***QuestBridge Finalist Results Thread 2015-2016***

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
41

DECISION: ACCEPTED (FINALIST)

**Objective: **
• SAT I (breakdown):
800 M / 740 R / 700 W
800 M / 730 R / 720 W

• ACT: none

• SAT II:
720 Biology E
800 Math II
780 Physics

• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
4.82 UW, 4.49 W

• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
neither is revealed by school

• AP (place score in parenthesis):
10th grade: Computer Science A (5)
11th grade: Calc BC (5), Psychology (5), Language and Composition (5), US History (4)
12th grade: US Government and Politics, Spanish Language and Culture, Statistics, Literature and Composition

• IB (place score in parenthesis):
none offered at school, none taken

• Senior Year Course Load:
Multivariable Calculus
AP Statistics
AP Spanish
AP US Gov
AP Lit and Comp
Honors Organic Chemistry

• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
i*
National Semi-Finalist in Moody’s Mega Math Competition (math research paper writing competition)
National Merit Commended Scholar
NJMTA 10 Year Piano Award
Scholastic Art and Writing - Regional Gold/Silver/Honorable Mention
AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:
• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis) AND Volunteer/Community Service (they had six spots)
Yearbook Club (Editor in Chief), 4 years
Literary Magazine (Editor in Chief), 4 years
Newspaper Club (Editor in Chief), 4 years
Math team (member), 4 years, among top 10, compete in regional competitions
Piano, 11 years, compete in regional/state competitions, 10 year award from NJMTA, blah blah
Assistant Teacher at local Korean School since eighth grade

For the little blurb about which EC I spent the most time on, I talked about yearbook and how the yearbook office is basically my home now and that I love doing hands-on things to create a final, tangible product. (Hence my heavy involvement in publication clubs.)

Also, in the short answers, I tried my best to convey my passion for learning and writing! :slight_smile:

• Job/Work Experience:
none

• Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Biographical essay: 6/10
I talked about how my parents are immigrants to this country and that I have seen first-hand how difficult it is to live in a foreign country. Included about how I help translate things for them (especially my mother) when they have trouble reading things in English, etc. Added a motif about their journey here being a relay race, where they start off holding a baton and that they have now handed it to me, and it is up to me to finish the race for them… typical, tbh. I spent so much more time on my Common App essays which are so much better q.q

Essay #2: If you could change a thing about your community, what would it be and why? 7/10
I talked about how the attitude towards education is rotting because everyone dives for grades and numbers and never actually try to appreciate what they’re learning. I think it reflected well my own personality/attitude towards learning because I love all kinds of learning and it annoys me to no end when people take things for granted or just talk about grades, grades, grades all of the time (i.e. 90% of my school lol).

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
• Teacher Rec #1: 8.5/10, my AP Lang teacher, who is also the lit mag club adviser! I think she likes me but it’s kind of hard to tell lol. She’s a nice person so it was probably decent.

• Teacher Rec #2: 7/10, my AP Compsci teacher. Also the math team coach and the computer science league coach (didn’t mention computer science league in the QB application though). He’s known me for a while but he’s brutally honest sometimes. I think he wrote a decent/regular-ish essay though.

• Counselor Rec: 8.5/10, she’s such a nice person and I talked to her a lot about how passionate I am about creating things and about my publication clubs, etc. Also she knows how I struggled through high school, so… yeah.

• Additional Rec: none

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NJ

•Country (if international applicant): –

• School Type: public high school in a suburban town

• Ethnicity: Asian (Korean)

• Gender: Female

• Income Bracket: Around 40k

• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): –
(first generation immigrant?? lol)

Reflection
• Strengths: i honestly have no idea because i was 99% sure i wouldn’t get in
oh actually on second thought my passion for my three clubs (newspaper, lit mag, and yearbook). they’re literally my babies lol
also maybe my short answers??

• Weaknesses: my SAT scores, my GPA, lol… everything…else…

• Why you think you were selected/rejected: /THROWS HANDS UP/ IF ONLY I KNEW

Colleges ranked: i didn’t do college match. i chose regular decision because i want to ED to cornell. /sighs/

General Comments:
I also added in the Additional Information section a paragraph about my medical struggles and how it took a toll on my mental/physical health and ability to study. And also about how my family struggled to cope with it. Don’t want to go into details about it but yeah, I was pretty depressed in sophomore year as well… although I didn’t say that explicitly.

Good luck to everyone, congrats to finalists, and I believe everyone will do amazingly in their lives no matter what the college or the result!! :slight_smile: I hope this helps some people out there.

42

— oops 3.82 unweighted gpa

43

@chootimes omg i swear we are so alike! i am also Asian, first generation immigrant, lives in NJ, super depressed in sophomore year, and want to ED Cornell! :smiley:

44

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 800 Math, 700 R, 770 W

•ACT: 30 (did not submit)

•SAT II: 800 Math II, 710 Bio M

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): I had 96/100 for GPA
•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5

•AP (place score in parenthesis): AP psychology (5), AP US (5), AP Euro (5), AP Calc (5)

•Senior Year Course Load: AP US Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Chem, Anatomy, Rel IV, Dual English

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Presidential Education Award, a 70% scholarship to a boarding school, AP Scholar with Honors, and the rest are some other local and state writing awards

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): found an organization/bookstore that help women in 3rd world country and Syrian refugees, found a SAT website to tutor SAT free, yearbook, NHS, Model UN (president), MedQuest (medical program in school)

•Job/Work Experience: volunteer at state hospital

•Summer Activities: self-studying 3 audit courses offer by Harvard University and Boston University

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8/10. Write about witnessing domestic abuse and feminism.

•Recommendations
•Teacher Rec #1: good

•Teacher Rec #2: good

•Counselor Rec: probably good, she likes me

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NJ

•Country (if international applicant): Vietnam. I am on F-1 visa.

•School Type: very dumb

•Ethnicity: asian

•Gender: F

•Income Bracket: $0. Both parents unemployed. Receive support from Aunt who makes $70,000.

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): unemployed parents, I guess

Reflection
•Strengths: I can kill people by staring at them.

•Weaknesses: no big major awards, probably

•Why you think you were selected: Questbridge fear that I might kill them with my laser eyes if I don’t get finalist

Colleges ranked: None

General Comments: CORNELL PLEASE ACCEPT ME! I DO RD QUESTBRIDGE JUST FOR YOU!

45

@Brinette omg @ your general comment–same… … … q.q

46

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown):
Only took once: 2080, 690CR, 690M, 700W

•ACT:
Took Twice:
1: 32C 28E 31M 32R 36S (8 essay)
2: 34C 32E 34M 36R 34S (8 essay)
Superscore: 35C 32E 34M 36R 36S

•SAT II:
took each once in one sitting:
780 US
720 Physics
670 Lit

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
School doesn’t give unweighted, 3.7 weighted

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 30% out of ~580

•AP (place score in parenthesis):
AP Bio (5), AP USH (5), AP Psych (5), AP World History (4), AP Lang (4), AP Physics 1 (4)

•IB (place score in parenthesis): None

•Senior Year Course Load:
AP Macroeconomics
AP Government
AP Statistics
AP Physics 2
AP Literature
Marketing

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
Questbridge College Prep Scholarship
AP Scholar with Distinction
Just a few school awards

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
DECA 3 Years: Placed 2nd at State, Qualified for Internationals
Wrestling 4 Years
NSHS
Georgia Boys State

•Job/Work Experience:None

•Volunteer/Community service:
Habitat for humanity
Local community development
Tutoring

•Summer Activities:
Georgia Boys State
Questbridge National College admissions conference
Habitat for Humanity Learn and Build

•Essays (rating 1-10, details):
1: 9/10, Wrote about my struggles with depression in myself and my family and how it’s affected my goals and interests
2: 7/10 Wrote about just how I wanted my community to be more accepting of diversity

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1:
10/10, AP lang teacher, I wrote him something after school ended that really helped him at the school and that he showed to the principal, and he’s really good at this stuff

•Teacher Rec #2:
7/10, AP USH teacher, He liked me and I liked him and I did really good in his class and he seemed like he’d be a good teacher for a rec
•Counselor Rec:
8/10 Not much to comment on, hard to tell, but she knew me pretty well/
•Additional Rec:None

Other
•State (if domestic applicant):
Georgia

•School Type:
Large Public (~2500 students)

•Ethnicity:
White and Native American (no official tribe affiliation, know blood line and tribe of origin though)

•Gender:Male

•Income Bracket:~10,000

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not really, 3 older brothers who didn’t graduate if that matters

Reflection
•Strengths:
Test Scores, Course Rigor,Essays, Recs, maybe EC’s
•Weaknesses:
GPA and Rank
•Why you think you were selected/rejected:
High scores,Income is very low, Essays were very personal and true from the heart and I worked on them a long time to make them as good as I could

Colleges ranked:(no particular order, still figuring that out)
Stanford
Yale
Princeton
Columbia
Brown
Upenn
Rice
USC
Emory
Pomona
Northwestern
Vanderbilt

General Comments: Its going to be really tough to get in everything on time, I wish they gave us just a little more time.

47

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 1960, 660 Math, 660 Reading, 640 Writing

•ACT: 33 (took it in Sept. 2015 so SAT was sent to QB, but ACT will be sent to colleges)

•SAT II: none

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.905

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 27/676

•AP (place score in parenthesis): Psych (5) and Physics 1 (4)

•IB (place score in parenthesis): none taken yet

•Senior Year Course Load: Econ SL, Math SL, Spanish ab initio SL, Physics HL, English HL, Psych HL

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): none besides within-school awards

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Government (Student Body President-12, Director of Dances-11, Director of Publicity-10), Link Crew (President-11,12), NHS (Publicity Director-12), JV/Varsity Tennis-(Member- 11,12),

•Job/Work Experience: none

•Volunteer/Community service: 900+ hours documented from Student Govt, and organizing yearly school food drive

•Summer Activities: Boys State (12), State Student Council camps (10,11), Arizona State Leadership Camp (12)

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): Hardly even know what I wrote because I was scrambling to finish them at 10pm

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: 9! My psychology teacher is the most amazing woman and writes the best letters!

•Teacher Rec #2: 8! Physics teacher is a good man! Not sure exactly what he wrote or how long it was but I trust him with me life

•Counselor Rec: 10. My counselor slays

•Additional Rec: none

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): Arizona

•Country (if international applicant):

•School Type: Public 9-12

•Ethnicity: White

•Gender: Male

•Income Bracket: ~23,000 single mom

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First Gen,

Reflection
•Strengths: I think Student Body President did it for me. At a school of over 3,000 students I think it’s a pretty fair accomplishment

•Weaknesses: Trash essays written by a trash boy

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: Student Council and was I was able to write about it

Colleges ranked:
Notre Dame, Virginia, Vanderbilt
[I had a breakdown when I got the finalist notification and took all of my Ivies off and then hit the submit button while thinking irrationally but I really am a fan of these three colleges and wouldn’t be able to see myself at an Ivy so there’s that]

48
49

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown):690R/ 690M/ 670W = 2050

•SAT II: Math Level 1 700, Molecular Biol 730

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/373

•AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio (4), Cal BC (4), Euro Hist (3), Intro to Engineering- Dual Credit

•Senior Year Course Load: AP Envirn, AP Lang Arts, AP Lit, AP Macro, Dual Credit Gov/Econ

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Congressional Award- Bronze Certificate
Palmetto Boys State- House of Rep
Junior Marshall
Wofford University Junior Scholar
Palmetto Fellows
AP Scholar- College Boards

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Worship Leader - play with famous musicians at church of 2000
Bible Study Leader - Middle school boys
Cross Country 4 years
Student Council- Rep and Senator 4 years
Beta Club
Happy Birthday Teacher Club- President

•Job/Work Experience:

Guitar teacher

•Summer Activities:

Summer Intern for Church
Camp Leader

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 2 Essays were probably a 9/10?

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Unknown but probably really good ones.

•State (if domestic applicant): SC

•Country (if international applicant): USA

•School Type: Public HS (1750 students)

•Ethnicity: White

•Gender: Male

•Income Bracket: 40,000>

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Worship leader with famous musicians.

Colleges ranked: Vanderbilt, UVA, Rice

General Comments: We are very excited about our son becoming a finalist with Questbridge and pray for the best outcome for him. He wants to go into Biomedical Engineering. Congrats to all the students who have worked so hard! :slight_smile:

50

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 2050 (CR 640/M 690/W 720)

•ACT: 30 (E 32/M 28/R 32/S 28)

•SAT II: let’s not talk about it

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): school doesn’t calculate–4.27 weighted

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 13/180

•AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang (3), APUSH (4), APES (4), took physics but didn’t report

•IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a

•Senior Year Course Load: TA for French, AP Lit, AP psych, AP french lang, AP stats, AP macro

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): ap scholar

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): debate team (co-captain), nhs (secretary), french nhs (secretary), bergen junior commissioner, church youth group (president)

•Job/Work Experience: receptionist at hair salon for two months

•Volunteer/Community service: mission trip to nicaragua, volunteer at bookstore in soho

•Summer Activities: they didn’t really ask for this so idk what to say

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9–i worked on it for a week straight

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: 10 written by my ap lang teacher. i’ve read her recs before and they were great

•Teacher Rec #2: 10 written by my bio teacher–she likes me a lot

•Counselor Rec: 7 idt she rlly likes me lmao

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NJ

•Country (if international applicant):

•School Type: public

•Ethnicity: asian

•Gender: female

•Income Bracket: 14,000

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none really–does my father’s death count?

Reflection
•Strengths: my writing pieces were really strong

•Weaknesses: my objective scores are sooo low

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: tbh, i don’t know why i was selected. i’m thinking that it was most likely my essays because i tried to show how i’ve persevered through a bunch of shit

Colleges ranked: upenn, princeton, stanford, yale

General Comments:

51

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 730 writing, 650 CR, 610 math

•ACT: 29 (36 English, 30 Reading, 26 Math, 25 Science) took it again on 10/24

•SAT II: US History: 770, World History: 690, Literature:720

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 21/326

•AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), US History (4), Psychology (4), Language and Comp. (4)

•IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A

•Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP US Gov., AP Comparative Gov, AP Spanish, AP Human Geography, Acting II, Dual Enrollment Biology, AP Calculus AB

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): State Forensics titles, AP Scholar with Honor, National Forensics League Degree of Distinction

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Forensics (Captain)
Link Crew
Glass Theatre
Student Council Association (Sophomore VP)
NHS
Key Club
Links Intercultural Program
WECG (head anchor)

•Job/Work Experience: N/A

•Volunteer/Community service:
National Honor Society tutoring
Link Crew (tutoring)
Key Club (volunteering at Daily Bread)

•Summer Activities:
Links Intercultural program (working on black history book)

•Essays (rating 1-10, details):

Biographical 8/10 did not go as deep as I could
Symbol 9/10
Change in community: community=school, change=honoring interests of students when it comes to choosing course load

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1:
AP Lang teacher and forensics coach 10/10
•Teacher Rec #2:
Spanish teacher for last 2 years 7-9/10

•Counselor Rec:
She loves me, so hopefully it was 8+

•Additional Rec:
N/A
Other
•State (if domestic applicant):
VA
•Country (if international applicant):

•School Type:
public
•Ethnicity:
black
•Gender:
female
•Income Bracket:
less than 30,000 2015
less than 20,000 2014
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
URM
First Gen

Reflection
•Strengths:
essays
dedication to Forensics
overcoming adversity
possibly recs

•Weaknesses:
scores
class rank

Colleges ranked:
Columbia, Brown, Penn, Swarthmore, Yale, Haverford, Amherst, Wesleyan, UVA

52

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 770 CR, 710 M, 740 W (2220)

•ACT:34 (But did not submit…)

•SAT II: 790 Chemistry, 780 Math

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9~ish

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t do ranks, because our GPA system is screwed up

•AP (place score in parenthesis):5 Chemistry, 5 US History, 3 BC Calculus (lol)

•IB (place score in parenthesis): nope. I’m a failure (actually, our school just doesn’t offer IB)

•Senior Year Course Load: AP Stat, Advanced Modern European history (all of my advanced classes are UConn classes), Orchestra A, Advanced Spanish 5 (much harder than AP Spanish, according to my teacher, who’s taught both), Advanced English, Ceramics :P, Advanced Biology

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nope

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
This is everything on my app… You can skip over this if you want…

Science Club
9-12
(3 hrs)
We have a representative democracy, so no official positions. (I do run the meetings though)
CT Science Olympiad
1st for Technical Problem Solving (Grade 11)
3rd place for Rocks & Minerals(10)
4th for Protein Modeling (11)
5th Mission Possible (11)
Overall, the team got 5th (10) & 4th (11)
I made sure people were working on their events and offered any help and advice if they needed it.
Fuel Cell Car Race (Science Bowl)—4th place (Grade 11)
Ran, setup, and organized fundraisers, where all the profits go to a charity that the entire club chooses, raised over $1300 in total
Sold old flowers at senior awards, Total: $120 (Grades 9-11)
Ice Cream Fundraiser (raised $700)
Periodic table (cupcake) fundraiser, Raised $250
Darwin Day Cookie Fundraiser, Raised $100
DNA (brownies) day fundraiser, Raised $200
We’ve donated the money to Doctors Without Borders, ALS, St. Judges, and Partners in Health.
Recruited 20 freshmen to join in 11th & 12 grade
Also started to set up Science Honor Society
Organized an activity where the club would invent something for Roots of Development
Celebrate Mansfield Festival
Ran a Science Club booth where I did friction and chemistry activities with the little kids.
Organized the club to march at the parade

FIRST Robotics
9-12
(10—offseason
18-20—during build season)
11-12 Vice-president
10 Secretary
12 Treasurer
Robotics is my biggest time commitment.
Vice-president
Ran meetings when president was not there
Lead committees to rewrite the handbook
Secretary
Took minutes of the meetings & kept members who weren’t able to shown up informed
Treasurer
Taken inventory
Ran fundraisers for our team
Applied for grants
Learned Java, Computer Aided Design, and how to use power tools. At competitions, I take on a motherly role, and order pizza for the other members and try to take care of and mentor the younger ones.
Though my team has not won any awards, the experiences helped me deal with failure in other areas of my life. Also, every year I’ve been on the team, we’ve been going up in rankings. In my junior year we were 15th out of 40 teams for a competition.

Science Olympiad
12
Founder
I started science olympiad at the middle school to encourage future high schoolers to participate in science olympiad and to develop a training program for them.

Swim Team
10-11 (14 hours /week for 8 weeks)
Member
As a member of the varsity swim team I practiced for the meets, brought food for other team members and other teams, and helped set up for home meets. I am also a certified lifeguard.

Mu Alpha Theta
10-12
(1 hour per week)
Secretary
In Mu Alpha Theta we promote math and tutor students who need help. I have set up for pi day, Halloween activities, distributed math department clothing, and helped students with their math homework.

Vex Robotics
11-12
President
In Vex, I’ve volunteered at the middle school and Goodwin Elementary, helping the younger kids build, program, and drive their robots. I also helped build and design this year’s robot, ordered materials, and keep track of the team’s finances. This year I learned Easy C (a programming language) because our head programmer left. Plus, I feed the younger members by going across the street and buying food for them.

Book Club
9-11
(Once a month
1-2)
Member
In book club, we pick a book to read and discuss. I have given book recommendations and recruited people into joining book club. We read everything from trashy teen fiction to esoteric biographies.

Spanish Honor Society
12
Member
Tutor spanish students who need help. Prepare classroom materials.

Chinese School
9-12
Teacher’s Assistant
I passed out homework, quizzes, and tests to the students. I also helped clean and setup the classroom and took care of the kids so the teacher could continue teaching.

Middle School Science Bowl
10-11
(12 hrs/year)
Volunteer
At the middle school Science Bowl, I was a scorekeeper. I also helped set up and clean up the rooms and helped with science demonstrations for the middle schoolers.

Vex Robotics Camp
11
Volunteer
I’ve set up and organized supplies for the camp.I mentored the elementary school kids in the engineering process and building robots.
Chemistry Olympiad
10-11
Participant
Was in top 30 out of 150 participants in my region

AP Scholar
10
Participant
Received 3 or higher on 3 AP exams

National Merit Semifinalist
11
Participant
Scored in the top 1% of the PSAT in the nation

•Job/Work Experience: Internship at a materials science lab (But I didn’t really know much until the end of it)

•Volunteer/Community service: See above

•Summer Activities: Catching up on sleep

•Essays (rating 1-10, details):
My English teacher said it was great, but she said that everyone’s essay was great, so yeah. My friend, who was kind enough to review an essay that I’d written over the summer, said that this essay was so much better than the crappy one I wrote over the summer.
My biography essay sucked. I literally wrote it the day of, and I rambled on about how my first word was s**t and how I babysit my siblings and how I’m fascinated with Peru and how much I want to be a college professor so that I can do research. Even though it resembled my true voice the most, I don’t recommend writing that essay (800 words) the day of.

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1:
My Biology/Science Club/Robotics mentor! (I’m hesitate to give a 10, because i honestly don’t think I’m that kind of student, but I think it was a 9) It could’ve been an 8, because I spend so much time in her room that it’s like I’m professionally stalking her.

•Teacher Rec #2:
Not sure about this. My world civ teacher probably didn’t say I was one of her best students, but she and i share a similar sense of humor, so like 7 or 8?

•Counselor Rec:
Pretty good, though she doesn’t know me that well. She’s gotten to know me better, especially this year.

•Additional Rec:
na
Other
•State (if domestic applicant):
CT
•Country (if international applicant):
USA! USA! USA!
•School Type:
Public, but awesome
•Ethnicity:
Asian
•Gender:
XX
•Income Bracket:
20,000-40,000
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
Mom is unemployed? Nada
Reflection
•Strengths:
My essays reflected how I talk.
•Weaknesses:
My SAT score? Though it wasn’t that big of a deal
•Why you think you were selected/rejected:
Honestly, I’ve seen ppl with better stats get rejected. Just try your best, and be awesome. (But seriously, take hard classes because you enjoy them and try to do extracurriculars that you’re interested in)
Colleges ranked:
None…
General Comments:

I need sleep. Also, I need to work on my Common App

53

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 2130, 730 Math, 700 Reading, 700 Writing
•ACT: 35

•SAT II: 740 (chem), 750 (math II)

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.79

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 52/387

•AP (place score in parenthesis): 3 Latin, 3 APUSH, 5 English Language,

•IB (place score in parenthesis): none taken

•Senior Year Course Load: AP Macroeconomics, AP Microeconomics, AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature, AP Chemistry, AP Physics C Mechanics, AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, AP Studio Art 2D Design

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): City Wide Chemistry Test First Place Scorer ( 2 years) , AIME qualifier, Regional and State Science Fair Superior, National Scholastic Art Award, Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition Finalist, National Merit Commended Scholar, AP scholar, Best Attorney - State competition Mock Trial

•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Science Olympiad [Co founder and Captain of Biological Sciences (11-12)], STEM program [founder, president (12)], National Academic Decathlon [ President, captain (12) ], Mock Trial Team [Attorney (11-12)], Engineering Team [ Associate Captain (11-12)], Latin Club [7-12 , co-consul (12)]

•Job/Work Experience: Tutoring, that’s about it lol

•Volunteer/Community service: Over 900 Hours volunteered at the Boys and Girl’s Club, the Islamic Center, Matthew 25 Ministries, Inner City youth opportunities, Christ Hospital,

•Summer Activities: Boys and Girl’s Club, Christ Hospital, Red Cross Volunteering

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): The Biographical Essay ( the “long one” ) was about how I’ve learned from my parents’ responses to failure to shape my own. I went on to talk about how my my illness has motivated me to continue excelling in school and has become my motivation in learning the biological sciences and questioning the world around me. I legit wrote it 5 hours before it was due but it wasn’t bad. I’d give it an 8.

The second one was about an experience that caused me to change my perspective I think? I wrote about growing up as a Muslim in America and how through my activities I try to set myself and the Islamic faith apart from the extremist stereotypes that surround it in society. It was sort of a taboo topic and I also wrote this last minute but considering the amount of time I put into it, I’m glad with how it turned out. 7.

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: Math teacher. A little intimidated to ask her at first because she doesn’t really write letters for anyone. Legit, she doesn’t write letters for anyone because everyone is too scared to ask her xD But at the coercion of my counselor, who is her best friend, I finally asked. She is undoubtedly one of the strictest and inevitably most knowledgeable teachers I have ever had. waived my right to see it but i’d say it’s like an 8

•Teacher Rec #2: English Teacher. Had her 8th- 10th grade and bonded with her really well. Absolutely adore her. Almost like a second mom to me at school. I’d say she wrote around a 9. (waived right)

•Counselor Rec: I’m hoping its well written. I’m pretty close with my counselor so I’m sure she had nice things to say. 9. (waived right)

•Additional Rec: none
Other
•State (if domestic applicant):

•Country (if international applicant):

•School Type: Public 7-12

•Ethnicity: Asian

•Gender: Female

•Income Bracket: ~14,000

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I’m Bangladeshi, but that falls under Asian lol so nope no hooks xD

Reflection
•Strengths: lots of volunteer/ outreach work and an almost overwhelming interest in STEM

•Weaknesses: 10th grade. Dropped from 1st rank in my class to 52nd. :confused: (Due to illness, though)
Both my parents are college grads. (Mom is actually a doctor back in Bangladesh and
Dad also has a
PhD) so that might have worked against me

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: I’ve been chronically ill for the past 5 years so I guess they were able to see the determination I put into staying in the top 13% of my class despite being in the hospital every other day. My English teacher’s letter probably helped too because she knew me before my grades slipped, while they were slipping, and after hehe. And if not that, then just my shear passion for learning.
Colleges ranked:
MIT, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Brown, University of Pennsylvania
(Although, I’m thinking of taking a few of these off the match and then just doing regular decision so that I can work on my applications longer because right now, they’re crap. Plus, my chances of getting matched in the first run are super low. And I need sleeeepppppp :(((((( )

Congrats to everyone who got in and I wish you all the best! And even if you weren’t a finalist, I know you all are going to knock the college admission boards’ socks off coming up. :slight_smile:

54

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): CR: 750 M:660 W:650 (2060)

•ACT: 29

•SAT II: nah

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.57

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 17/629

•AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo (4), Biology (3), World History (3), Psychology (4), Physics (2) lol, Eng Lang and Comp (5), US History (4)

•IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a

•Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Macroeconomics, AP Calculus, AP Eng Lit and Comp, Honors Anatomy (no room for AP Chem), Honors Spanish 3, Honors Choir, Advanced Broadcast Journalism (class at a community radio station)

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, National Merit Commended

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Chamber Choir (Soprano Section Leader), Theatre Productions, National Honor Society, UIL Writing

•Job/Work Experience: none

•Volunteer/Community service: Lots at my local library and some at school, over 100 hours

•Summer Activities: Volunteering at the library

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 7
•Teacher Rec #1: 8

•Teacher Rec #2: 6

•Counselor Rec: bad, she’s a horrible counselor

•Additional Rec:

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): TX

•Country (if international applicant):

•School Type: Large Public ~3,000

•Ethnicity: White/Hispanic mixed

•Gender: Female

•Income Bracket: ~34,000

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation, mental health issues, kidney problems

Reflection
•Strengths: My writing is original, I think.

•Weaknesses: Definitely my GPA and test scores

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: First gen/Kidney disease stuff

Colleges ranked: Brown, Colby, Colorado, Rice, Emory, Tufts, Vanderbilt, Northwestern

General Comments: My GPA is absolutely horrible (completely my fault too) but I really hope I can get a full ride through this. Rice is a dream, but I think Colorado and Colby are attainable.

55

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 2250 total, 790CR / 740M / 720W / 7 on the essay ._.

•SAT II: 760 Chem, 730 Math II

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9. 4.0 if we ignore freshman year >_>

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked

•AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geo, World History, Psychology, US History, Calculus, Language and Composition. All 5s.

•Senior Year Course Load:
First Semester: AP Gov, AP Lit, Research II, Executive Internship (leave school early for my internship), History of Genocide (Dual Enrolled), Calculus 2(DE), Oceanography(DE), Chemistry 1 and lab (DE, AP chem equivalent).

Second Semester: AP Macro, AP Lit, Research II, Executive Internship (leave school early for my internship), History of the Holocaust (Dual Enrolled), Differential Equations(DE), Environmental Sciences(DE), Chemistry 2 and lab (DE, AP chem equivalent).

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): QB Prep Scholar, John Hopkins Book Award, National Merit, National Hispanic, 2nd place at National STEM Tourney, Associates Degree

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Mu Alpha Theta (Tutor 11, President 12), Science Club (Founder 12), Debate Club (inhouse team captain, 12), NHS( tutor 11,12)

•Job/Work Experience: Research laboratory for 16-18 months. Two publications, three awards, two invited presentations. Private laboratory before this as a secretary sort of.

•Volunteer/Community service: Mentor and sponsor for middle school science club and robotics team.

•Summer Activities: Research, dual enrollment courses.

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): Solid 9

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: Social Studies is a 10

•Teacher Rec #2: Math loves me, probably a solid 8.

•Counselor Rec: My homie. 10

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): FL

•Country (if international applicant): US

•School Type: very small specialized public

•Ethnicity: Hispanic & native heritage

•Gender: Male

•Income Bracket: 20k

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM and research.

Reflection
•Strengths:I think my essays were pretty strong. Research for sure, and my leadership positions. My courseload is kinda insane too, since dual enrollment is after school for some of those courses.

•Weaknesses: My test scores are strong for a hispanic but I honestly feel like I severely underperformed. Leading to the exam I didn’t drop anything below an 800 on the math for four practice exams straight, and my writing score is low despite only 2 wrong on the MC /facepalm

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: Test scores, essays, and research.

Colleges ranked: MIT, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Caltech, Columbia, UChicago. That order.

General Comments: I firmly believe that Questbridge decisions are mostly based on essays. I helped several of my friends draft theirs, and despite relatively low scores compared to the applicant pool (1600-1700) they got finalist status. Everyone from our school who applied got it (double digit number of finalists), and we were all very cooperative and watched out for each other. I think having people who support you through the application process is the best possible thing you can do when applying.

56

So I have a serious question.
If you ranked the four non-binding schools, do you still get matched to only one school?
Or can you still see if you got matched to any of the other schools as well?

For example- if you got matched to MIT, which is first-ranked, can you still technically find out if you were matched to any of the other three schools?

57

Finalist

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): n/a
ACT (breakdown): 33
SAT II (place score in parentheses): us history 720, biology m 780
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):n/a

Other
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
State (if domestic applicant): south
Ethnicity: black
Gender: male
Income Bracket: low
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): urm, first gen

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Where else you are applying or have already applied:
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: write good essays, questbridge doesnt really pick people based on gpa or scores, it really has to do with need

58

I’m going to revive this thread :slight_smile:

So I’m going to be a junior and I wanted you guys to evaluate my chances of becoming a finalist. I know I still have a year but I also wanted some advice/feedback on my application!

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 1450/1600

•SAT II: 710 Literature, 720 Math 2

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.6 for freshman/sophomore, 3.85ish for junior year

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): not ranked

•AP (place score in parenthesis): No AP’s offered

•Senior Year Course Load: Not a senior yet lol

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Associates Degree when I graduate

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity soccer (league champions in 10th grade, co captain), Red Cross (secretary), College Readiness Program over the summer + during the school year, Summer camp for 1wk doing volunteer stuff

•Job/Work Experience: Worked at a garden in the summer

•Volunteer/Community service: 30hrs every summer with my summer camp

•Summer Activities: College Readiness Program, Summer Camp

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): Going to work hard on it lol

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
They’ll be at least an 8

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): NY

•Country (if international applicant): US

•School Type: very small specialized public

•Ethnicity: Asian

•Gender: Male

•Income Bracket: 25k

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen college

Reflection
•Strengths: Idk, essays?

•Weaknesses: Probably GPA

•Why you think you were selected/rejected: Haven’t applied yet

Please evaluate my chances and how I can improve!! Thanks!!!

59

I think you have pretty good chances overall, but QB is very subjective so you never know for sure. Good luck, and rest assured that all will end right in the end.

60

Decision: Finalist

Objective: •SAT I (breakdown): 2140 640cr 700w 800m

•ACT: didn’t submit

•SAT II: didn’t take yet

•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.7

•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%

•AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang (2), AP Lit (3), AP Chem (3). AP Calc (5)

•Senior Year Course Load: ADV PowerPlant, AP Physics, AP Government, General Psychology (collegenow)

•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):College Prep Scholar, other local stuff

Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): UNICEF Club (Founder, VP, Prez, Mentor)

•Job/Work Experience:Tutoring

•Volunteer/Community service: UNICEF, Muslims Giving Back.

•Summer Activities: Research (NOAA)

•Essays (rating 1-10, details): Essay 1- Basically wrote about my curiosity in a poetic way
Essay 2- Wrote about my club. This essay wasn’t the best

•Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
•Teacher Rec #1: 9. This teacher knew me very well and I had her for 2 years.

•Teacher Rec #2: 6 I assume. It could’ve been generic but I don’t know.

•Counselor Rec:10

•Additional Rec: none

Other
•State (if domestic applicant): New York

•School Type: Vocational

•Ethnicity: South Asian

•Gender: Male

•Income Bracket: 20000

•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation in the U.S.

Reflection
•Strengths: I think my essays and short answers were pretty strong. I wrote about many of my crazy liberal views of everything

•Weaknesses: Test scores and grades. Got a 70 in gym.

Colleges ranked: 10

General Comments: If you are a finalist, congrats! If you aren’t, congrats! I know that many non-finalists end up in top universities so not being a finalist shouldn’t make you loose the slightest amount of motivation.