Things to consider for future QuestBridge Applicants

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
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<p>First, I want to say that this post is in no way intended to knock or disrespect the QuestBridge program. I am a parent and after having my daughter apply through QB and become a Finalist, it is my opinion of some of the Pros and Cons of the program for future prospective applicants.</p>

<p>QB is a tough application to complete. It has an early deadline and requires a lot more essays than most College applications including the Common ap. That being said, it will give QB applicants a real head start on their college applications. I STRONGLY suggest that future applicants join the facebook group for the year they are applying. It is and was a great support group for my D and she has made a lot of friends through QB.</p>

<p>I don't want to give detailed info about my daughter's info, but here is a general background of her application.<br>
SAT score 2000+ (CR + M/1350)
Decent EC's for her area of study but no Internships or Research experience
Athlete
Leadership Experience
Caucasian
Not First Generation College Applicant
Strong Recommendations but small unknown high school
Strong Essays
Most Difficult classes but few AP Courses available
Top 3% of her Class
3.95 UW GPA
No Work history due to Sports being year around</p>

<p>This overall places my daughter in the 92 Percentile for Scores and higher based on GPA but with a school that has no history compared to some of the extremely competitive high schools that many applicants are coming from.</p>

<p>DD was selected as a Finalist. My OPINION is INCOME/Assets has a HUGE factor in applicants being accepted or rejected as a Finalist. My DD has a 0 EFC. So despite NOT being a first Generation to go to college or being Caucasian, she had decent scores and grades well within the median for QB but all had a STRONG financial need. I saw many students with incomes close to the $60,000 mark that were NOT selected. They had much higher scores than my DD and some were even 1st Generation College applicants. The higher the assess (home equity, business equity, etc) the less likely the applicant was to be accepted as a Finalist. The percentage based on Ethnicity seemed equal to the numbers presented by QB for past representation of African Americans, Asians, Hispanic, Caucasian, etc. </p>

<p>My personal feeling is that QB is trying to focus on Economic Hardships for it's Finalist. This means that Diversity is represented not by nationality but by being a strong college applicant despite not having the luxury of $ for Prep Study, private tutors, private high schools. Internationals are also accepted as Finalists based on the same criteria.</p>

<p>That being said, if you have a story to tell and are CLOSE to the $60,000 cut off....you could STILL be accepted as a Finalist by QB. In my opinion, you will only benefit in applying. Why? Because you will be able to get your college application started earlier than you might otherwise be planning to do. You are forced to consider college choices earlier, you will have an opportunity to join the FB group for QB and this is a HUGE positive if you are willing to use it. The QB students were all peer reviewing one another's essays and encouraging one another. They are all poor and can laugh and joke about their financial concerns and help one another in completing CSS Profile, FAFSA, specific college supplemental essays...the list goes on. This support will be an experience that most other Seniors will not experience. Those who were not named as Finalist still were accepted by the group and remained friends with many of the others and went on to be accepted to great schools (even Ivy's).</p>

<p>Now....your chosen as a Finalist. Do you Match or Not? Here is where I wish I had known what I do now. My DD only choose 1 school and it had a 7% acceptance rate, so we were not really thinking she would be matched. You can choose up to 8. DD would not select any schools she had not visited and we had not visited any schools because we did not have the $ to do so. I did not see a lot of kids from the QB group get matched (or at least post that they did). I think it is fair to say that about 10% were. Of that percentage, only 1 in every 10 was Caucasian. Most were URM's. Is that a bad thing? Not if you are one of the URM's. </p>

<p>What I would have suggested my DD do differently: </p>

<p>Option 1) I would have either had her select 8 schools to match (visit or not). NOT all would have been IVY's. There are some schools among the QB schools that do have higher than 20 or 30% acceptance rate. Anything under 20% is too low! Not to say that I wouldn't have had her choose a few...but remember she was NOT a 2200 or 2300 SAT score, NOR was she an URM! So even though QB is promoting diversity by being low income....the COLLEGES are NOT!!!! Diversity for them is still Ethnicity! </p>

<p>or </p>

<p>Option 2) I would have had DD skip the MATCH process totally. I would have had her apply to one of the 100% need blind Funding 100% Meet (with no loans) schools that were part of QB or even not part of the QB family as a binding ED applicant.<br>
ALSO, I would have had her begin to prepare her QB and Non-QB Applications. She could have applied EA to non-binding schools and THEN if she were deferred or rejected from her ED school, she could have submitted her other RD applications. Remember, another perk for QB Finalists is FREE applications, so she would have had Fees waived for her RD QB schools even though she did not participate in the Match Process. </p>

<p>Option 2 is more than likely what I would have preferred for her! </p>

<p>By participating in the Match process to only one Highly selective school, we forfeited her option to apply to that same school ED. It would probably not have changed the outcome, but I think our BIGGEST mistake was OVERESTIMATING that her QB Finalist Status would help her. All the schools state they look at the applicant in a "Holistic" evaluation. I feel that was not true for my Daughter. If she had been an URM, she would have had better results with her QB schools. She was rejected by all but one, and that one she was waitlisted by. As results were being posted through the QB group....most of the kids who were not match or accepted through RD were all White. Sorry, but that is the truth. That is NOT to say that there were never any kids that were White that were not matched or accepted RD...there were. But the percentage of Caucasians that were Waitlisted or rejected to QB schools was much higher than the URM students. Now is this QB's fault? NO!!! QB does not have any control of who a college accepts or rejects. Was my DD in the top of the % for test scores? NO, she was not. But from a holistic approach, she was rejected by schools were she was in the 50% and URM with same or lesser scores were accepted. I knew a lot of these kids scores, I read a lot of these kids essays...I know my DD was not in the TOP nor in the bottom of the QB applicant pool. </p>

<p>Would I encourage my DD to do it all over again? YES! 100% but I would use Option 1 or 2 and do that much differently than we did. I would also have selected some other QB and Non QB schools. </p>

<p>Safety's need to be financial safeties too. I have seen a few QB applicants that didn't have financial safeties and were not accepted to anywhere or at least anywhere they could afford. I see these kids stating the same thing...."I overestimated the fact that being a QB Finalists meant I would be accepted to at least one of my QB schools." Fortunately, for my DD...she had enough non-QB's schools that she was accepted to and had 3 sound choices both in fit and financially for her to choose from. But there were others for 2012 that did not and will be looking at CC or other options. It was especially hard for the Internationals too. That is where being in the TOP with scores and GPA is essential! </p>

<p>Well, I hope that I help encourage you and warn you as you look to becoming a QB Finalist and QB future Scholar! You are welcome to ask questions.</p>

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<p>Interesting post, BP. I am the mom of a 2010 finalist who was unmatched (URM, btw) and am considering having my 2013er apply as well. </p>

<p>I also have wondered whether he should just skip the match round, especially because there are a couple of schools he’s really interested in that aren’t QB schools, and I know he’d love to see whether he can get into those. But, boy, those early deadlines are a godsend. Yes, lots of essays, but if the kids spend the time on them on the front end with QB then it makes the rest of the apps a breeze. In fact, my 2010er just last month recycled one of his QP essays, updated slightly, for a study-abroad scholarship application. :slight_smile: So, kids, write good essays and keep track of them!</p>

<p>You’re correct about limiting your choices, but my 2010er did the same. I just didn’t want to send him off somewhere sight-unseen so he only ranked one school, where he was eventually WL’d. In good news, he did get in to a QB school during RD, though he opted not to go there. Ds2 right now is prepared to rank two, but we’re hoping that somehow he’ll get to visit more of the QB schools so that he’ll cast a wider net. I’m really hoping he gets a campus visit through the Junior College Prep Scholarship!!!</p>

<p>But, potential applicants, do heed the, IMO, most important msg in BP’s post – have academic and financial safeties in place!!! A lot of great schools meet financial need with minimal loans.</p>

<p>Good luck, everyone!</p>

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<p>I have a friend that was a finalist but not matched. Applied RD and got into BROWN!!! yahooo…Questbridge opened the door…100%</p>

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<p>I concur with the OP. Don’t do the QB match. I was a finalist and got into an Ivy league school, but I discarded my Questbridge app totally. The app is inflexible, forced, and the QB staff didn’t release the chance (1% for each school approx.).
Again, skip the QB match. Do EA/ ED and you will have more chances. Significantly more.</p>

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<p>^ I’ve worked with QB - the acceptance rate is many times higher than that, though it depends on the college (for Stanford, it’s higher than the overall admit rate). It’s also important to compare the typical acceptance rate for low-income students in general against the match rate. The former is ridiculously low - Stanford’s was typically around 4% a couple years ago, and at that time, 12% of the finalists got in either through the match or RD. That’s 3x the rate.</p>

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<p>No, that’s not the case. Your daughter didn’t get matched because there were applicants the partner colleges thought were more deserving. It’s not right to try to blame factors outside her control and assume URMs are the ones who get the scholarship. In fact, a large portion of those who get it are white or Asian (about 1/3).</p>

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<p>It’s their fault they didn’t plan accordingly, not QB’s. If you hadn’t noticed, this was a pretty brutal year for most applicants. A lot of applicants got burned. It’s sad, but they didn’t plan ahead, and they’re the only ones to blame for that. So it’s not surprising that QB applicants also fared worse this year, just as the rest did.</p>

<p>Your story does not change any reality about QB. Students are given the opportunity to apply to 8 schools in an early round, as well as more schools in the RD round. They get fee waivers for all the colleges they choose to apply to. The application gives them tons of space to explain their background - space that they would not otherwise have. It signals them as high-achieving, low-income students and helps their chances significantly.</p>

<p>People, such as you and detoidi, are quick to dismiss QB as soon as they get rejected or waitlisted. They point to the low % match rate, completely ignoring the advantage that the QB app gives you in the RD round (where most finalists get in - just as with non-QB applicants, most are accepted in the RD round). Match+RD has a much higher acceptance rate. More importantly, people ignore the fact that general acceptance rate for low-income students is very low, much lower than the overall rates, so applying through QB, even though it also has a low admit rate, gives students a significant advantage - often many times the typical acceptance rate for low-income students.</p>

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<p>Wow Phantasmagoric really FAILED to read my post! </p>

<p>As i stated, I never BLAMED QB for my daughter not being accepted. What makes my “Opinion” different than others is that I saw who was and was NOT being accepted and to where through the QB Facebook page. Add to that the fact that I knew the scores, stats and essays of many applicants. As final results for all RD’s were coming in (and many had high 2200 and 2300+ scores) we would look at her QB Friends and I would say…White, white, white, white, Asian. That was WHO was NOT getting accepted. I NEVER saw an URM NOT get accepted to at least ONE QB school. So it is not just the results of MY daughter but her QB friends too!</p>

<p>And it is true that Finalists that have not been accepted to any schools…that it is their fault for not heading the warning of QB to look at outside QB schools, but that doesn’t make their situation any less sad and painful. However, I was NEVER suggesting to not consider QB and I clearly stated that if we were to do it all over again, that I WOULD encourage/support my daughter and others to do it, BUT I would use QB differently depending on each persons situation.</p>

<p>Overall, I found your post rude and ignorant of the reality that EVERY year is BRUTAL in college admissions with or without QB.</p>

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<p>People, such as you, are adamant in not acknowledging the truth, and in not reading carefully.

  1. It is true many finalists get into those schools later, but one can totally bypass the match program and apply ED/ EA to his dream school, which has a significantly better chance of accepting him. In case he doesn’t make it, he can still choose to forward the rest of his QB application, which is inflexible and unchangeable after the deadline in October, or the common app in the RD round and will have the same benefit as matchers. Difference? The rate for QB match program is significantly lower than the rate for EA/ ED. This year Dartmouth was 0.5%, Stanford and Yale around 1%. Look at their EA/ ED rate: Stanford and Yale Early Admission each offers more than 10%.
  2. By the way, colleges do look for diversity. So, a QB applicant won’t stand out much if he’s compared against the rest of the QB pool, which includes people similar to him in overcoming obstacles. In EA/ EA, mostly rich kids apply, so he would stand out more.
  3. Questbridge doesn’t publish info about the low rate of matching. While it has good intention, its finalist selection is not very competitive (around 50% who apply got it), leading those finalists to think that they have a very realistic chance of getting matched with their dreamed partner school. This is misleading.
  4. Low income students do have a low chance of getting into college, but not if they’re extremely talented low income students. The reason they have low chance of getting in largely is because they aren’t well informed about resources. Once they do, they present very formidable cases if they manage to overcome their extraordinary obstacles.
  5. Fee waivers? Even if I didn’t apply to Questbridge, I could have asked my counselor for fee waivers. Any amount that I want.
  6. Applying to QB match isn’t exactly like applying to 8 schools early. Each college operates independently, and so choosing between 1% (or even 4% like you asserted) of each of those 8 colleges or 15% of Harvard, Yale, Stanford and Princeton? You take the pick wisely.
  7. I repeat. Apply through questbridge match program to colleges isn’t giving low income applicants that big of an edge. Skip the match, and do EA/ ED.</p>

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I concur.</p>

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<p>I am one of those parents who feels that QuestBridge may have been the best thing that has ever happened to my daughter. First, she was a College Prep Scholar and received the trip to Yale for the conference. Then, she was a Fein Fellow and received the free lap top which she will use when she starts college in September. The trip to Yale proved invaluable because while she was there she met an admission counselor from a school she had never heard of, and after the fact, received a free, 4 year full ride to that school. She then got in to an ivy that would probably not have been possible without the QuestBridge help. Would she do the match again? Probably not! She would just apply regular decision to the school she was interested in because we do not have a 0 EFC and therefore would probably never match. Was QuestBridge a lot of work…Yes, but in our opinion, well worth it!!! I am happy to answer any questions any one new to this process might have.</p>

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<p>As it is time for the new pool of QB applicants to start making decisions…thought I would bump my post for others as they consider their QB options. Best of Luck to all!</p>