I just logged onto my D19’s college portals to check that financial aid requirements are received and complete. Pomona’s portal displays her ACT and SAT scores (she took each test only once). D19 only self-reported her ACT score and sent an official result as well. She did not send or self report her SAT score on Common App to any college as it was a little lower (97th percentile vs. 99th with ACT).
She did apply to QuestBridge, but was not a finalist. She did not forward her QB application to any QB partners. QB did require all test scores so she self-reported both scores on its application. She did not even rank Pomona, as she hasn’t visited yet, though it’s possibly her first choice. I just checked QB’s privacy policy and I don’t see a mention of sharing test scores with partner schools, just demographics (maybe I missed it?). I’m not worried that Pomona has her test scores as they are decent. I’m a little surprised that this information is being shared, and I’m not sure what else they are sharing…She has applied to other QB partners as well—so should I presume they all have access to her scores, plus what else? The only other place they could have received these scores (subscores are listed on portal btw) is from CB, as they are not reported by her high school.
I’m posting this to ask 1) Did I miss something with how the process works or is QB being less than transparent about what they share with partner colleges? and 2) As a heads up to other future QB students who may prefer to not share all test scores and/or other aspects of their QB application in RD to QB partner colleges (and not using QB app)—it appears that QB is sharing more than demographics.
Unfortunately I don’t have any info about QB but I’ll ask - are you 100% sure the SAT scores in the Pomona portal are the ones she reported to QB? I ask because many if not most schools will convert ACT scores to SAT scores for various reasons. My D only sent ACT scores to most schools but they had a converted SAT score listed in the portal.
@Dolemite Good point, I checked, but answer is no, her converted SAT score is much lower than her ACT composite. Portal lists her actual subscores for both tests. Maybe this question should be in QuestBridge forum, not Pomona, to see if others had unreported scores shared with college partners when application was made directly via Common App. Pomona is the only college that I know of that D19 applied to that displays test scores on the portal. What colleges list a converted SAT on portal?
If this year’s QuestBridge app is like previous, in the “Review” section one of the checkboxes acknowledges: “I understand that my application will be shared with QuestBridge’s partners, regardless of if I become a Finalist.” My guess is that your daughter was just so relieved to finish it (it’s longer than the Common App, for those who are wondering) that she checked it without giving it a second thought!
@otisp Thank you. I don’t see that line spelled out anywhere on the QB portal or website. Are you suggesting it was a checkbox that came up temporarily before hitting submit? Their website gives the impression that the student makes the decision (and there are multiple steps to do so) whether to share their QB application or not with college partners. We always assumed basic demographics were shared with all. Oh well, what’s done is done, hopefully it won’t diminish her application in Pomona’s eyes.
First of all, from everything I’ve heard or seen from Pomona’s AOs, they understand that some students do better on the ACT than the SAT, and they consider the better of the two results. And yes, that checkbox is on the page that comes up before you hit submit, which also includes any detected errors or missing information, along with the ominous “understand any deliberated misrepresentation…will result in…” checkbox. For whatever it’s worth, QB’s privacy policy also reveals that they provide application data to their “network” and “others looking for outstanding students…” Not saying that’s right or wrong, but I do know colleges do use the info to invite non-matches to apply, which could pay off for a student who might have been shooting only for a Princeton/Yale/Stanford, while overlooking a lesser known Grinnell/Wellesley/Pomona which could also offer a full-ride at an outstanding institution.
You’re welcome! QB is a wonderful program, but you gave a heads up to students who might like to know that they can opt out of sharing their application information.
Did the Pomona ask anywhere on their application if your daughter was involved in QB, even as a non-finalist? I seem to remember at least one school that ask that question on their application when my student applied last year as a QB non-finalist (can’t remember which).
@otisp re your comment: “you gave a heads up to students who might like to know that they can opt out of sharing their application information.”
I think if she was doing the application again, she would check share application because that’s the whole point of QB.
In my opinion, QB is not helping some nonfinalists in the process. For instance, D19 invested a tremendous amount of time writing the QB essays in September; she received a short “regret to inform you” update in October, and has not received a single other form of communication since from QB. Yes, she received lots of marketing emails from the partner colleges, inviting her to apply ED, RD, etc. (She was already inundated with similar messages and mailings from College Board and/or ACT sharing her test scores.)
She spent a significant amount of time rewriting her essays and submitted what she thought was the strongest application she could via the Common Application, only to find out that QB has sent “all scores” (which they required) to their partner colleges when all of her colleges have score choice. Colleges then ADD that data to her application without her knowledge (except Pomona let her know they had it). As I said before, she only has two scores, and that’s not my problem with what happened. It’s that I’m tired of companies’ lack of transparency about EXACTLY what they are sharing. They are vague for a reason.
It sounds like QB was probably the cause in this particular case, though it would be interesting to confirm. (On another forum, I read about non-reported scores turning up in an applicant’s portal for a different college and the applicant was not able to figure out why - disconcerting…)