@waitingforwinter, that’s a bad idea. All of the partner schools that have your application will see that. You don’t want the schools that aren’t your #1 to know that. Schools that offer diversity flyins definitely take notice of the applicants that stand out with them during the program.
@mohammadmohd18 where did you get your info that the partner colleges have quotas of QB students? some colleges on the QB website don’t even have group photos of QB students to show which makes it seem like they barely have any, while others have tens or a hundred
@xxluvforeverxx I emailed QB and they said grammar mistakes/typos that don’t hurt the meaning of the essay will not hurt your evaluation. I had 2 and I was freaking out since they were obvious, repeated a phrase in a sentence and forgot an “of.” QB’s response made me feel a bit better, but my teacher also reassured me that my mistakes aren’t a big a deal. I’m worried about what my future colleges I want to apply to will think if I become a finalist… here’s to hoping I can send them an edited essay.
@IllIlllIIllllll Not a hard quota. But I talked to the Princeton admissions officer for my state and asked about QB, and he said that they typically accept far more students through QB in the RD pool than through the NCM. While that obviously doesn’t mean they’re filling up x amount of seats for QB NCMs, it does mean that they’re careful about the number that they match with because they don’t want an overly large portion of their class to be QB applicants, so that they end up missing out on other extremely qualified students.
I don’t really understand your point about the photos on the QB website. But I hope I addressed it above.
@onastrugglebus the Questbridge website has information about each college in the college partner section. Those give a basic view, and then you can further explore on the website.
@mohammadmohd18 I think it’s more of QB NCM matches all having very little EFC like 0-500. Yale apparently only takes 0 EFC QBs and UPenn is less than 500EFC.
Oh, I was talking about the lack of students in photos. Other schools have like a 100 students while some have like 3 or no students. I was thinking that maybe no one ranks there or they dont accept a lot of QB students. But then one of the colleges had an old photo and then I realized that maybe they just dont update those photos.
Anyone else willing to share their thoughts on ranking? Rationale?
Son #2 still deciding…the suspense is getting to me 
Unfortunately, while I am still low-income, my EFC is not sufficiently low enough to merit being matched. I decided to not apply through the Match and apply ED to my top choice instead.
I want to apply to my top choice ED so I am not going to do NCM. I’ll just see whether or not I become a finalist and if I do, I’ll apply QB regular decision.
MIT
Yale
Stanford
Duke
UPenn
And Princeton, although I’m iffy on Princeton, since they are non-binding it doesnt hurt putting it last.
@momcinco I had originally ranked 8 schools. Visited one through a fly-in and immediately regretted opting for binding decisions for the schools I hadn’t yet visited. Contacted QB and ranked four non-binding schools once I got back. Even if your son is absolutely sure that he will attend a school, he still doesn’t have to rank. Ask him if he could try to get in contact with students that currently attend. Also, think about if your EFC is low enough for him to even be considered for match as @IllIlllIIllllll mentioned.
Thanks Hamlon. He has two front runners but they are extremely competitive.
He was going to ED one and then ED 2 the other until he realized that decisions for ED 1 from the top school would not be back in time for ED 2 for the second school.
There is another selective school which he also likes but not as much, and a couple others (3 maybe) which are more likely admits. Two more are great schools but not exciting enough for him to rank. but rather keep on the list for RD.
He also likes one non-QB school (would be the most costly, even with scholarship) which would be best for RD because the scholarship is given during RD.
it is very stressful trying to figure out what is his best strategy. Son #1 did not rank but did SCEA – lucky for him that it worked out, however Son #2 doesn’t have his heart set on a single particular school in the same way.
@onastrugglebus the Fiske Guide has every QB partner school, plus more, and is excellent.
@momcinco I think a great strategy would be:
- Research the partner schools.
- List as many as you could can, as long as you would be thrilled to get a full ride scholarship there.
- Don’t fixate on a single “dream school” - it can make you crazy. A full ride scholarship to a world-class college or university is worth passing over a chance to apply RD or ED to a Dream School, for most students.
- Put the schools in the order YOU prefer - the QB match algorithm makes sure you get considered at every school on your list, in that order, every single time a match opening pops up there. It will never miss a chance to match you.
- The rumors about needing a “0 EFC” to match are only rumors and should be ignored, unless you have heard it directly in person from a particular school. For one thing, “0 EFC” does not mean the same thing at every school, and is not to be interpreted as the FAFSA definition of 0 EFC either. If the school matches you, you get their published match package, period.
- Never put a school on your list that you know little to nothing about.
- Be lucky – but remember that ranking schools you are a realistic match for helps you make your own luck.
Thanks very much badpundit. I agree with all your excellent suggestions and insights! I should note however that I’m a mom – not a student. Just hoping to offer sound advice, support and abundant encouragement. I read your last post out loud to S #2.
I love the Fiske book (in fact, some 30 years ago I made my own college choice based on it!)
Yesterday S #2 decided against ED and ED II in favor of Match. His reasoning was that the timing would not have worked for him to hear back from his #1 school ED 1 in time for him to apply to his #2 school ED II. Once he realized that he figured he had more to lose by not ranking. We have visited all the schools he ranked. They include one truly crazy reach, high reaches but where his ACT stats do fall within the middle 50% and a couple of possible reaches where his stats are competitive. Only a very small percentage of kids get matched but he will forward apps for RD.
If he does not make finalist he would apply to his #2 school fo ED I and to his #1 school for ED II. This would however mean a whole new app (Common App).
Hey. is anyone else
getting mail from QB schools they ranked?
When we find out whether we are finalists next week O.O
I’ve heard you can rearrange the colleges on your rankings list until November, how do I go about getting updating my Match Agreement form and doing that?
It’s looking like we can’t, oh well.
The March Agreement Form is just to confirm that you understand the binding process, but the QB website says that you can change the order of your rankings.