I forgot to add that my son, who graduated from HS in May 2013, was not chosen as a finalist for QB. He applied SCEA to Yale and was accepted.
Thanks for the encouragement. Columbia and Stanford are two great schools. How do you define a show essay versus a tell? I have an idea what you mean. but want to hear how you define them? (I think I may have talked my son out of a show essay and encouraged him to tell, if my guess about what those terms mean is correct.) I would pick Stanford over Columbia but it is close. Columbia has their core that every student takes - classic core. Yale is awesome too. I would add that I think it hurts national STEM success to have liberal arts people selecting STEM admits. On the other hand, Cornell has their engineering school professors pick their engineering admits. I think engineering professors would do a better job evaluating STEM candidates. For example, my son is slated to take Linear Algebra next year (as well as multivariable calculus). If you go to Vanderbilt’s website, you will see that their computer science students don’t take linear algebra until their junior year. I don’t think admissions counselors concerned with flowery prose grasp the significance of the rigor of a high school program (at the Governor’s school for Science and Technology, Engineering Strand) where the students are taking the rigorous math courses typically seen in the second and third year of an engineering curriculum at a major university. We are a country that values scientific invention and ingenuity, but we have literature specialists determine who gets into top engineering programs, and the SAT is geared towards liberal arts students - most of the math on the SAT, my son hasn’t seen in years …So he has to go back and review math - there is no calculus on the SAT math exam, which favors liberal arts over STEM - the kind of math my son is studying now is so beyond what is tested for on the SAT that students with far inferior math skills have an advantage since they are taking the math on the SAT just before they take the exam …
My training is in law where clarity of the written document is valued over ambiguity and implication, and is a skill most people find difficult.
90% of the math on the SAT my son studied in 7th grade through his freshman year in high school - so he will have to do a substantial review of that lower level math before he takes the SAT. He scored a 760 on the SAT Math Level II at the end of his sophomore year - and had to go back and review math he hadn’t seen in years to prep for that test.
I didn’t get in but that is ok! Here are my stats for those who might be wondering. I had a 30 on my ACT, (34 english, 26 math, 34 reading, 27 science). I submitted a 600 on my Spanish SAT subject test, though I am retaking it this june to score higher. My GPA unweighted is 3.3 (kind of low, probably why I didnt get it) and weighted is 4.1. I live in california on a single mother income of 72000 which is also high for questbridge but way way low for california, so thats tough. My essays were great except for the big one, I think it could have been better. My recommendation came from my english teacher and he’s great, writes amazing letters, so though I couldnt read it, I trust it was 10/10. I honestly am not sure which part of my applicaiton threw me off the table, but I’m alright! I have hope for the college match!
@Yalebulldog2024 Me either! College Match ftw though am i right? As for my stats: I had a 31 on my ACT (10 on writing), 1370 on the SAT, 1350 on the PSAT, 5 on my AP Euro exam, and I also included the 760 I got on my SAT II in Biology. My unweighted GPA was 3.89, and I have no idea what it is in weighted form because my school doesn’t calculate it (if anyone could help with that I’d really appreciate it). I also live in california, family of six, income of $150,000 that I (attempted to) explain away with familial debt, hospital bills, and recent unemployment. My parents hadn’t done their taxes at the time, so it was higher than what we finally found out it was: $122,000, which is pretty close to the $108,000 limit for my family size. I was really confused on their flexibility in terms of income, since now that I wasn’t accepted I’m wondering if I could explain better? Regardless, I really loved my essays and I felt they were very “me”, but then again, they probably could have been better with more time for introspectiveness. I think my rec letter was pretty good, I had my French teacher write it but she’s a very sharp critic so I don’t know if that translated into my letter so I’d give it an 8/10. It’s kind of frustrating not knowing which areas to improve or keep the same not having been accepted but I refuse to buckle 
Okay, never mind. I just Googled Show versus Tell. A Show essay on a law school exam would get you an “F.” … lol But you’re saying that’s what they want a student to write to gain admission to top colleges? 
…ooookay. … lol
https://jerryjenkins.com/show-dont-tell/
It would also get you sued in a contract dispute …or cause a lawsuit … Law is all about being unambiguous and precise so there is no uncertainty …(So undergraduate admissions personnel want only to admit fiction writers and poets then? lol) (How lovely! :)To write essays that send the reader adrift in Never Neverland? lol Sounds kind of looney to me! One of my hobbies is to comment on local and national political talk radio ,If I communicated orally like you are saying they want on an undergraduate college admissions essay, and they would never put me on the air! lol Its all about being as clear and as interesting or clever as you can be in about 90 seconds …My son wrote an essay like that - A “show” essay, altho I didn’t know it at the time. I told him it had a lot of words but said nothing and to go back and rewrite it to make it more clear! lol
I am not being critical of you momofmusician17 …Appreciate your comments.
@onlyworthypotato Yes on never giving up! I believe in you and can’t wait to see you match come this fall! We can do this!
By the way, my daughter, who got a degree in Russian from Vanderbilt in 2012, and a year of grad school at Georgetown, she only scored a 730 on her SAT Math Level II exam, but scored a 5 on her AP Calculus BC exam. Anything over 750 on that exam is Ivy League or the equivalent. (But still not good enough for Quest Bridge, apparently. 
FootballSoccer, so you think a student with with SAT Subject test scores of 760 SAT Math Level II and 720 SAT Chemistry, should not even be allowed to be seen by the Quest Bridge Partners, because Quest Bridge, which controls as much as 50% of the low income admits to most of our top colleges, decides that student is not likely to be admitted by one of their 60 partners? Shouldn’t the colleges have a right to decide that for themselves? I thought QB was supposed to be helping low income students gain admission to these colleges. Those scores are good enough to be a viable candidate at any of them. It’s not like QB is out any money by allowing a student to make it through to be seen by a college, are they? I could understand it if a student was clearly not qualified. But those scores are good enough to attract the interest of many of their partners, I am sure. My daughter got into Vanderbilt with less. Vanderbilt is a QB partner, are they not? My daughter was also admitted to UVA as well. UVA is a QB partner too, are they not? Questbridge stated to me that when they do not accept an applicant, it is because they think that applicant is not likely to be matched with one of their partners. Do you think that is true in the case of scores like that above? Not single one of those 60 schools would consider matching or admitting an applicant with those scores? Do you believe that?
FootballSoccer: “Sounds like sour grapes. No 800 (760!) Math 2 but #2 class rank points to grade inflation and/or other academic preparedness issues for a STEM student of your son’s alleged caliber”
My son attends the Governor’s School for Science and Technology, after gaining admission via a competitive process involving applicants from 8 different school districts. The mean/average SAT of Governor’s School students is 1400+. He is currently taking his second Calculus-Based Physics Course of the year, for college credit, taught by a PhD in Physics with an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth, who designs AP questions for the College Board in his spare time. He got a 97% in his dual enrollment Calculus 1 course last semester, taught by a professor with a master’s degree in math, also at the Governor’s School. He is taking Calculus II there this semester. Next year he will be taking Multivariable Calculus and Linear Algebra (Linear Algebra is not taught until the junior year in the engineering program at Vanderbilt, for example).(My son is taking it for college credit in his senior year of high school.) Next year he will be taking Physics III and IV, taught by an electrical engineer, and will likely be doing research on jet Propulsion at NASA. (All of the students at the Governor’s School do about 30 hours of research a month in their senior year under the tutelage of a mentor, who is an expert in their field.) One of the seniors, this year, did cancer research at a local university, for example.
Last year he (my son) was admitted to, and spent the year at the Governor’s School for the Arts, after auditioning and gaining admission in competitive applicant pool that involved students from a half a dozen school districts. His art teacher has entered several works of his art in local competitions. One just won the county competition and is on to the regional level. You may want to rethink that comment about “academic preparedness.”
His older sister by the way, (three fives on AP exams, two fours, AP Scholar with Distinction) 1410 Math/Reading, 750 writing, 2012 Alumnus of Vanderbilt, one year grad school at Georgetown, ranked 13th in her high school class, same school system, same community. Do you always make bold, insulting declarations without any facts FootballSoccer? (Or is making stuff up more fun for ya?)
Questbridge makes the choices they make. Like any moderately selective program, there are going to be people who get and people who don’t get it. If you’re proud of your son, be proud of him, but the way you’re going about it makes it seem like you’re trying to invalidate the applicants who did get accepted into the program.
For the record, understand that the ACT/SAT is widely required whereas SAT II’s are rarely required and instead often optional or perhaps recommended. Your son did not have scores for the ACT or the SAT. The summer programs you listed are paid for, and while I’m sure they’re good experiences, they lack the prestige of RSI, TASP, MITES, LEDA, etc. Governor’s schools are usually state-wide accomplishments; does your son have achievements on a national level? Lastly, to be stem-oriented is not mutually exclusive with being able to write well. Adcoms don’t evaluate your ability of “writing fiction,” as you’ve said, they evaluate teenagers’ abilities to package their relevant life experiences and make it palatable and convincing for a committee of maybe forty people, which is a skill used throughout your life—resumes, job applications, grant applications, etc. Besides, skills in the liberal arts progress society just as STEM does: culture and national identity is formulated by the arts, not by technology.
Take a look at the results thread and the stats of people who got in. You’re welcome to flood this thread yet again, but I’m not trying to start a fight. I will not reply.
Phanakin - “Your son did not have scores for the ACT or the SAT.” Do you work for QB? Seen his application?
His scores on those SAT Subject tests are pretty good predictors of other test results. You did see the part where his mother was admitted to Northwestern and his sister got a degree from Vanderbilt, and was admitted to several other highly selective colleges, right? (You said above: “For the record, understand that the ACT/SAT is widely required whereas SAT II’s are rarely required and instead often optional or perhaps recommended.”) You don’t think we understand what colleges require for admission? I have also mentored other students as well, in their college admissions/applications.
My comments have nothing to do with being proud of my son. It is about a program (Quest Bridge) that now, according to posts online, has control of as much as 50% of the low income college admits to most of our nation’s top colleges. If they decide a low income student’s application should not be seen by one of their “partner” colleges - they may be unjustly excluding that student from an affordable college education at a school they could have otherwise been admitted to, but for QB’s interference in the system. That’s my opinion after participating in their system.
Moreover, after reading the financial aid descriptions at their website by their partners, it does not look to me like they are actually achieving full four year scholarships, with no loans and no parent contributions, as they claim. If you read them closely (the financial aid portions of their college partner listings) it sounds to me, a lot more like needs-based financial aid that the colleges can re-evaluate from year to year, than “full four year scholarships,” which may also include parent contributions in subsequent years.
One of the top school’s financial aid description (at QB) says they may raise the student work requirement and the student summer earnings by $600 to $1,000 per year and if you add up what they can require over the course of four years, it adds up to more than $27,000, which the student will have to borrow if they don’t make that much money working during the summer and throughout the school year. In addition, I contacted several of the partner colleges to inquire about the “travel allowances” listed a the Questbridge site - almost all of the ones I contacted told me they did not know what I was talking about, that they did not offer or provide a travel allowance. Many of the “offers” of “scholarship” do not look like scholarships to me at all, but regular financial aid, and contain a lot of wiggle room for the schools to raise the obligation of the student as well as the parents if you closely read their financial aid listings at QB.
QB says this at their website: "The QuestBridge National College Match is a college and scholarship application process that helps outstanding low-income high school seniors gain admission and full four-year scholarships to the nation’s most selective colleges.
QB: "College Match Scholarships, which are provided by participating colleges, cover the full cost of tuition, room and board, are loan-free, and require no parental contribution. "
HOWEVER: One of their college partners says this (at the financial aid portion at their QB listing), for example: “Outside funding cannot be used to reduce your Parent Contribution.” If there is No parent contribution ever to be required, (in a full," four year scholarship") why in the world would they say that? QB may offer full four year scholarships, but after closely reading many of the financial aid listings of their partner colleges, I am very skeptical.
Or how about this from one of their college partners (in the financial aid section for that partner):
“The University covers all determined financial need for QuestBridge Scholars with a package made up exclusively of [] grant and federal work-study. Your eligibility is determined by considering income, assets, family size, number of dependent children in college or private school and the cost of each school, all taxes paid, and special circumstances. Your student contribution includes a portion of student income from dividends and interest (if applicable), and savings from summer employment.”
Does that sound like a full four year scholarship to you? Or needs-based financial aid?
In addition, consider these quotes from a post at Quora:
“Who qualifies? They claim that families of 4 up to $65K with little to no assets qualify, but truth be told, almost all kids who become finalists are WAY below this threshold. And they highly favor kids who will be first-generation college attendees, as in 70% of the kids chosen fall into this category. So if you are close to that $65K and at least one of your parents went to college, you should still apply, but your chances are pretty slim.”
“Statistics show that the vast majority of Questbridge finalists do NOT match to a school. This is not encouraging news. But many of these students do get into a participating college through Regular Decision. They just don’t get the College Match scholarship, …”
“Your grades and test scores do NOT have to be that great to be a finalist or even matched. I’ve seen some ridiculously low stats win finalist status, and amazing stats get denied. This may explain why so few students end up getting matched to a college during Early Decision, because the colleges are usually looking for those top-notch students at that time. …”
@MarkTwain007 I can understand your frustration and disappointment that your son wasn’t selected as a CP Scholar. It seems that he has a résumé to make him a viable candidate during the admissions process. So did my son who wasn’t selected as a finalist during his senior year. He didn’t apply for CP Scholar his junior year. We didn’t even know about QB at that time.
My son had a 33 ACT (R33, W33, M34, S30), graduated in the top 3% of his class of 600 with a 3.98UW GPA, took six APs (5 5s and 1 4), had local, regional and national music awards, as in the top national music award for classical musicians, was raised in a single-parent household with no father in the picture at all, met the income guidelines, and is a URM. We were stunned when he wasn’t selected as a finalist. It all worked out because he was accepted at Yale SCEA.
One misconception you have is that QB is a gatekeeper. Every school has access to your son’s information whether he is selected or not. When my son was not selected as a finalist, almost every single QB partner school contacted him asking him to apply. They had access to his entire application. Most of the partner schools allow you to use your QB app to apply and waive the application fees.
You are correct that most of the schools require you to reapply for FA every year. I believe USC doesn’t, but most of the other schools do have this requirement. This makes sense as financial circumstances could change. If you are matched, you usually get close to the same financial aid as you would have if you had applied through the Common App. There are some differences. If you are matched at Rice, you don’t have work study or a summer contribution and you get a stipend. If you are matched at some schools, you don’t have to pay for health care if your parents don’t have a plan that covers you out of state. This is very beneficial for kids on Medicaid. In general, match recipients have slightly better FA than students who are accepted during the RD round. My son went to one of the most generous schools in the US and graduated with 8,000 in debt. He did work his sophomore thorough senior year, but studied abroad one summer and one semester and took out loans because he couldn’t work during that time. There is definitely enough time for your child to work six or seven hours a week during school. The summer contribution is a little more difficult, but close to doable.
Do compelling life stories make a difference? I would say they do. However, a compelling life story in and of itself is not going to make you a finalist at QB. When your son finishes his application, will the reader have some insight into what makes him tick? How he interacts with other people and ideas? How he will contribute to the campus? As an aside, my son wrote a peer recommendation for my daughter which said, “If I could use one word to describe my sister, it would be fearless”. At a university where my daughter was accepted, the admin rep wrote a special note on her acceptance letter that said something to the effect that the word he kept coming back to when he described my daughter to the admission committee was fearless. A complete stranger got something that my daughter’s brother knew after years of living with her.
As parents, we think our kids are amazing. I can tell you that after meeting some of my son’s Yale friends and classmates, I now know that there are many amazing kids out there. For example, my son’s freshman roommate was a mental giant. He taught himself French outside of school and placed 5th on the national French exam. He also graduated first in his class at an extremely competitive, top-ranked HS in NJ. Another classmate was the youngest person ever to win the International Bach Competition.
Your son not being chosen as a CP Scholar in no way indicates his eligibilty or lack thereof. There are kids who are CP Scholars who aren’t chosen as finalists and vice versa. Shift the paradigm. Acceptance or lack thereof is not a reflection of your child’s “worthiness”. On any given day, the results could have been different. Have your son apply to a wide range of schools. College admissions have become much more competitive since your daughter applied.
MomofMusician17, thank you for your thoughtful comments. I am still digesting them. However, I should give you a little background. I am not disappointed that my son was not selected as a College Prep scholar. In fact, when he applied, we did not even know there was such a selection to be made. I honestly thought it was just the title of their program for juniors, not a distinction to be selected for. My son had already applied to five college summer programs before deciding to apply to QuestBridge. He had been told about QB by his HS guidance counselor. Prior to even considering an application to QB, one of the summer programs he was invited to apply to was Yale, after visiting there last summer. He received an email from Yale last December inviting him to apply to their summer programs. (He also has a tangential legacy with Yale; my cousin got his degree in Chemical Engineering from Yale.)
After completing five applications to summer programs, and an application for a very competitive scholarship program, we then looked into an application to QB. When we looked at the Quest bridge Prep Scholar application, we noticed that the same Yale summer program my son had already applied to, was also listed at Quest Bridge. So I called Yale to inquire about whether or not my son should even apply to the Yale summer program at Quest Bridge, since it would, in effect, cause an overlapping application to the one he had already submitted to Yale. The person I spoke to at Yale said they did not see any problem, that he should do it, it couldn’t hurt. They said that Yale paid half of the scholarship and QB paid the other half. So we did mark down an interest in the Yale summer program on his QB application. However, when I checked with Yale afterward, they indicated there was no information from QB in their system indicating he had applied there via QB. So They suggested I contact QB to make sure my son’s name was sent over to Yale when the QB names were sent over, so if Yale admitted him, he could benefit from the QB scholarship.
That’s where things got kind of dicey. QB responded that they were not going to “let my son know early” if he had been accepted. I had no idea what they were talking about. I finally found a FAQ link way down at the bottom right of the main QB webpage. In it, I found an implication about being selected as a QB “College Prep Scholar.” That was the first I had ever heard of it. Upon further inquiry, that is when QB revealed to me that was not an application to those summer programs at all, that QB would selected who they considered worthy of those scholarships, and ONLY those students applications would be sent to those summer programs. They said that checking/selecting them them and writing the required essays was not an application to those programs at the schools, but an application for QB to decide who should be considered for those summer scholarships. And that a student may not even get a response to those applications at all, nor would they be sent to those colleges unless QB selected them or nominated them for the scholarships to those summer programs. That’s when I got a bit suspicious. I felt deceived.
Moreover, there was additional confusion, because my son had selected/checked four of the summer scholarship programs, but when the proof of his application was printed and saved just before submitting, the page where you select those summer scholarship programs was completely BLANK, with No check marked programs. He checked them. They just weren’t showing up on their application proof. We contacted QB and they assured us not to worry, that they could see the check marked programs on their end, and they could see the essays he wrote for them too. Apparently, however that was an omen of what was to come.
Before submitting the QB College Prep Scholar application, I had located a summer program at UPENN that was of interest to us. It was also listed on the QB app. So I called the rep at UPENN about the summer program and they said his chances for a scholarship to their program were better via a QB application. They had a limited number available for direct applicants as well. So we decided to “apply” to the UPENN summer program at the QB app, and did not directly apply to the program at UPENN. That was a mistake. (We did not know at the time, that QB would not send those apps to those summer programs unless they selected our son as a “College Prep Scholar” and even if they did select him as a CPS, they still may not even send his app to those summer college scholarship programs (including UPENN), unless they decided they wanted him receive the scholarship. (Their words, not mine.) I was shocked that PENN might not even know my son had applied! Shortly after the deadline had passed to apply directly to the summer program at UPENN and have a chance at a scholarship there, we found out from QB that my son did not actually apply to that PENN program in their APP at all, even though he checked it and my son wrote the essay for it. That it was completely discretionary on their part whether or not UPENN would even be aware of his application. I was shocked. We had the chance to apply directly to UPENN’s summer program, but instead applied via QB, or so we thought. So we ended up not getting an application in to Penn’s summer program at all! (Because we thought he had applied thru QB).
QB stated that they never said the colleges would see those applications and they were sorry the UPENN rep did not understand and that we had been misinformed. I responded that the most reasonable expectation would be that the colleges offering the program would have some say in who was admitted - but QB said that only the applicants they nominated for the scholarships, only those applications would be seen by the colleges. They said we had misunderstood, they never promised our son’s applications on their web site would be seen by those colleges, and in all likelihood, he would not even get a response from those four colleges. …And then he got an email saying he had not been selected as a “College Prep Scholar.” In addition, since contacting QB about the issue, it seems Yale has cooled of in their interest in admitting him off of their wait list as well … The above is what bugs me. We didn’t even know about the selection of QB College Prep Scholars …
Momofmuscian17: “My son had a 33 ACT (R33, W33, M34, S30), graduated in the top 3% of his class of 600 with a 3.98UW GPA, took six APs (5 5s and 1 4), had local, regional and national music awards, as in the top national music award for classical musicians, was raised in a single-parent household with no father in the picture at all, met the income guidelines, and is a URM. We were stunned when he wasn’t selected as a finalist.”
I am stunned too. There is no way on earth someone with those credentials should not be a QB Finalist. You have to ask yourself what their motive was for rejecting an applicant like that. If they are basing their decisions on merit and your income qualifies, how could they not allow colleges to make a decision for themselves? QB has what is called near monopoly power over lower income applicants to top universities. They are conspiring with 60 other partners to let them decide who gets an application for these scholarships. Conspiracies like this, in restraint of trade, coupled with market power, are illegal, based upon my understanding of Anti-Trust law, (in my opinion). They are stifling competition, which is the wheel house of our democracy. Your son should have been allowed to compete for those scholarships along with all of the other finalists QB chose. When an entity gains control over as much as 50% of a particular market, and they start foreclosing people’s access to it, people who should otherwise be qualified to compete for those scholarships, then something is wrong. Your son’s spot was taken at other schools by what appears to have been an arbitrary decision by QB. Your son should have been allowed an equal footing to compete for those scholarships. Competition is the bedrock of our nation. Organizations that try and monopolize all of the decision-making of a particular market into the hands of one organization, are violating that fundamental principle, which our Anti-Trust laws are designed to protect.
Regarding your comment about re-evaluating for need each year - if it is a FOUR year scholarship, the implication is that the award is for four years - If they are adjusting it on the basis of income each year - that doesn’t sound like a FOUR year, FULL scholarship to me. From what I have read, highly selective colleges only admit 10-15% (many only 12%) of low income students. If QB accounts for half of that, that reduces the rest of the highly qualified, low income student’s chances to only 5-7% of the colleges’ admitted classes, and reduces their odds of admission tremendously.
So in summary, apparently none of the colleges he selected an interest in, will see his QB College Prep Scholar application, making the dozens of hours my son spent working on it (and not spending that time on his studies instead) ended up being a complete WASTE of his time. And I have read that if you are not selected as a CPS your odds of being selected as a match finalist in your senior year are slim to none as well. In fact, when I asked QB about it, they continued to “wish him well” in his college applications and specifically indicated that their decision was not likely to change if he were to apply as a College Match Finalist in the fall. In addition, QB now has all of his information and whose to say what they do with it. I feel like we submitted it under false pretenses (including our financial information), and all of the information they requested on our other children, and our son’s siblings as well. Frankly, I feel violated and taken advantage of.
On a different note, MomofMuscian17, you mentioned your son’s accomplishments in music, which are commendable. It reminds me of my younger brother, who was a professional sax player in Las Vegas for more than a decade. James Brown called him “the kid,” and he was Sheena Easton’s Sax player and band director for her show in Las Vegas in 2001/2002. He also had drinks with his friend Franki Valli, and performed with David Cassidy, Wayne Newton and many others. One of his best friends was the director of Earth, Wind and Fire. (You may have heard of them? Here is a link of him performing in Las Vegas in one of his first jobs out there - and the second link is of an interview at Legends Lounge with a couple other members from James Brown’s band: https://youtu.be/5qocUKBlKwI?t=231
@MarkTwain007 - We never thought that my son deserved a spot. My son never questioned why he wasn’t selected, he just moved on and applied EA to Yale. He may have been more sanguine about it as he had already experienced rejection through some music applications his junior year. I first came to CC after he wasn’t chosen as a finalist because I was looking for answers and more information. I quickly realized how naive I was about college admissions at top-tiered schools. I can’t answer as to why my daughter was selected as a finalist and my son wasn’t. Every kid just has to put together the best application they can and then hope for positive results.
I know for a fact that even if your child isn’t chosen, every partner school has access to their application materials. I consider this a benefit for every kid who takes the time to fill out the QB application. You also save a lot of money on application fees. All around, I would recommend QB to anyone who is thinking about applying. I think the organization provides a great service to low-income and first gen students. We are definitely low income, but my kids are not first gen as I have a graduate degree. As with the entire application process, everyone should go into it with plan A, B and C.
The vast majority of kids who are QB finalists have lived at their current income levels their whole lives. In all likelihood, nothing is going to change during those four years; therefore, they will receive the same FA package every year.
My daughter is living proof that you can be a finalist after not being selected as a CP Scholar. I am not sure why you think that QB Partner schools can’t see your son’s info. QB partner schools can see your son’s application even though he wasn’t selected. Another parent was irritated that one of the schools had her daughter’s QB app information even though she never applied with the QB app. She was planning on applying to Pomona using the Common App. The hours your son spent writing essays weren’t wasted. He is going to be able to refine those ideas/essays and use them next year during the college application process. My advice would be to let your son choose whether or not he wants to apply to QB next year. I personally don’t see many downsides, but that is just me being a glass-half-full type of person.