Questbridge National College Match Finalists 2018-2019

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
61

Decision: Finalist

Schools Ranked: Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Yale, USC, Columbia, UChicago, UPenn, Rice, Duke, Northwestern, UVA

Objective:

  • SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1430, Essay - 16, ERW - 690, Math - 740
  • ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): n/a
  • SAT II (Type, Score): n/a
  • Weighted GPA (out of ??): 3.835 out of 5.00
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World, APUSH, Eng Lang and Comp (4), Micro, Macro (3), Physics 1 (2)
  • IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
  • Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc AB, AP Biology, AP Comp Gov, English 12 Dual Enrollment, Anatomy, Photo 1
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Honor, Questbridge Finalist

Subjective:

  • Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Boy Scouts of America (Assistant Senior Patrol Leader), Muslim Student Association (Vice President), Recreational Soccer (Team Captain), Debate 9-10
  • Job/Work Experience: USSF Certified Soccer Official since March 2014, Starbucks since August 2018
  • Volunteer/Community service: Boy Scouts of America, Muslim Student Association (helped local community and mosque), Minang USA (fundraise for community back in Indonesia)
  • Summer Activities: Studied in Korea for 2 weeks on an cultural exchange program sponsored by Korean Ministry of Education
  • Essays: My topical essay was about my interest in North-South Korean relations and reunification of the Korean peninsula from the view of an non-Korean. I had been studying Korean for the past three years and decided to look more in to the topic following my exchange program this summer. Turned it in to my English teacher for a grade and received an A. Probably around a 8 or 9/10? My biographical essay was not much different from my College Prep Scholars essay, so maybe a 6/10. Talked about my family situation and how I was given the responsibility to take care of my youngest sibling everyday after his birth in early 2017. Mentioned how it affected my personal welfare and what I learned from it.
  • Teacher Recommendations: My AP Eng Lang and Comp teacher wrote one of my recommendations. He knew of my potential to succeed and believed I could get a 5 on the AP Exam (I only got a 4 sadly). Saw my growth as a writer and as a person when I was in difficult times. 10/10. Other recommendation was written by my AP Physics 1 teacher, whose class I struggled a little in but tried my best. I was pretty close with this teacher towards the end of my junior year. 7/10.
  • Counselor Rec: I think my counselor knows me since I have been to her office for plenty of reasons, but that might just be the case for every student. 6/10.

Other

  • State (if domestic applicant): Virginia
  • School Type: Public
  • Ethnicity: Asian
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: ~$70,000
  • Assets: $0
  • Property: $0
  • Extenuating Circumstances: My father has been looking for a new job for the past few years (worked at same place for ~20 years now) and received a major pay cut recently.
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Brother is QuestBridge Scholar (Macalester 22 through RD), Family of 9 (dunno if these really count lmao)

Why you think you were finalist and general comments: I really did not believe it when I saw the Finalist status on my QuestBridge. My stats are nowhere close to brother (4.3 weighted, IB Diploma, 1450 SAT, 700 Math II, 750 Spanish) and I don’t really have anything that stood out (in comparison to the talented applicant pool). I believe that my essays and recommendations got me in since my stats weren’t that great.

62

Decision: Finalist

Schools Ranked: Stanford, Yale, Penn, Brown, Duke (in that order)

Objective:

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1290 (740 R+W, 550 M)
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): N/A
SAT II (Type, Score):N/A
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.57
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 6%
AP (place score in parenthesis): euro (2), lang (4), world (3), chem (1), lit (3), apush (4), psych (4)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stats, AP Calc AB, AP Spanish, AP Bio, AP Physics 1, AP Drawing Portfolio, US Gov Honors (online)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, CIW Site Development Associate, and CIW User Interface Designer

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Girls Coding Club (president and founder), Art Club (webmaster), Literary Club, HOSA, National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Extended Day volunteer at an elementary school, public library volunteer
Summer Activities: N/A
Essays: #1: 9/10, #2:7/10, short essays were pretty solid
Teacher Recommendations: One of my recs was from my club sponsor so that’s a 10/10 and the other was from my AP Chem teacher who knows me really well so 7/10
Counselor Rec: probably generic 6/10

Other

State (if domestic applicant):FL
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: F
Income Bracket: ~50k family of 3
Assets: $0
Property:$0
Extenuating Circumstances: lots of medical and credit card debt
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first gen college, first gen American

Why you think you were selected as a Finalist and general comments:
I was very surprised when I saw I was a Finalist. I guess my essays helped because they explained my financial situation and I was very honest.

63

Decision: Finalist

Objective:

[ *] SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1410 (710 reading; 700 math)
[ *] ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): n/a
[ *] SAT II (Type, Score): n/a
[ *] Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.04
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP USH (5), AP Bio (4) - My school didn’t offer a lot of AP classes
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP English, AP Stats, Philosophy and Theology, Robotics, Human Anatomy, Government
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): school awards for high honors and essay writing

Subjective:

[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Student Council (Vice President), Junior Class Council (President), First Aid Club - 12th grade, Senior Leader - 12th grade, Bike Club - 10th and 11th grade, 2 high school dramas - 10th grade
[ *] Job/Work Experience: Private Tutor for English as a second language in my community, babysitting, worked at my school
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: n/a
[ *] Summer Activities: Worked as a tutor, summer jobs at my school
[ *] Essays:
Biographical (9/10) - talked about my experience living abroad and how it shaped me as a person, Topical (9/10) - talked about my passion for environmental conservation and how I was dedicated in raising money to go on an overseas environmental research trip.
[ *] Teacher Recommendations:
Teacher Rec 1: My AP USH teacher, the person who recommended me to this program, I was very engaged in his class and did very well (10/10)
Teacher Rec 2: AP Bio teacher, I have had him as my biology teacher in 9th grade and is currently my anatomy teacher. Also knows me very well as a person (10/10)
[ *] Counselor Rec: Knows me very well (10/10)

Other

[ *] State (if domestic applicant): Foreign Country
[ *] School Type: Private
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Income Bracket: ~58,000 for a family of 4
[ *] Assets: 0
[ *] Property: 0
[ *] Extenuating Circumstances: Talked about living overseas, adapting to a new culture, learning a new language
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): n/a

Why you think you were matched/not matched and general comments: I think my personality really showed through my short answers and essays. I included some humor in my short answers and really thought through the 200 answer response questions. Both of my essays I revised multiple times and tried to show what set me apart. All of my recommenders, which definitely would have helped my application. I was discouraged after I didn’t make College Prep Scholar, but I but my all in to this application and it really payed off!

64

My son didn’t make finalist, disappointing but not shocking. I thought his application was good except for his test scores and the fact that he isn’t first generation.

65

Decision: Finalist!!!

Schools Ranked: Rice, Emory, Penn, Williams, Yale, Stanford, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Duke, Oberlin, USC

Objective:

  • SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): Comp - 1450; Essay - 13(LOL) ; ERW - 690; Math - 760
  • ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): Comp - 30; Eng - 31; Math - 30; - Reading - 32; Science - 28
  • SAT II (Type, Score): Math I- 730 (everyone told me this subject test was so useless hmpfh)
  • Weighted GPA (out of ??): 92.2% or something
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.65 (LMAOOOOO this was what i was most scared of)
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 143/593 (i dont even know what to tell ya, my school has a program that causes many STEM kids from all over the state to go here so that messes up everyones class rank)
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): none : - ) ( my three first high schools didnt have AP classes)
  • IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at my school
  • Senior Year Course Load: Pre-AP Pre-Cal, AP French Language, AP Literature, Economics, Digital Media ( and i have 2 free periods bc i needed the time to do something else)
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):some in-School Awards, SAMO state finalist

Subjective:

  • Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): French Club (all high school but 11th grade), Math Club, African Students Association, Performing Arts (9th - 11th)
  • Job/Work Experience: Math and Physics Tutoring, Intern at Pepsi ( didnt get paid for either of these lmaooooo)
  • Volunteer/Community service: volunteered for an animal shelter
  • Essays: Biographical- i didnt like this sooo much but i just spoke about how i move a lot so maybe 5.5/10, wasnt necessarily bad but it made me uncomfortable bc i said things l ive never spoken about before with anyone so i dont really like reading it Topical- I LOVED THISSSSS I SPOKE ABOUT HOW I LOVE COMEDY and i wasnt sure i would be able to make comedy sound intellectual at first but i think i did a good job!! 9/10 (and funny enough, i turned in this essay for an english project and i got it back today and saw i got a bad score lmaooo i hate my english teacher) Short Essays were pretty... entertaining
  • Teacher Recommendations: i asked 2 of my junior year teachers but i have no idea how good they were
  • Counselor Rec: lmaoooooooo she doesnt really know me well but i have been harassing her bc of questbridge so at least she knows im motivated :)

Other

  • State (if domestic applicant): TX
  • School Type: Public
  • Ethnicity: African
  • Gender: Male
  • Income Bracket: $20,000
  • Assets: $0
  • Property: $0
  • Extenuating Circumstances:
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, undocumented (i feel like this is gonna make this so much harder for me but i hope not)

Why you think you were finalist and general comments: whewwwwwwwwwwww someones lookin out for me i guess, i feel like i explained my circumstances and that helped them understand why my gpa is so low, why my extracurriculars seem inconsistent or why i do not have APs (ive been to wayyyy too many schools)
Moral of the story: Never Give Up!!! drops mic

66

WOW!
6,507 Finalists out of 16,248 applications! Thats a lot of finalists compared to years past, and if i remember correctly about 4,xxx something last year!
Does anyone besides me think that brings our chances of a MATCH pretty low?

67

Guys I’m so so happy right now. Got selected as a finalist!!

Schools Ranked: MIT, University of Southern California, CalTech, Yale, Columbia

Objective:

  • SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1350/19/640R/710M
  • SAT II (Type, Score): Just took it this month and waiting for scores
  • Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.97/4
  • Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
  • Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7/296 (~2%)
  • AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human Geography (5), AP Studio Art (2), AP World History (3), APUSH (3), AP Stats (3), AP PSYCH (4), AP English Comp (3). Currently taking AP Calculus, AP Computer Science Principles, and AP Chemistry.
  • IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered at my school.
  • Senior Year Course Load: AP Chemistry, AP Calculus, Composition I (dual enrollment), AP Computer Science Principle, Ceramics I, and a period where I fix Chromebooks for the school. Also dual enrolled in Intro to Engineering and Intro to Environmental Science
  • Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing big at all. I think the best for me are probably 2nd place overall in the Spring Arts Festival at school for my self portrait, and a STEM Scholar award. And I also earned the AP Scholar With Honors award. Of course there's the usual A-Honor Roll and perfect attendance Subjective:
  • Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Looking back, I didn't have a lot of ECs but I tried my best to do what I love and in my own way. Art club (9-10), Chess Club member and score calculator (11-12), and I'm the founder and captain of Kendo Club (11-12), which is a Japanese sword fighting club where I teach students the art of Japanese culture and sword fighting. I'm also currently a part of the newspaper group as a writer which recently started back up this year after a long hiatus
  • Job/Work Experience: I help out at my parents' salon as a cleaner and have been doing so since 7th grade.
  • Volunteer/Community service: Art gallery, was a volunteer for two years at my local church for a kids vacation Bible study program, was also a speaker and volunteer for a local Buddhist monastery, and a volunteer receptionist at the doctor's office where I also fixed a computer with the IT person.
  • Summer Activities: Only had one which was being a part of MIT's LLRISE program where I learned about radar technology and got to stay on campus for two weeks and had a lot of hands on experience in STEM stuff overall. And it was free!
  • Essays: Holy moly I poured my heart and a crap ton of personal stuff into these. My short answers were on how I learned Vietnamese after rejecting the language for so long and getting to redeem myself by giving a speech entirely in Vietnamese, and the other was on why I'd love to get to know Alan Turing. My biographical essay was centered on the idea of having been in the middle all my life through various personal experiences, and my other essay was on how I went from having a close minded view on people of different genders and identities to being more open minded when I went to Japan, despite growing up in a conservative town. I had all of them reviewed by a lot of people until I felt they were finally authentic and felt like me. So I'd give them a 10/10.
  • Teacher Recommendations: Both my teachers let me read their letters just because. My AP Stats teacher really really liked me and so he always tries and writes his best letter so I really enjoyed his 10/10. My AP English teacher also really enjoyed me (we shared the same taste in weird contemporary fiction) and I was her top student, however, her letter was sort of lacking and very short and brief but I still appreciated it nonetheless. 6/10.
  • Counselor Rec: My counselor knows me personally as I've gone to her for all the problems and circumstances I went through so, I'm assuming it was a solid and personal letter.

Other

  • State (if domestic applicant): FL
  • School Type: Public
  • Ethnicity: Asian (Vietnamese)
  • Gender: Female
  • Income Bracket: $22,000
  • Assets: $0
  • Property: $0
  • Extenuating Circumstances: Parents are separated, low income, and I was even suspended twice in sophomore year for immature stuff like making out in the bathrooms (lol).. I wasn't a perfect student so to speak.
  • Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college student, LGBT, girl looking to study engineering, passionate about science, music, and great films (I made sure to emphasize it a lot in my answers)

Why you think you were finalist and general comments: I poured my whole life and personal crap into this application, had my essays reviewed by a good amount of people, and overall was just honest and myself. I was really scared they were gonna reject me because of my suspensions but I also made sure that I informed them of how I learned from my mistakes and to not be reckless, which I think worked. I really think if you excel academically, and if you pour your own heart into it and take risks being brutally honest, then I think anyone has a chance at this. Of course unless you’re above the income cut off lol… Just try and make it the most you and the most authentic it can be from you! I can’t wait for results!

68

Unfortunately, I am not a finalist. However, I received an email from Yale thanking me for participating in the NCM and encouraging me to apply. Does anyone know if QuestBridge releases information about applicants to colleges. Yale was not a college I ranked, and I’m a bit confused by this. Thank you, and congrats to all the finalists!

69

My son also received an email from Yale after not getting finalist, it was the first thing that he has received from them, he also did not rank them.

70

Decision: Finalist

Schools Ranked: Stanford > Princeton > University of Pennsylvania > Yale > Brown > Columbia > Duke > Dartmouth > Vanderbilt > University of Southern California > University of Chicago > Northwestern

Objective:

• SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1580 Composite (780 R&W, 800 M), 6/5/6 Essay
• ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): N/A
• SAT II (Type, Score): N/A
• Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 3.80
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.74
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 108/483 (Top 25%)
• AP (place score in parenthesis): Music Theory (5)
• Senior Year Course Load: English IV, AP Japanese, Law, Financial Independence, AP Stats, AP Chemistry
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A

Subjective:

• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Self-taught musician (3 instruments), YouTuber
• Job/Work Experience: N/A
• Volunteer/Community service: N/A
• Summer Activities: N/A
• Essays: 9/10, I don’t have much going for me on paper aside from my SAT score, so I really tried to convey the way I interpreted the world around me
• Teacher Recommendations: 5/10, got one from my Japanese teacher and another from my English teacher, not sure what they wrote. I honestly can’t say that I’m a very engaged student in class so I can’t expect anything out of the ordinary
• Counselor Rec: 5/10 also likely just a generic recommendation

Other:

• State (if domestic applicant): WA
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: East Asian
• Gender: Non-conforming/Fluid
• Income Bracket: ~40k, Family of 4
• Assets: $0
• Property:$0
• Extenuating Circumstances: Moving countries one time, between states two times, learning piano/art/languages/programming/studying for the SAT by myself due to lack of access to lessons, struggle with depression, genderqueer in a conservative family
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A

Why you think you were selected as a Finalist and general comments:

I submitted my application expecting to be rejected, so I’m incredibly surprised to say at the very least. I researched others’ experiences through forums like this, to form an idea of what kind of students would be selected as finalists. The general trend seemed to be excellent academic achievements, super involved in extracurriculars, as well as a very rigorous high school course load.
I had actually arranged my school courseload to be as easy as possible forgoing the many honors and AP classes my school offers entirely until Junior year. Even so, I did not give it my all and ended up with a 3.80 weighted GPA. I haven’t attended any clubs before this year, nor have I ever been involved in school sports. Needless to say, I’ve never won any awards, either. Really, the only thing keeping me afloat on paper is my SAT score.
To compensate for my lack of academic achievement and community involvement, I really tried to sell my personality and passions through my essays. I put a lot of thought and time into my writing, and I ran them by some trusted people for revisions. I think that the effort I put into these essays is ultimately the sole reason why I was selected as a finalist.

71

DECISION: FINALIST

Schools Ranked (in order): UPenn, Columbia, Swarthmore, Tufts, Washington and Lee, Vassar, WashU, Duke, Haverford, Wellesley, Williams, Amherst

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): N/A
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): 30, no essay, 33, 26, 34, 25
SAT II (Type, Score): N/A
Weighted GPA (out of ??): 4.7
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 40/500
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography (5), US History (5), World History (5), Microeconomics (3), Macroeconomics (3), AP Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Internship blocks, AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus AB, Dual Credit English 101/102, Painting 2, Adv Symphonic Orchestra, Advanced Spanish 4
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, 2018 KY Governor’s Scholar, Elected president NHS, KY Ambassador of Music, some other lower level awards

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National honors Society (President), Advanced Orchestra (section leader/soloist), Bluegrass Youth Sustainability Council (Committee Chair), Y-Club (Kentucky Youth Assembly Bill Author x2, KYA Cabinet of Education and Workforce Development), School Student Voice Team (cofounder, president), National/State Student Voice Team, Gay Straight Alliance, Beta Club----not all of these were listed but most were talked about at some point in my app
Job/Work Experience: Chick Fil A, 1 yr, 20-25 hours a week to support myself and family, unpaid County Attorney internship, 6-9 hours a week
Volunteer/Community service: KY Town Hall on Gun Violence (founder, treasurer)- student run and organized event ft. local politicians, National School Walkout (organizer), some other less than notable service projects like trash cleanup and tree planting
Summer Activities: KY Governor’s Scholars Program- Political and Legal Issues
Essays: My Biographical essay was about growing up in a family where education was unimportant and Eastern KY culture- 8/10, the 2nd was about my passion for politics and law- 7/10
Teacher Recommendations: waived probably 9/10, 9/10
Counselor Rec: waived, probably 8/10

State (if domestic applicant): Kentucky
School Type: public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: around 68,000, family of 5
Assets: 0
Property: 45,000 owed on 90,000 home
Extenuating Circumstances: used to be in poverty, $0 saved for college, talked about my history with mental illness/suicide attempt
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first gen, gay (not really talked about on app), from Appalachia

Why you think you were matched/not matched and general comments: Honestly I have no idea how I became a finalist. My family makes a lot more than the average for Questbridge and I am not eligible for free or reduced lunch or any other programs. I really let my voice shine through my essays and I’m a pretty good writer. My extracurriculars must have been what really pushed my app through because my test scores are not great.

72

[ size=6][ color=green][ b]Decision: Finalist **[/color][/size]
[ b]Schools Ranked: Colorado College, Stanford

[ b]Objective:**
[ list]
[ *] SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): N/A
[ *] ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): 33 (36 R, 35 S, 33 E, 29 M, 08 Essay)
[ *] SAT II (Type, Score): N/A
[ *] Weighted GPA (out of ??):
[ *] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
[ *] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10% (school only calculates decile)
[ *] AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography (5), U.S. Gov (3)
[ *] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[ *] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Lang, APUSH, AP French, Honors Bio II, AP Bio, APES, Honors Precalculus, Econ/Personal Finance
[ *] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): CBYX Youth Ambassador to Germany, Science experiment selected to be conducted on International Space Station (SSEP)
[ /list]

[ b]Subjective:**
[ list]
[ *] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Captain of climbing team, art honors society, french honors society
[ *] Job/Work Experience: climbing gym
[ *] Volunteer/Community service: 600+ hours volunteering at a montessori school, internship at organic urban community farm, teaching german to refugees, conservation work in the alps
[ *] Summer Activities: volunteering at montessori school/ farm internship
[ *] Essays: Biographical (8/10): Nothing crazy special but my typically hard english teacher said it was really strong
Other (10/10): One of the better essays I’ve ever written about how I became fascinated with thermophiles in Yellowstone. Super nerdy, so maybe it shows schools I’m passionate?
[ *] Teacher Recommendations: 9/10
[ *] Counselor Rec: 8/10
[ /list]

[ b]Other**
[ list]
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): TN
[ *] School Type: Public
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: Female
[ *] Income Bracket: <$30,000 (EFC=0)
[ *] Assets: 0
[ *] Property: 0
[ *] Extenuating Circumstances: My father’s drug addiction
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation
[ /list]

[ b]Why you think you were matched/not matched and general comments: My essays were well thought out and gave a good impression of me and my teacher recs were likely strong. I also have a ton of volunteer service. I think the year exchange and the ISS experiment were the more impressive things on my app and maybe make up for my lack of extracurriculars. Because I was gone my junior year, I only have two years and two APs on my transcript and am ineligible for NHS, national merit, etc. This is my biggest worry moving forward into the match, but hopefully the USDoS alum thing makes up for it. **

73

best of luck to everyone

74

Decision: Finalist!!!

Schools Ranked: Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Davidson, Duke, Dartmouth, UVA, Emory, Notre Dame, Washington&Lee, Wesleyan, Brown (in that order).

Objective:

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1470 (730 R+W, 740 M)
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci): N/A
SAT II (Type, Score): 780 Lit, 720 US History
Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.56
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 5/560 (top 1%)
AP (place score in parenthesis): euro (5), lang (4), world (5), human geography (4), apush (5), psych (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit., Chemistry Honors, AP US Gov., Honors Choir, Dual Enrollment Bio, AP Econ. (both Macro. and Micro.), AP Calc AB.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar (with Distinction), States at 2 singing competitions, a couple honor societies, won some awards at my school’s pageant.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Best Buddies (Secretary), Tri-M Music Honor Society (President), Rho Kappa (History Honor Society; Vice President), Musical Productions, Teach religious education at church, church choir.
Job/Work Experience: Babysit and sing at weddings/funerals
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered through ECs and Honor Societies
Summer Activities: Law Internship in summer after 10th, volunteered at local hospital summer after that, took Pre-calc. online so that I could take AP Calc. senior year
Essays: #1: 9/10, #2:8/10, I thought they were pretty good (but I’m a bit biased)
Teacher Recommendations: I waived my rights to see them so I have no clue but I have pretty good relationships with both of my teachers (APUSH and AP Lang).
Counselor Rec: Again, couldn’t see it but I think my guidance counselor really likes me???

Other

State (if domestic applicant): FL
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: ~40k for family of 6
Assets: $0
Property:$400,000 home still paying it off
Extenuating Circumstances: lots of medical and credit card debt; my dad needed an organ transplant (wrote essay #1 about this)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): My mom’s an immigrant

Why you think you were selected as a Finalist and general comments:
I was so surprised I was chosen to be a Finalist. I feel like my stats were pretty good, and that my essays were solid. I also feel like I emphasized the “pointed” aspect rather than the “well-rounded” aspect, as I talked about the impact music has had on me. I honestly did not think I was going to get in, yet here we are. If you’re on the fence about applying, just do it!! I believe in you!! The application itself is also very helpful for CommonApp/Coalition, so even if you aren’t chosen it’s still extremely helpful!!

Congrats to all of the Finalists!!! We did it y’all!! Now we just have to wait until December 3rd!

75

I’m a finalist! This year’s finalists admission rate is 40%.
I have a question. When we submit the additional materials directly to the ranked schools through e-mail, how do we make sure that they’ve received and saved the materials? Do we need to include informations other than Name and QuestBridge ID in our e-mail?

76

@Rainingcats The college allowing you to submit material via email should have instructions. If not, I’d include my full name (as it appears on your QB application) and ID.

Once you submit or even before, the college should send you a link to an application portal for checking the status of documents like transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, rec letters, etc.

77

Where did you hear of this years 40% acceptance rate?

78

schools ranked – the non-binding ones b/c i’m non-committal ¯_(ツ)_/¯

objective:

SAT I (Comp, Essay, CR, M, CW): 1530 (math - 770, ebrw - 760)
ACT (Comp, Essay, Eng, Math, Read, Sci):
SAT II: just took them we’ll see hehe
Weighted GPA (out of ??): 3.93/4
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): n/a
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): calc bc, calc ab, us history (5), lang, stat, physics c mech (4), physics c e&m, chem (3) (most of these i self-studied for b/c school only offers 3 ap’s)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: i took what my school could offer at the level i thought was challenging
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): general debate awards (e.g. usa debate team semifinals, all-american, etc), policy debate awards, boys state (senator & president pro tempore), presidential service award, questbridge college prep scholar, ap scholar stuff, school’s harvard book, presenter at some regional/national/int’l science conferences

subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): policy debate (co-capt. 10-12), lead intern/researcher, bioinformatics lab at a university (9-12), pioneer academics (research scholar in comp. science 12), middle school debate program (founder/co-director 9-12), club swimming/school varsity team (9-12), research society (founder/president 11-12), city youth orchestra (first chair/violinist 11-12), mu alpha theta society (president, 9-12)
Job/Work Experience: paid debate instruction/lab-leading during the summer, youth fellowship with national asian-american law caucus (assisted in lobbying, amicus briefing, pro bono litigation for immigrant detainees), paid canvassing/phonebanking for a bunch of local campaigns
Volunteer/Community service: harvard’s national yab, forester (person who knows a lot about forests) for this local science museum, volunteer coaching for urban debate league (~750 hrs overall)
Summer Activities: seven-week policy debate camps, boys state, yale young global scholars, and a leukocytapheresis operation the summer before 12th grade
Essays: 8-9/10 overall. biographical one was about linguistical barriers, storytelling, lexicology of words (pretty creative and surrealist(?) imo), topical was ok. short answers were good.
Teacher Recommendations: waived my rights so idk but i would gauge 7-8? math teacher was extremely close (travelled to nyc with them for a data viz conference), i cried to my lit teacher once b/c my grades SUCK and idk if that means anything.
Counselor Rec: again, waived. but we’re close and i’m lucky for my school to have such a small class that we get to know our cc more intimately.

other:

State (if domestic applicant): prefer not
School Type: private
Ethnicity: asian
Gender: male
Income Bracket: ~30k
Assets: 0
Property: own our house? but nothing else
Extenuating Circumstances: mom has leukemia, i’m her main caretaker (drive her to chemo sessions, prepare vitals, etc.) basically puts a damper on our income (which was already low lmao)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first-gen, immigrant

Why you think you were finalist and general comments: idk, my stats aren’t great but my extracurriculars and essays showed commitment and heart. not expecting ANYTHING from the match though.

79

@Jakesmom1 QB updated the finalist profile on their website with the new 2018 stats of 6,507 finalists out of 16,248 applications.

80

Hi! I have a question. Shall we contact the school directly to arrange the interviews? So would the school just pair you with a alumni? Or interview is not needed for QB applicants? Thx!