<p>Hi everyone! If you guys could help me choose between these two, I would be so thankful. I have heard that the chances of being matched are extremely low, and being a URM helps greatly. However, I am asian with no hooks, and being asan is probably a negative hook lol. But I would love to go Princeton and would like to increase my chances by either doing the Match process (and if rejected, can go on to RD) or SCEA(where if I'm rejected, I'm done). Now that I wrote that, the Match process seems like the better option but I do not know if I would get accepted in RD. I can post my stats again if it helps you give an opinion but in general, I'm looking for personal stories involving these two programs! Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Go for Questbridge Match; questbridge gives a boost, like being a legacy. Definitely apply through Questbridge. Even if you don’t get in through match, you will morel likely get in for RD. SCEA won’t give you the same boost.</p>
<p>Ok that’s what I was thinking. Is the boost really that high though? Thanks!</p>
<p>Np. The boost is not amazingly-high, but it is a bigger one than SCEA. The boost comes from knowing that despite having economic obstacles, you achieved success. I learned that there was a big boost when I attended the Quest Bridge Conference at Yale.</p>
<p>I will definitely apply through Questbridge then! Again, I really appreciate it. :)</p>
<p>The reason for the boost is that Questbridge match candidates have been vetted pretty extensively by a third party (Questbridge), and given a bunch of extra academic support. So not only are they desirable low-income and often culturally diverse students, but they are much lower risk than almost anyone else in their circumstances because of the care Questbridge takes in selecting and endorsing applicants and the extra help it provides.</p>
<p>I’m seconding the Questbridge option. I opted out of all EA stuff to do questbridge, and to be honest I initially regretted it because I wasn’t matched with any schools, but I found that I finally got into my top school (Pton) through RD, and it’s something I doubt I could have done without having the QB as a sort of hook since my stats weren’t great. Plus, if you’re a finalist having all of your application fees waved (for QB partner schools) is a big plus.</p>
<p>Oh ok, I’m starting to understand this whole process now. And kathryns, can I ask what other schools you ranked? Congratulations on Princeton! I’m jealous :)</p>
<p>In the QB round I ranked all of the non-binding QB schools (stanford, pton, yale, etc) plus Columbia. Didn’t get matched with any, so I moved on to the RD round, where I applied to way more colleges than I should have because of the QB fee waivers (think 13). But remember, if you don’t get matched with a QB school that you rank in the fall and get your application sent to RD for those schools, you cant change that application, whereas the schools you didn’t rank you apply to with the usual RD deadlines. I was so nervous about not being able to change those apps for pton etc because I had more achievements to add later on, so I would say definitely make sure your application/essay is polished if you do QB.</p>
<p>I hope that made sense, I sort of rambled. QB was a really confusing process for me and I sometimes hated it, but in the end I’m glad to have done it.</p>