Just wondering, if you are selected as a finalist, what do you do at that stage? An interview? more prompts to answer? And during that stage do they look at your whole application again when deciding who gets matched or is it you made it past the first stage and now all finalists are judged only by what they submit in the finalist stage?
I could just say, read the website, because it’s all there, but here is some info that may help. But read the website too.
If selected as a finalist, very generally speaking, you get to apply to (up to) 8 schools “early decision,” but without any financial uncertainty. Each school has its Match Scholarship financial aid details posted on the website, so if you’re matched you’ll know exactly what to expect. A few schools (like Virginia and Rice) actually pay every single penny for their Match Scholars, while most schools require the student to pay whatever would be expected from the lowest-income student they accept: often, that’s work-study plus summer job plus previous savings plus outside scholarships if any. But there’s never a loan, and there’s never any parental contribution, and it always covers 4 years.
The application process varies by school, but you’ll usually need to complete the Common Application and verify your income/assets in detail, perhaps fill out a special form for some of the schools. Each school will award its Match Scholarship based on its own set of criteria, but I don’t think any of them require interviews.
Some schools might take financial need into account more than others, other schools might take SAT/ACT scores into account more than others, etc. Definitely rank your schools in order of your own preference; the algorithm is extremely thorough, and it will give you a shot at every single opening at every single school on your list.
If you rank eight schools, you’re in for a lot of repetitive work, as you have to meet the paperwork requirements for all eight of them. But, considering the magnitude of the opportunity, it is well worth the effort. You’re competing against many excellent students with compelling backgrounds, but during the acceptance/matching stage, each school only gets the applications of the finalists who listed them, and the school won’t know if it was #1 or #8 on the student’s list. So you have an equal opportunity of getting matched to any of your 8 schools, and the algorithm assures that the match meets the preferences of the student and the school too.
Questbridge makes sure that your Questbridge application is made available to each school you put on your match list, and makes sure that you are fully informed of what each school needs from you. But it is up to you to make sure you get your complete information to each of your 8 schools ahead of the deadline.