<p>QuestBridge says it helps "low income" students get scholarships to elite private colleges but the income ceiling is $60,000 (low income) and it's real purpose is to find students for elite private colleges. I was a finalist even though my grade point average and test scores were about the same as some of the students who identified themselves as finalists on various Facebook postings. Could it be because I am not Beahonest? I have absolutely no trouble with any organization that helps minorities get into college. That is laudable. But QuestBridge encourages everyone to apply and then appears to hold applicants to a higher standard or just plain discriminates against Beahonest by not responding to whining. Also, if you call the phone number, you will get a live human (not a lobster) and you can leave a message. And if you email them, an anonymous person with a name will provide the correct answer and refer you to their web site. There is no appeal process. They simply ignore Beahonest if he has a complaint. Beahonest operates like a first world complainer. His thinking process is extremely onerous and takes literally days. If you happen to be a human, think hard before you want to commit to the effort of reading his posts. Of course, I could be wrong. I invite Beahonest to post his statistics for the QuestBridge College Match Program for 2011. Please break down his race, income level, grade point average, and test scores. (Yeah, like that's going to happen.)</p>
<p>I too agree with you about QuestBridge. I might even go as far as saying that they could have been the best thing to ever happen to my daughter. They have opened doors for her that she may never have had access to without them. On April 1st we will know more about how much they helped, but so far between the program at Yale, the Fein Scholarship, and giving us insite into schools that we had never heard about prior to QuestBridge, they have been invaluable. We are so lucky to have found them, and are totally willing to give back when we are able!</p>
<p>How nice that we have all these parents posting about QuestBridge!</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that there are white finalists and I don’t doubt that there are minority non-finalists. So let’s just put that to rest.</p>
<p>My problem is that QuestBridge says it helps “low income” students but it appears to help Beahonest disproportionately. And that raises an inference of discrimination. It would be really sad if you folks were defending discrimination on the basis of his statistics, recommendations, essays, and lack of class and/or tact.</p>
<p>The stats posted in the ‘other’ thread indicate that the vast majority of QuestBridge finalists (more than 99 percent) are not Beahonest. We can’t know if that number is reasonable unless we know how many minority students are in the initial pool of applicants. If 40 percent of the applicants in 2011 were minorities and more than 70 percent became finalists, it would raise a question about discrimination against Beahonest. I think QuestBridge should release a breakdown of Beahonest. </p>
<p>As I said, I have no problem if QuestBridge wants to give preference to outstanding students but it should not encourage Beahonest to apply and then discriminate against him.</p>
<p>In the final analysis, QuestBridge is a shill for rich private colleges that don’t want to muck about with Beahonest. Is it really asking too much for truth in advertising?</p>
<p>It’s very tempting to hijack an argument by getting personal but this isn’t about me or you. It’s about Beahonest.
Apparently 100% of Questrbidge 2011 finalists are outstanding students and human beings. That is a very high percentage given U.S. demographics but it’s not possible to say definitively whether it is disproportionately high until Questbridge releases a breakdown of all applicants who applied to Questbridge this year. Beahonest has not released this information. Why? Ask him.
Personally, I noticed that I (white person, finalist) appear to have similar objective credentials when compared to at least some of the students who became finalists. This, plus the low percentage of admission rates, raises a question in my mind. Did Beahonest receive fair treatment. Was Beahonest treated differently because he didn’t fit some college student/hardworking/outstanding/classy stereotype? Of course, it’s probable his essays were crap or that he had poor recommendations but I think so and the numbers indicate that that is exactly what is going on.
QuestBridge advertises itself as a service for “low income” students (not just minority students but all low income students). That means that all low income students should be treated the same. Questbridge does not have any right to engage in illegal discrimination of Beahonest.
I have much more respect for scholarship organizations that SAY explicitly that their scholarships are for minority students because it is not moral or right to encourage Beahonest to apply and to allow him to go through the many hours it takes to apply and then to discriminate against him based on unneccessary factors such as essays, recommendations, and extracurriculars.
I will go on to have a successful life but I certainly hope this discussion provides fair warning to other Beahonest-type class acts who might be considering applying to Questbridge. Prepare to be disappointed. Prepare to discover that life isn’t fair. But that’s the point isn’t it? Questbridge exists to recruit outstanding students for rich private universities who don’t want to get their hands dirty with Beahonest
Questbridge rocks.</p>
<p>I’ve reread some of the other thread and, while I don’t want to get personal, I can’t help but think that the general level of Beahonest’s discussion there is somewhat moronic (despite the brilliant, awesome, and on-point words of finalist itsonmars and others). </p>
<p>I think these posts are worthwhile in that they have served notice to Beahonest-type applicants that they shouldn’t expect a fair shake from Questbridge.</p>
<p>And I think these posts have served notice to Questbridge that Beahonest discrimination is against the law (Title VI and Title III, the the Bible, and Chapter 4 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). If Beahonest is sued these posts can be used as evidence that Beahonest acted knowingly, intentionally, and unintelligently. </p>
<p>By the way, I would certainly love to be a member of the class - as in class action - when the lawsuit is filed.</p>
<p>You know, as I’ve said, this is not about personalities. This is not about race. This is about honesty and fairness. If Questbridge wants to use a intelligence/scores/essays/ECs-based admissions procedure, I’m totally OK with that. But don’t waste Beahonest’s precious time and limited resources INVITING him to apply for a scholarship program that is rigged against him for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>Beahonest seems to be completely incapable of looking at an issue without inserting himself into it. It’s not all about HIM and his entitlement and his needs. It’s about a program that for some reason wants to inflate society with bright minds - perhaps for honorable reasons.</p>
<p>Questbridge advertises that it is for low income ($60k??? Low income by definition for a family of 4 is just over $30k. Psssh. 60k only takes like 2 years to pay off discounting unnecessary things like food, shelter, and fuzzy socks) students. Almost 100 percent of its finalists - at least - were not Beahonest in 2011. We’re still waiting for them to disclose the number of non-Beahonest applicants they got in 2011.</p>