Official Questbridge Finalist Thread 2013-2014

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
41

<p>Decision: Finalist</p>

<p>College Match Schools: USC, Stanford, Columbia
RD Schools: Hamilton College, Reed College, Lewis & Clark College, Saint Mary’s College of California, MCLA, Roanoke College, NYU, Emerson College</p>

<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 1910 (CR: 590, M: 660, W: 660)
[</em>] ACT: 31
[<em>] SAT II: LIT: 600, US: 590
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/240
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human Geography (4), AP Statistics (5), AP English Language and Composition (4), AP Environmental Science (3), AP US History (2), AP Calculus, AP English Literature
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis):
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Calculus, Art 4, Honors Physics, Journalism, Creative Writing (VHS), Mythology (VHS), Poetry Writing (VHS)
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Honor Society
[/ul]
Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Journalism (Editor), Drama Club (actress, writer, stage crew), Creative Writing Club, Field Hockey (varsity), Lacrosse (varsity), Yearbook, Goddard Tutoring Club
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: 2 part-time jobs, summer job as a historical interpreter, babysitter
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: tutoring at local elementary school, farming at a community garden that donates all produce to food banks
[<em>] Summer Activities: work, quality time with family, visiting colleges
[</em>] Essays:
[<em>] Teacher Recommendations:
[</em>] Counselor Rec:[/ul]
Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): MA
[</em>] School Type:
[<em>] Ethnicity: White
[</em>] Gender: Female
[<em>] Income Bracket: below 60,000
[</em>] Assets:
[<em>] Property:
[</em>] Extenuating Circumstances:
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Generation
[/ul]
Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths:
[<em>] Weaknesses:
[</em>] Why you think you were chosen/not chosen as a finalist: I met all the specifications of the scholarship.
[/ul]
General Comments: I’m getting so nervous for waiting for the final decision.</p>

42

<p>@Moxi: Depends upon how it was worded. In my daughters year, there were a number of people who were not “matched” but they immediately got either a phone call or a letter that strongly urged them to apply ED. The way the letters/calls were worded, it was obvious that they would be accepted ED. (with great financials by the way). All (except for one) were accepted ED. SO, some of these letters are ‘extremely likely’ but not matched letters. For whatever reason, they are not able to ‘match’ the applicant, but they still really want that applicant.
PS: The ‘one’ who was not accepted trashed the offering school on her Facebook page.</p>

43

<p>My guess is that the school wants the student, but doesn’t want to pay the fee associated with the match to QB. In that case, I would be inclined to go for RD to be able to compare FA offers. They can vary by thousands of dollars. IMHO, trashing a school on FB shows a decided like of maturity.</p>

<p>Also, FWIW, my son got the same FA offer that a finalist match recipient would have from his SCEA school.</p>

44

<p>^ *lack I got your back. :)</p>

<p>Anyways, Pton sent me an email talking about an alumni interview. With the official decisions just a few days off, I’ll assume this is a sign I wasn’t matched there. Or am I interpreting this incorrectly?</p>

45

<p>Yes, I have the same concern here…</p>

<p>About two weeks ago, I received an email from Princeton that I will be contacted by a local alumni, but I did not receive any call or email. A few days ago, I received another email from Princeton with a different alumni that he/she will contact me for an alumni interview. But, it is likely that the interview will not happen before 12/02…</p>

<p>Also, another thing…</p>

<p>from yesterday, I have been receiving emails from Harvard and Penn about apply to their schools. I find it odd b/c those are some of the schools that I put under the “college list” of my common app…</p>

<p>I guess… I will get ready for RD and write my essays during Thanksgiving…</p>

<p>Still, keep my fingers crossed :)</p>

<p>p.s.: I would appreciate any input/ past experiences from past applicants or their parents.
THANK YOU AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)))</p>

46

<p>@hopepediatrician: Wow, our experiences are completely identical. UPenn and Harvard have been flooding my email telling me to apply. I’ve probably received an email a day from UPenn over the past week. I assume this is part of their marketing strategy, though I cannot be sure. In any event, there’s nothing I can do. </p>

<p>Another thing, how many colleges did everyone else rank? I ranked eight. Last year 1300 (I think) finalists were accepted RD, but I think most of those people ranked six or more colleges. Any thoughts?</p>

47

<p>@The84thline,</p>

<p>wow…that is very identical…I hope that is not a bad sign…
BTW, I ranked 4 colleges- Yale, Princeton, UChicago, and Brown…
May I ask which colleges you ranked for Questbridge?? just curious…</p>

<p>Good luck to y’all!!</p>

48

<p>I ranked eight colleges: Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Dartmouth, UChicago, Pomona, and Haverford. (Not in that order though) I suspect that most of the RD admits ranked many colleges.</p>

49

<p>^
Did you have any alumni interviews?? Yale, Princeton, or UChicago??
I had UChicago near my neighborhood, but Yale one at the campus…</p>

50

<p>@hopepediatrician if you are receiving emails from colleges that you have listed on your commonapp is because is part of the colleges marketing/attractions acts. They seem to know if you have listed them as part of your college list, so I wouldn’t take those emails as if their interested on you. For the record, I got those same emails from UPenn and CMC.</p>

51

<p>^
@calipretty3, Thanks for the reassuring reply!!</p>

<p>I am just worried that I started receiving those emails since this Thursday…maybe after they heard from QB…
maybe I am thinking way too much…</p>

<p>KEEP MY FINGERS CROSSED.</p>

<p>Good luck to you all!!! and happy Thanksgiving :)</p>

52

<p>Unpopular opinion, but I took my chances and only ranked 1! Good luck to everyone!</p>

53

<p>I’m so nervous!!! I’m sitting trying to finish 5 APs worth of homework (art history not really fascinating me right know) during break but can’t stop checking my email and reading CC posts. Does anyone know when the earliest possible notifications will come out? I ranked Stanford, Yalw, Princeton, and MIT.</p>

54

<p>@Olipond: I never thought of it that way, maybe I will apply early. The email does seem like it is pushing me to apply early. Thanks!</p>

55

<p>Is it a bad sign if I just got an interview request from a partner college that I ranked. Does the alumni office have good coordination with the admissions office (would the alumni office actually know that QB students have the early Dec 2 deadline)?</p>

56

<p>^Alumni don’t know anything about you. I had an interview for Princeton and the first thing my interviewer said to me was, “I know nothing about you other than your name”. Your interviewer doesn’t have access to your test scores, transcripts, application etc. At the end my interviewer also explicitly told me that he had no idea when I get results but that he nevertheless wishes me the best of luck. It’s safe to say he had no idea that I was a Questbridge applicant. </p>

<p>I’m under the impression that getting an interview is very much an automated process. If you’ve completed your application with all the necessary materials, colleges automatically send alumni in your area your name and contact info. When you get your interview depends on how many alumni are available in your city and how prompt they are to confirm their availability to the university and how quickly they’re willing to contact you. So really everything depends on the interviewer - all unpaid volunteers I want to add. I was lucky that my interviewer contacted me promptly and lived right in my neighborhood.</p>

<p>So yeah. Don’t read into this interview stuff.</p>

57

<p>Does anyone know how to find the fee waiver option on USC common app? QB says to look at payments section under common app but as far as I know that section doesn’t exist. USC says to list “QB Finalist” as option in payments section but that option doesn’t exist either. </p>

<p>For those who applied to USC? how did you do it with the fee waiver??</p>

58

<p>I applied to USC and it was automatically waived, I think you just have to do the regular fee waiver thing where you “sign” your name, and your counselor had to confirm it on their part</p>

59

<p>What time tomorrow will we be notified? Does anyone know? Sorry if someone already asked this question.</p>

60

<p>Nevermind. I read on Facebook that it’s going to be around the same time that we were notified as finalists.</p>