<p>So, I am still contemplating whether or not to apply via Questbridge. I am 100000000% applying to Stanford though, but it may or may not be through QB. </p>
<p>I was wondering lets say I am not matched to Stanford, can I still apply REA? </p>
<p>Or, the only way I can apply REA is I have to be matched?</p>
<p>And, how difficult is it to be matched with Stanford via QB?</p>
<p>Also, to what extent does QB help in the admissions process is it like a MASSIVE boost or nothing big kind of deal?</p>
<p>It’s VERY difficult to be matched. I think around 2-3%? Look here and count: [QuestBridge:</a> Students: Student Profiles](<a href=“QuestBridge”>QuestBridge)</p>
<p>It’s uncertain how much of a boost it gives at Stanford, which is still the most popular partner college. It’s helpful in that it singles you out as a high-achieving, low-income student, puts you in a separate applicant pool, and affords you opportunities that help (not just things like fee waivers, but completing the QB app, which is due very early, helps immensely with your other applications). One advantage is that even if you don’t get matched, you will be considered again for RD (this is when most of Stanford’s Quest Scholars get in, over 100, so the acceptance rate is much higher than 2%. Not that acceptance rate matters, since that really depends on the quality of the applicant pool). If you apply SCEA, you have a high likelihood of being rejected (about 80% are rejected; less than 10% are deferred).</p>
<p>Only about 3% of the people who applied to Questbridge got matched in the last year for which they provide data, 2009, but the figure was about 11% of the people selected as finalists, i.e., those who actually could submit applications under the Match program. (And the actual match rate may have been a little higher – it’s not clear that all finalists submit Match applications, but probably the vast majority do.) However, although numbers aren’t available for the last three years, before that 40-60% of finalists ultimately were accepted at partner colleges. It may be tough to rely on that, because they expanded the number of finalists by about 50% in 2008, although the Match rate kept up pretty well.</p>
Not unless OP wishes to apply EA or SCEA to other colleges (HYP, MIT, Caltech, Chicago, etc and has better chance of getting in early). Applying to the Match program prevents you from EAing.</p>
<p>^^
No, you can apply for questbridge without doing the binding ranks</p>
<p>You can also choose to do questbridge with RD only and opt out of match. So that’ll leave you open to EA to the college of your choice while still doing questbridge.</p>
<p>^ exactly. Or you could apply early to most of the colleges captrick listed–most of those don’t bind you to attend. Or you could apply to Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, and UChicago all in one early application (but if you get into one of the latter two, you’re bound to attend).</p>
<p>No, I was talking about the QuestBridge application, which allows you to apply to multiple schools (and the Match program is by definition an early round).</p>
<p>What phantasmagoric was saying is that if you use the Questbridge Match program, you can submit what is effectively an early application to all of those colleges at once, with a guaranteed scholarship if you are matched, notwithstanding that Yale, Stanford, and Princeton would otherwise not allow you to apply more than one place early. The downside, however, is that you could not match with more than one of them early, and that if you matched with Caltech or Chicago (which means that any colleges you liked more had passed on you at this stage) you would be obligated to go there, and wouldn’t be able to wait and see what happened RD at the other schools. (But nothing would make you apply to Caltech or Chicago this way, if you didn’t want to take that risk.)</p>
<p>Yes… if you don’t want to participate in the Match, I would suggest applying to QB to become a finalist, and then putting that on your common application, and then applying SCEA (rather than the Match program). Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>^ that was pretty much what I was saying. Even though some schools don’t bind you during the match, it’s still hard as balls to get in. So I think it’s better to do just EA and use QB for regular if you don’t get in EA.</p>