Hi guys, I hope you all are doing well. I applied for the QB college prep program like many of you but didn’t get it. So does that kind of lessen my chances of becoming a finalist later in the fall since 70% QB college prep scholars become finalists?
Have any of you been rejected by the College Prep program but became a finalist/matched to any QB school?
Hi!
Logically, I don’t think they would look at your previous application and be like “might as well reject em for a second time” 
So you might not become a finalist, but not directly because you weren’t accepted as a scholar in the first place.
And hey, don’t worry too much about it! Even if you don’t get into the match, plenty of partner schools will be willing to consider you in Regular Decision (and I think most of them give need-based aid, so if your income was eligible for Questbridge, you’d have affordable tuition anyway!)
All you can do is get your grades up, do some cool things over the summer, and wait. You’ll do okay!. c: Good luck!
Something that can be used to your advantage is showing growth and improvement. My sister didn’t apply at all for QB Prep scholar, but was a NCM finalist (although the situation is slightly different thn yours). Definitely don’t not apply, because it’s not like you’ve been blacklisted from QB.
If you met the qualifications for QB (i.e low income, URM, first gen) that alone gives you a leg up! Don’t worry about it, improve what you think got you rejected, and apply for NCM in the fall.
I hadn’t even heard of Questbridge during the period in which I was ripe for the Prep Scholar program. This past December, though, I matched. Don’t take Prep Scholar status too seriously; colleges certainly won’t. A label cannot compensate for poor essay skills.