<p>I have heard from several sources that QuestBridge can actually be a disadvantage to some people rather than an adavantage. People say even if you really are low income, like me <35k, but don't have a heartwrenching emotianal story to tell, schools are more likely to reject you. This can be seen by looking at some QuestBridge early admissions and some SCEA. For example, out of the 1800 students that check Stanford as a match school, only 20 or 30 get accepted: the people with extraordinary stories. So if you don't have a heartwrenching story to tell and you are low income, you are better out applying to Stanford SCEA which has a MUCH higher admission rate. So my question is, if you are low income like me but hasn't had to overcome significant challenges, are you better off not applying through QuestBridge? If there is an advantage through QuestBridge, how do you explain the incredibly low accepatnce rate through QuestBridge compared to SCEA. </p>
<p>I asked the above question to QuestBridge and they gave me a response on how every school wants a well-rounded student body and what not. While I understand all schools are looking for a well-rounded student body, I, and most other people, seem to think that when schools like Stanford look at the college match through questbridge, they are looking for people that have had significant hardships due to being low-income, like starvation, homelessness etc., and how they have risen to the challenge and have still gotten 2300 on their SAT. Now me, I am considered low-income (under 35k annually) but I have never ever had to overcome any hardships because of that. In fact, I have had many more things and some people may think I am rich (the reason being because my parents always have money in our savings and invest wisely, also my dad's business is slowly expanding). Still, I am low income and have the stats that would allow me to apply to Stanford through QuestBridge or SCEA. (75th percentile ACT, 4.0 GPA and decent extracurriculars). </p>
<p>Now don't get me wrong, I have had many challenges in my life, just not because I was low income. So my question, like I asked above, is do I have a better chance of being accepted if I apply through the college match QuestBridge (I know Stanford is a non-binding school) or should I apply SCEA to Stanford? I'm just going to say I am going to apply to QuestBridge college match because of the ease and the fees I save when I decide to apply RD to several partner schools; I'm just asking if I should rank Stanford as a match or no schools at all (assuming I become a finalist).</p>
<p>P.S. I was selected as a QuestBridge college prep scholar if that helps.</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>According to their website, over a thousand finalists get accepted in regular decision after not getting into the National College Match. Very few actually get the full-ride QB scholarship from the ED match, but so many more receive great financial aid from the same schools via regular decision. By becoming a finalist (even if you don’t get in through QB’s ED programme), you give yourself a huge advantage over the crowds of other students. That’s the advantage: many QB finalists get accepted into a partner college RD because the acceptance into the programme distinguishes them from the average student.</p>
<p>In addition, make yourself stand out through your essays; it doesn’t have to necessarily be a rags-to-riches story. What impassions you, moves you, motivates you? How can you express this passion of yours onto paper? If you’ve experienced some great difficulty in your life, explain how you overcame it and how it made you a better person. Bring a unique perspective into your essay. Above all, be frank, honest, and positive. Chances are colleges will respond better to an average student with a down-to-earth, inspiring story than an outstanding student with an accusatory, complaining sob story.</p>
<p>Have you also considered another college as a back-up? Not to bring offence, but there’s an extremely high chance you will be rejected even if you have amazing academics and background (Stanford’s projected to dip below 5% acceptance rate). You might be right in saying that there’s little advantage to apply to Stanford via QB, but remember you can also choose other partner colleges through QB’s match process! I guarantee you there are many other colleges out there that provide the same level of rigour as Stanford, so explore some other options. But by all means, apply to Stanford if it’s your dream school. There’s no harm in at least trying!</p>
<p>Thank you so much. This is what I was thinking of doing I just wanted to see if it was really worth the effort. So do you think I should even mark Stanford on the match or completely forgo the match and just wait for the regular decision.</p>
<p>Haha no offense taken. I realize that people with perfect stats and amazing extracurriculars get rejected all the time for school with sub 10% admissions. I do have some safeties lined up (I live in California and the UC schools are a great back-up) and then some true safeties because me scores qualify me for a full-ride scholarship to some state schools. The main reason I was only asking about Stanford was because that was my number one choice and the ONLY school I am sure I want to go to. I have seen and reviewed most of the QuestBridge partners and I know that all of them are schools with amazing academics and communities. It’s just that I am incredibly indecisive and binding admissions scare me so I was planning on only checking non-binding schools on the match then applying to all the other great schools via regular decision. I would be happy to get into any of them besides Stanford but again Stanford is my first choice and it would be such a relief to know I would be going to one of the best schools in the world come December 1st otherwise I would be worrying all throughout senior year. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Stanford SCEA = 80%+ rejection rate (8.5% deferral rate)</p>
<p>National Match = 0% rejection rate (~97% deferral rate)</p>
<p>Stanford SCEA likes to give applicants a definite answer, thus the deferral rate = very low. Through QB, everyone not accepted must be deferred by match policy.</p>
<p>Sooo while it may seem that odds of getting in = higher through SCEA* than the match, the odds of getting rejected are also higher.</p>
<p>*Btw SCEA acceptance rate = inflated by a higher-quality applicant pool</p>
<p>I know of a kid who hits all the qualifications as far as the very best test scores, the very top class rank, urm, qb finalist decided to SCEA and rejected last year. So you can expect that as a likely outcome too. </p>
<p>As far as match acceptance rate, I have a feeling that a lot a QB kids are not really up to Stanford level put throw it in there because it is free and they can pick other matches. But I don’t have any more data on that than you have on your hardship theory. I don’t agree with it. All low income are a demographic, and usually means that you don’t have access to a lot of resources that high income kids do.</p>
<p>That’s true thank you. What do you mean by Stanford level. Stanford’s SAT percentiles are lower than some partner school like MIT, Yale, and Princeton (I believe).</p>
<p>Assuming you’re moving ahead with the QB NCM application, another idea for you would be to rank as many of the non-binding schools as you are interested in so that in December you might have a match/acceptance and could then decide whether to apply to Stanford RD if you’re not matched. The security of an early acceptance seems to be important to you so you might want to improve those odds by listing more than one school. Hopefully you got Lilliana’s point above, which is so important about NCM - you run NO risk of rejection in the match process whereas with other early apps, whether SCEA or other, you are facing the very real chance that it’s the end of the road with that school…best of luck to you!</p>