Hi. I am currently a junior at a public high school. I am interested in Questbridge’s College Prep Scholar and National College Match programs. But I wonder if it is even worth it. I have two concerns. First, my own financial situation, and two, my specific aspirations.
For my financial background, I am in the lower middle class but I don't personally consider myself to be in a "very poor financial situation." My family was very surprised when my brother qualified last year. I feel like college's consider Questbridge applicants with financial situation in mind, and that I need to have a moving story about being less privileged somewhere in my application. The thing is, I don't really think my life has been terrible affected by my financial situation. I live fairly comfortably, just not rich. Is applying through Questbridge when I am in a better financial situation than many other applicants a disadvantage for me? When colleges pick from the pool of QB applicants, is income a large factor?
My very top pick and dream school is partnered with Questbridge. Now, before you think I'm some over-qualified and pretentious kid, I peresonally think I have a very small chance of getting in at my current state. Neither my academics, test grades, nor ECs are particularly impressive. So, with that background, I was wondering if applying through Questbridge's ED will give me the best chances instead of applying ED to the specific school I want. If going regular ED without QB is better, I worry that if I go QB don't match with my top pick, then I would be stuck going to a lower pick, when I could have potentially made the first pick through regular ED.
tldr; Do college’s consider relative income levels between the QB applicants? Is the QB ED harder than regular ED?
If you qualify as a QB finalist then, IMO, you would be cutting your nose off to spite your face if you don’t take advantage of it. Colleges that partner with QB definitely look closely at QB applicants. Why would you pass up an opportunity for your application to have a head start right out of the gate? Especially for your dream school. Let QB decide whether or not you are qualified. If you aren’t qualified, you won’t get it, simple as that.
I highly recommend applying for QB. Being QuestBridge finalist makes you stand out during college applications. You don’t necessarily need a compelling sob story or anything, just show who you are. QuestBridge is a lot of work, (I’m a finalist myself) but it really prepares you for writing essays and I’ve applied to 13+ schools RD. For one QB school, I got deferred, but I know for sure if I wasn’t a QB finalist, I would be flat-out rejected. QuestBridge allows you to show who you are, and your background. You don’t need to talk about financial struggles necessarily, although I did, I also included how my dad has anxiety and depression and how that affected me. And when you say “QB ED” are you referring to the national match? That one is binding, and you can rank up to 12 schools. The national match is extremely competitive, most finalists do not get the national match (full ride), but a lot get into the QuestBridge partner schools regular decision. You can choose not to do the match, and apply to a specific school Early decision or regular decision for multiple schools. If you any questions feel free to message me. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!
It is entirely up to you…but I am glad that you have come to this website to get some input.
Our family is grateful to QB for the help it gave our son #1 during his college search.
The QB app forced him to start early on his essays and recommendations and to get financial info together.
We got to attend a conference where he and I attended separate workshops and learned A LOT about the application process. There were reps from the partner schools and he got to talk with people from the schools he was interested in. We could not visit every single school because it is too expensive so getting to talk with the reps was great.
He did not end up even ranking schools for Match – he did EA to his favorite school and also to a public. However being a QB finalist surely boosted his application, and if he had not been admitted, he could have had his QB app forwarded to the other schools on his long list.
You would want to look into it to be sure but if the QB is forwarded I believe It is a savings because score reports and transcript are included in the QB app. Our school charges $5 per transcript, and College Board charges ($12? per school?) even apart from the application fees.
Sending best wishes for your decision and your college search.
College Admission Competition is fierce. College admission as is life is all about taking advantage of opportunities that come your way. I’d jump on it.
Hey! I’m a QB Finalist and I’d say that being a college prep scholar was one of the best things I could have done. You may want to look into if the school that you have in mind allows you to apply ED if not accepted through Match! I know there were some schools (UPenn, Pomona, Columbia just to name a few) allowed applicants that weren’t accepted through the college match to be moved to the ED pile. You may get the best of both worlds!
As for your financial background, I am in a very similar position as you. I am lower middle-class and so I thought I may not have qualified. However, to be completely honest as long as your income is below 65K (with minimal assets) then you qualify.