<p>@GA2012MOM and all prospectives
I am a Caucasian male from a family with an income of 19k.</p>
<p>I was not named a Questbridge finalist back in November and, upon asking the admission office for advice to improve my application/scores, essays, etc. they felt were lacking, I was told simply to please see “our selection criteria page, and the Geographic and Ethnicity/Heritage Distributions.” </p>
<p>I was confused appalled by the response. Why did they mention ethnicity? I have no clue and will only allow you to make those assumptions. (I was very to new to applying so my app. may not have been as strong as my common app and I did not understand the massive amount of time put into application review, as I have not emailed an institution about specifics regarding the decisions)</p>
<p>AFTER Receiving my denial I decided to withdraw my QB application and I used the common app/ institutional apps to apply to colleges I was interested in.</p>
<p>Anyways, I applied to fifteen colleges and interviewed for five. Every interviewer was astounded by my story: I triumphed over the bitter difficulties of being incredibly poor student raised by a single mother, for my father abandoned my family for alcohol before I entered grade school. I used the additional info section on the common app to write about the whole basis of QB: adversity in my life.</p>
<p>I was accepted to 13 of the 15 colleges, namely Princeton, Duke, USC, Tulane, GA Tech, and UC Berkeley (and offered full tuition, room and board to Princeton, Duke, Tulane and USC (UC Berkeley offered 23k which is about half of TOA) mainly all need-based with some merit based scholarships (ie 27k/yr presidential at Tulane)) -also received a $10,000 scholarship that will cover any extraneous expenses at Princeton.</p>
<p>My total family income is 19k and I have outstanding achievements in academics, extracurricular activities, community service, and athletics, particularly swimming. I can post my resume but none of that is the point of this post.</p>
<p>The point is that QB has some sort of issue. They must not ALWAYS be looking for the right things when choosing finalists, and thus is why only a fraction of finalists are accepted to schools. I was not selected by QB, but I was selected by Duke and Princeton. I could have been a QB success story, but I am very glad to have accomplished this on my own and to not be indebted to another institution (especially when the colleges pay for your education and QB is just the middle man)</p>
<p>For potential 2012 QB applicants:
You can receive full rides via need-based fin aid from the “partner colleges” by just applying there (typically common app). QB can possibly make things worse because you can get denied like I did and have to wait to RD (more competitive cycle) to apply to your top schools. This means more waiting and more applications to fill out. I received NACAC fee waivers for every college I applied to and was able to apply to schools that are not partner colleges (Duke, Tulane, UC’s which give 4 free application waivers, etc.). Thus, the no application fee via QB can also be attained via NACAC or institutional waivers.</p>
<p>The only real difference between me and a match finalist is that I have to reapply for aid each year at Princeton, but if my mother suddenly becomes rich (she is a beverage server at a casino and may never escape her wretched job until I graduate and may help her financially) then I should of course pay more for my edu. For now however, it is free. Princeton even paid 650 dollars to fly me up in two weeks for the Princeton Preview Weekend. </p>
<p>The schools give the scholarships. QB appears to me as a skewed middle-man.</p>
<p>I, of course, am biased. I am incredibly happy to be a Princetonian and would be equally happy if I was accepted via QB. In such a case, I would love QB of course and be grateful for their help. I had to rush to do my applications and missed some early deadlines because I thought I would be a finalist. I am not very happy with QB and hope that they become better at selecting students in the future.</p>
<p>----59 percent of QB applicants are denied by QB and only 4.6 percent of QB Finalists are accepted to a college. THIS IS LOWER THAN THE LOWEST COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE RATE IN US (HARVARD about 5%). This is incredibly low especially when many partner schools like USC have 25%-35% acceptance rates. The acceptance of QB applicants to top colleges is lower than national avg. acceptances. I understand that money is incorporated, but schools like Princeton, MIT, Yale, etc. give full rides for need-based fin aid. THERE IS A STATISTICALLY HIGHER CHANCE OF ACCEPTANCE FOR STUDENTS THAT APPLY TO THESE TOP SCHOOLS VIA COMMON APP BC MANY QB FINALISTS ARE NOT ENTIRELY QUALIFIED FOR TOP COLLEGES (EVEN THOUGH FEW ARE QUALIFIED)
-<a href=“http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/ncm-acceptance-rates”>http://www.questbridge.org/for-students/ncm-acceptance-rates</a></p>
<p>ALSO: THE SCHOLARSHIPS ARE GIVEN BY THE SCHOOLS, NOT BY QB.</p>
<p>QB accepts students with low 20’s ACT’s who want to attend Ivy League schools. Everyone deserves a chance, but some of the finalists are unrealistic candidates (verified by low school acceptance rate of finalists). </p>
<p>Choose wisely prospective applicants.</p>
<p>LOOK AT THIS THREAD. IT BEGAN WITH A FEW THOUSAND APPLICANTS AND ONLY ABOUT 5 POSTED ACCEPTANCE NOTIFICATIONS. That tells you something.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of the finalists! </p>
<p>POINT OF INFO: About 5 people at my school were QB finalists (I am first in class and have higher achievements/scores than them) however adversity/essays are not comparable since we walk in our own shoes. However, none of these students were matched, but I was accepted to Princeton (which all five applied to).-Further demonstration of potential issues with QB</p>
