Hi, I was recently chosen as a Questbridge Finalist even though I did not rank schools in the National College Match.
I was also emailed by the Yale Questbridge team. I will copy and paste the email below.
I want to know if I have a good chance of getting in to Yale. My GPA is pretty high, but my ACT score is 29. I know that Yale’s traditional AP score is around 32-33. Should I apply SCEA for Yale?
Congratulations on being named a finalist in the QuestBridge National College Match Program. Although you have opted not to participate in the College Match, we would like to remind you that there are two ways you can apply to Yale through the Common Application.
Single-Choice Early Action: If Yale is your first choice school, applying Early Action may be right for you. If you apply early to Yale, you will not be permitted to apply to another school’s Early Action or Early Decision program, unless it is covered by one of the exceptions listed on our website. All Early Action application materials are due by November 1st and decisions will be released in mid-December. The recommended due date for financial aid documents is November 1. This allows the financial aid office enough time to process your documents by the notification date.
Regular Decision: If you would like the option to apply to multiple schools at the same time later on in the semester, Regular Decision is right for you. All Regular Decision application materials are due by January 1st and decisions will be released at the end of March. The deadline for submitting financial aid documents is March 15.
Admissions officers evaluate all applications in exactly the same light, regardless of when students choose to apply. All admitted students to Yale will have until May 1 to decide whether they wish to accept a place in the Class of 2020. The amount of Yale financial aid admitted students receive will be the same regardless of which application option they choose, and Yale is committed to meeting 100% of all admitted students’ demonstrated need. We encourage you to learn more about Yale’s need-based financial aid and use the Net Price Calculator.
You should direct questions about financial aid to Student Financial Services.
If you are planning to apply, we recommend reviewing our application instructions and our advice on putting together your application. These resources will be valuable for you as you prepare an application to any selective college on your list.
Best regards,
The Yale QuestBridge Team
I don’t know anything about Yale, but you can expect similar emails from most of the QB partner schools. It doesn’t appear to mean anything as far as your likelihood of being admitted. Notre Dame asked my son for permission to move his application to EA last year and then deferred him to RD and ultimately rejected him. Northwestern contacted some QB applicants and asked to move their applications, also. My son wasn’t one of them, but they accepted him RD. Amherst, Swarthmore and W&L seemed like they were begging him to apply. Amherst accepted him: Swat and W&L put him on the wait list. He applied to Stanford on a whim and didn’t put much effort into the essays and somehow made the wait list.
^^right. It is just a reminder letter. Applying SCEA does restrict you from other EA applications, but it doesn’t hurt your otherwise. Your call. It is not an indication you may get in, remember Yale doesn’t have your materials yet, they just know you were a finalist. Yale has just last year made a commitment to accept more QB applicants and I believe they incresed 2 or 3 times as many as they took before, from a few to a handful.
OP. no one can decide for you. It is a big decision and you are right in not taking it lightly. However it is your call.
The above posts make clear that the letter is a form letter, to clarify the app process and remind you of deadlines. Your scores are low for Yale, as you observe, and yet as BrownParent notes, Yale has stepped up its already existing commitment to QB. Ultimately you are taking charge of your app process bc now you will decide your strategy.
1-Yale SCEA ? If so, I would encourage you to also apply to 1 state school, which (look into it) was permitted last year – as long as it is EA and not ED. 2- ED/EA at a lower reach QB partner whose deadline you can still meet and where you would also receive great fin aid? Be sure to run net price calculators if it is ED! Also be prepared to never know where else you might have gotten in – and give up the chance to compare fin aid packages. 3 - Or, third option, forward all apps to RD? If your plan is the last, be sure you are aware of all the supplemental stuff that will be required. Set aside plenty of time and energy to do a good job on them. You might do this even after being rejected or deferred from an ED school but you would have to look into this to be sure you are meeting deadlines for supplements.
And… congrats on becoming a finalist!
One more thought…RD worked out the best for us. We were able to see the FA packages from Northwestern and Amherst and attend an accepted student visitation day at Northwestern. My son ultimately decided to attend Michigan State and was able to get more FA from MSU after forwarding a copy of NW’s FA award letter to them. The wait for RD seemed interminable, especially when he wasn’t matched to any of the schools he selected through QB and was deferred by Notre Dame after they moved his app to the EA pool. In the end, however, there was plenty of time to make a decision after the RD results came out.