Should I Apply with Questbridge?

Applying to College
1

Below are some personal details, but here’s my dillema first: Originally I was planning on applying REA to Yale, then Early Action II to U Chicago if I didn’t get in (Yale doesn’t allow you to apply to other schools through Early Action I if you do REA), alongside regular decision UPenn, Colombia, Haverford, Reed, John Hopkins, and two safeties.
However, I’ve been considering applying with Questbridge instead, thought I’m not sure.

Background:
Latin-American (moved to the US in 6th grade)
Separated parents
Spent the second semester of 11th grade in Brazil due to family issues

Financials:
My mom makes $36k per year (no assets), and I’ve spent most of my life with her. She’s always had terrible financials (20k credit card debt) and due to this we always lived with other people due to financial insecurity until I moved to my dad’s house.

My father declared nearly $60k last year, but since he just opened a new business his profit margin was under 10k. He has a morgage on a small apartment ($200k, very little paid off) where I’ve lived with him for (most of) the past 4 years.

Stats:
Top 1% of a large public high school
1460 SAT (likely will ommit this since my junior scores weren’t as good as I hoped)
4.0GPA/ 5.7 weighted GPA (for some reason my school calculates an A in AP as 6, not 5)
5 in AP Bio + 800 on Bio SAT II
5 in AP World
5 in AP Environmental
4 in AP Capstone (both years)

— some of these might change due to me missing 1 semester here in America, and the classes I’m making up are not AP, thus my weighted GPA will likely drop by 0.3-0.5 and I’ll become top 5%, not 1)—

Extracurriculars
-Founder of a Writing Club; won a district wide competition

-Game jams: I’ve participated in a few, one of which I was the project lead and had to outsource things like audio and art and coordinate the entire project

-Freelance Writing: I’ve edited and written articles for small blogs or individuals and made a couple hundred dollars from it

-Slam Poetry: Was part of the school’s slam poetry team for 2 years (it disbanded last year).Team was a semi-finalist of our state’s competition twice.

-Science Olympiad: Part of my school’s scioly team for 2 years. Won #2nd in States for Disease Detectives and 14th at UPenn.

So overall, I know I don’t have the best ECs, and I know QB is highly competitive, but I was planning on listing plenty of non-Top 10s in my 12 schools. On the other hand, REA for Yale and Early Action II for UChicago would likely increase my chance at being admitted to these schools. However, QB would allow me to apply to more schools, give more context to my application, and being matched does guarantee financial aid. Should I apply with QB and then regular decision for other schools or continue with my original plan?

2

QB is a lot of work, and I believe the deadline is looming soon. Very soon. You need to get moving.

I don’t see your dilemma here. Why would you not go for it? If you become a finalist, you are set. If you get in via QB, you are set. If you don’t, at least you will probably have some good supplemental essays you can reuse or adjust for some of those schools.

Others are more knowledgeable about QB than myself. @CottonTales @MWolf any advice for this student?

3

Separated parents will complicate your financial aid situation at many colleges.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html

Out of the highly selective private schools with good financial aid, Chicago and Vanderbilt would be least problematic on that front.

However, self employment or business income could be an additional financial aid complication.

4

No question that you should apply.

First, you are competitive with that GPA and that SAT, and second, your family income puts you in the range for QB. There are no maximal income requirements for QB, though the average of finalists is $65,000 household income. Since your custodial parent has a household income below that, unless he is receiving substantially more than $5,000 a year in child support from your mother, you are also in the income range.

You will know whether you are a QB finalists by Oct 21st, so you will have time to submit ED/REA applications before their deadlines.

If you are not a finalist, you will be in no different situation than you are now. If you are a finalist, both Yale and U Chicago are college partners for QB, so you can, essentially, apply ED to both, as well as UPenn, Haverford, and Columbia. You can rank up to 12 colleges.

If you are not matched, you are still in a far better place for RD applications than any applicant out there (admission rates for unmatched QB finalists are higher than the admission rates of RD applicants at an of the QB partners).

But, as @Lindagaf has written - the deadline is September 29th, so get moving!

5

Btw UChicago does not offer EA 2, only Early Decision 2 (which is binding.) If you are low-income, Questbridge is an amazing program that’ll allow you to apply to multiple selective universities and make attending them much, much more affordable than the “sticker prices” listed on Admissions websites. SO APPLY TO QUESTBRIDGE!! :smile:

6

QB requires both parents’ financials so income is actually on the high side.

Are you a US Citizen, or Permanent Resident?

7

QB requires information on income from both parents, but they state that the information from non-custodial parent is required “as this information is taken into consideration by our college partners when determining financial need.” They do not state that they will take this information into consideration, only the financial information about the applicants household.

8

Most of the colleges on the QuestBridge partner list generally require both parents’ financial information in the case of divorced or separated parents. Chicago and Vanderbilt are two notable exceptions.

9

From QB faqs:

10

@Mwfan1921 US Citizen. Does that make any difference?

11

I asked because your OP mentioned you came to the US in 6th grade and in order to apply to QB one has to be a US citizen or permanent resident.

12

With combined parental income of ~ $95,000, that probably puts the OP out of the running for QuestBridge. Just to be sure, he/she should email QB to clarify how they handle the father’s self employed income.

13

That’s probably the best strategy - it’s what QB decides, not our opinions here which matters.

14

90% of those accepted last year had income under $65,000 and 80% were eligible for free lunch. It can’t hurt to apply but I don’t think you fall into the lower income category. Maybe if you were a few K over $65, 000 but you’re way over that mark with the combined income.

15

I mean, I think QB would likely just answer that they’ll still consider people with incomes over $65k (what the website states). Still, I’ll send an email and continue working on the app.

Yeah, I think that’s the attitude I’m going with. I’m gonna apply, because as everyone stated it doesn’t hurt to apply, and I truly do feel like I’ve struggled financially throughout highschool and earlier. However, I’m definitely going to continue working on my UChicago supplements for Early Decision, as well as regular decision college apps.

16

Update: I ended up getting in to UChicago via Questbridge!!

Thank you everyone that helped convince me to apply and even those that didn’t. Also, if anyone reads this in the future and has the same dilemma, DO IT!! Don’t count on it, but give it a shot.

2 Likes
17

Congratulations @user_733915, Good luck to you at UChicago!