I’m reading around and I’m getting the notion that you can’t apply Early Decision if you are participating in the Questbridge program. Is this true? I’m reading stuff where people are saying that Questbridge could lower your chances to getting into a college compared to if you applied with Early Decision.
You can only apply ED if you don’t rank any of your colleges (meaning you opt out of the chance of getting a full ride). Or don’t get named a finalist if you do rank.
You can do what is basically ED to up tp 8 schols through College Match. You will be matched with the school highest on your list. Or you can opt out of matching and do ED or EA anywhere you choose. You may still get a full ride – depends on the school – but QB match guarantees the fullest financial aid package at each school, and you have eight possible chances.
Having gone thru this w S (finalist who decided not to match) it is really really important to spend the time thinking about the different scenarios. Be sure your list is ranked according to your order of preference! Be aware that only a fraction of finalists actually get matched. Many do not match, but instead benefit from their QB apps being forwarded to the QB partner schools they request them to be sent to as part of RD.
If you do not do Match, and decide to do EA/ED separately and if needed RD, it also comes down to the individual schools’ guidelines. Many have Single choice Early Action, others have Early Decision, others are Early Action (unlimited). Not sure if it is urban myth but I have heard of kids who were not matched being contacted by a partner school and urged to do ED. Usually the fin aid is need based so you can get a pretty good idea what the package will be from a net price calc. Obviously with ED you are however shutting yourself out from comparing fin aid packages.
S knew he could not live with himself if he did not apply his #1 school the first time around, and if needed, also thru RD. So he did EA at his #1 choice and listed QB finalist as one of his achievements. He also applied to EA to a public university (this is allowed by the other school even though it is SCEA).
The flow chart on the QB website if very helpful. Good luck!
@momcino So when ranking colleges for Questbridge, if I rank a school as 7 or 8, do I have a smaller “ED chance” for that school? Does that school see that I ranked them as 8?
@archlion - No, the schools do not know in what order you ranked them. Also, when completing anything to do with financial aid, just list the schools in alpha order, not in the order that you ranked them for QB.
“Not sure if it is urban myth but I have heard of kids who were not matched being contacted by a partner school and urged to do ED”
This is absolutely true. I worked with a young man two years ago who was a finalist who was not matched. He was contacted by Columbia and asked to consider ED. He applied ED after the match process and just finished his freshman year at Columbia.
Also, just an FYI for future applicants,my son, who wasn’t chosen as finalist but did apply to QB, was contacted by many of the QB schools asking him to apply and the also waived the application fees. This thread discusses match versus non-match applicants and QB: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/questbridge-programs/1701880-questbridge-nonfinalist-applications-p1.html
@momofmusician17 Just out of curiosity, so if QB is like submitting 8 EDs, what if 2 colleges want you? Because regular ED only allows you to ED 1 school so that 1 school can decided to bind you or not.
Also, so if I am a finalist and am not matched, I can continue applying to schools regularly like as if I never done QB? I can apply ED to any school? Or does it have to be a school I ranked?
@momofmusician17 Also one more thing. So out of your 8 colleges you rank, if one chooses you, you are binded right? So should I just fill up the 8 slots with ivy leagues, stanford, MIT, and schools like that? Because honestly if I get into any of these I wouldn’t mind being binded 
But a school like UCLA I would prefer not to be binded so I should not rank that one right?
If 2 schools want you in the Match, you get Matched with the one you ranked highest. You won’t ever know how the lower rankings schools ‘voted’ on you.
If you do not get matched, yes you apply RD as usual. Partner schools will get a copy of your QB application and essays. Other schools will just see that your are a finalist. You can’t apply ED if you try the Match. But you might make the deadlines for an ED2 school possibly.
Match is binding. So only rank colleges you would want binding admission to. You don’t have to do 8. You can only rank Partner colleges. You can’t rank Harvard or UCLA.
If you fill up slots with only all schools at the very tippy top and you are not a tippy top student you might find you are not matched.
@Archlion - To answer your first question, if you rank 8 schools and are matched to your #2 and 5 and 7 schools, you would be matched to #2. You would not be told that you matched to #5 & 7. You only are notified of the highest match on your list.
Also, if you rank only schools that are EA (Early Action), you are not bound to that school if you are matched with the school. believe the QB schools that are SCEA are: Yale, Princeton, Stanford and MIT. I think that the rest of the partner schools are ED which means that if you are matched, you are bound by that match.
For all QB applicants, check out Rice. http://www.questbridge.org/rice-financial-aid. If you are matched with Rice during the match round, your contribution to your education is $0. You will have no parental contribution, no summer contribution, no required work study, a $400 stipend for books and Rice pays half of your health insurance if you need to purchase insurance. It is an absolutely incredible scholarship! Keep in mind that this financial aid is only for students who are chosen during the match round not anyone who is chosen during RD.
@BrownParent @momofmusician17 I think I make the cutoff (not necessarily impressive) for scores and grades for the “tippy top” schools. I have a thread with my info on it. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/18654756#Comment_18654756
Would you recommend me to rank all top colleges? (I was going to rank Stanford 1 and Brown 2) And since QuestBridge is limited to low income families, do I have less competition? Or is it pretty much the same chances as if I applied ED or RD?
Look, you still have time nothing needs to be decided at this moment. You should just apply where you are really happy to have a early/binding decision. Look over the colleges and learn a bit about them under the surface, even ones that are not big names, learn the features.
I think that the QB is like ED odds. I do not believe it lowers your chances, that would make no reason for the program. And even if you are not accepted in the match, they may have a strong predisposition for you going into RD, so it may be boosting your odds there. I do know of a student who decided not to do match because of hearing rumors and just got denied flat out in ED, not even deferred. but he was accepted into some very nice partner colleges in RD.
@Archlion - I agree with what @BrownParent said.
Also, I would like to add that the competition is the competition. Even though you are applying through QB, you are still in essence competing against the pool of candidates who apply EA/ED, not just the other QB applicants. While QB decisions are released earlier than regular EA/ED decisions, don’t kid yourself that you are not also competing against the other EA/ED candidates along with the QB candidates. The advantage to QB is that you get the opportunity to apply to 8 schools EA/ED; whereas, most students only get to apply to one partner school EA/ED.
^^great point
@Archlion It’s also good to note that MIT, Stanford, Yale, and Princeton are exceptions to the binding policy - if one of them accepts you in the College Match, you are not required to attend.
Lol just realized @momofmusician17 already said it, but checking out those four might be a good idea if you’re not so comfortable about being forced to accept