stanford, Columbia
Rejected: Princeton</p>

6

<p>Reading through these depresses me because my application is nowhere as good as theirs. This sucks, but I was accepted into the college prep so I am hoping I’ll be a finalist.
Can you please list people who had less than stellar applications and still made it in so I can feel better? :)</p>

<p>BTW, how do you send extra recommendations?</p>

7

<p>Nascent-</p>

<p>Did you find it more effective to do EA through MIT rather than do the college match option through Questbridge?</p>

8

<p>^ I am still a junior.</p>

<p>Can you guys go to the results threads on ivies and search the thread for “questbridge” and post those results please? I think it will be help to many people but I lack the time right now. Thanks.</p>

9

<p>How long ago were the stats? Harvard isn’t a QB partner (anymore)</p>

10

<p>This is RD…applied with QB app, some with finalist status.</p>