<p>Hello</p>
<p>I received a postcard from a program called Questbridge inviting me to apply and possibly qualify for full-ride scholarships to different colleges. I have a list of schools that I will apply to soon, none of which are among the colleges affiliated with the Questbridge program.</p>
<p>However, I have my heart set out on Columbia University, and I was thinking of applying to this school through Questbridge and applying to all my other, non-Questbridge-affiliated schools through regular, common-app, regular decision. Can I do this? Does anyone know anything about this program? Can I even apply to other schools outside of the program? </p>
<p>Also, let's say I do apply through Questbridge. Do I have drop the other schools if I get a scholarship from Questbridge, even though it was not full-ride, or do I have to drop other schools only if I get a full-ride?</p>
<p>Thank you all in advance for the info!</p>
<p>Hi,
My son applied and was accepted as a Questbridge scholar. As it turned out for him, his top two choices of schools were not Questbridge schools. The Questbridge schools he was interested in required a binding early application if he was to apply to them through Questbridge so he decided not to use Questbridge in the application process. So, yes he would have had to drop all his other applications if he had received a scholarship.
I'd suggest you go ahead and apply to the Questbridge program. Its only after you're accepted as a Questbridge scholar that you have to decide which schools you'd like to apply to throug their program(this is assuming it works the same as it did last year).<br>
They also offered some very cool perks after being accepted as a Questsbridge scholar - for one students whose first choice was Princeton were invited for an all expense paid weekend at Princeton. (My son wanted to go but knew in his heart Princeton was not his first choice so did not).
They also told my son they are hoping to have other opportunities fo Questbridge scholars (internships and the like) so there may be other opportunities for you if you become a Questbridge scholar.
As far as I know you can apply to schools outside the program (but again if the Questbridge schools have binding early applications, you'd have to drop the other apps if accepted by the Questbridge school.)
For my son, the Questbridge application was a great way to get into the application process. His feeling was if he wasn't accepted as a Questbridge scholar, it pushed him into starting essays and gathering all the info sooner than he probably would have done otherwise.<br>
He did include "Questbridge scholar" on his applications: & he was accepted to all the schools he applied to, I don't know if being a questbridge scholar mattered or if he would have been accepted anyway to all the schools he applied to but it was there.
Hope this info helps.</p>
<p>I also have a question. how poor do you have to be to recieve the scholarship?
my parents are seperated, I don't really know how they calculate my family's income.</p>
<p>According to the Questbridge website, </p>
<p>"Range on our College Match students**: Income: $0 to 60,000 per year. This is not a requirement to apply." Note that income is not a requirement to apply. so Check out their website for full details. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.questbridge.org/students/application_information.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.questbridge.org/students/application_information.html</a></p>
<p>babuskagirl, I'd forgotten that you can also do regular admissions to Questbridge colleges using the Questbridge app. I don't know why but my son didn't use this last year..he applied to Stanford via the Stanford app - he didn't use the Questbridge app though it look like you can do that. I don't think there's anything that prevents you from applying to non-Questbridge schools.<br>
It does seem very confusing that they say "this income is not a requirement" but clearly everywhere on their website states its for low income students.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, Oakland mom. </p>
<p>Truth being told I only want to apply to Columbia through Questbridge, so maybe I will apply to this school through the program and to my other schools through the regular applications. </p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying about the binding contract.</p>