Many of the schools, like Columbia for instance, when ranked, require you send your common app. However, if you aren’t matched initially, and still wish to apply, they will put you back in the ED/RD pile upon your selection. In doing this, the school has the option to evaluate your QB application in addition to your common app, every partner school has this option regardless if you ranked them or not (as long as you’re a finalist) or, like what Columbia is on record saying, they will not add your QB application to your ED/RD application because it is simply adding too much to read, which is reasonable considering its 2 large essays and a few short ones.
The system doesn’t set up every student to be re-denied because there are some tricky economics with the match and EFCs and financial aid, to make a long story short, by not matching kids with EFCs greater than $0, the schools those kids ranked have opportunities to still get these students they want, just this time they get a little money out of them, as opposed to giving every student they’d like to admit a full ride.