College Admissions Results for Class of 2018 - Nightmare or Pleasant Suprise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today is Questbridge notification day.

I looked into this and it seemed like a colossal waste of time. Was I missing the supposed benefit?

*Many schools consider it a hook- Yale tripled the number of QB students it admitted last year
*Full scholarship if you're matched
*You can apply to up to 12 schools early, and none of them will reject you outright. If you don't get 'matched', your remaining options are numerous: you can apply ED to most places or you can move onto RD
*Free applications to the nation's best universities and LACs
*Application that is specifically designed to highlight the experience and background of a low income student. Testing is not as emphasized and most of the schools are willing to bypass lower scores for highly qualified QB students
*You get an alumni network and community at the school to which you matriculate
*Many graduate schools give automatic fee waivers to students who are QuestBridge finalists, including MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia
*Emails throughout the admission cycle for timelines and advice in putting forward the best application
*Partner schools send out invitations and vouches for students to visit their campus
*There's a program for juniors which gives out all-expense paid summer programs, telephone individual mentoring, essay coaching, testing preparation, and invitation to a conference where all of the 39 colleges come to speak to students and to teach them about the admissions process

Not a colossal waste of time at all- one of the biggest sources of inspiration towards helping low-income students go to college.

Yeah...low-income students already get all of those perks, ex free college, app waivers, etc. Seems like Questbridge is an unnecessary middle man requiring a tedious amount of effort and extra deadlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today is Questbridge notification day.

I looked into this and it seemed like a colossal waste of time. Was I missing the supposed benefit?

*Many schools consider it a hook- Yale tripled the number of QB students it admitted last year
*Full scholarship if you're matched
*You can apply to up to 12 schools early, and none of them will reject you outright. If you don't get 'matched', your remaining options are numerous: you can apply ED to most places or you can move onto RD
*Free applications to the nation's best universities and LACs
*Application that is specifically designed to highlight the experience and background of a low income student. Testing is not as emphasized and most of the schools are willing to bypass lower scores for highly qualified QB students
*You get an alumni network and community at the school to which you matriculate
*Many graduate schools give automatic fee waivers to students who are QuestBridge finalists, including MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Yale, and Columbia
*Emails throughout the admission cycle for timelines and advice in putting forward the best application
*Partner schools send out invitations and vouches for students to visit their campus
*There's a program for juniors which gives out all-expense paid summer programs, telephone individual mentoring, essay coaching, testing preparation, and invitation to a conference where all of the 39 colleges come to speak to students and to teach them about the admissions process

Not a colossal waste of time at all- one of the biggest sources of inspiration towards helping low-income students go to college.

Yeah...low-income students already get all of those perks, ex free college, app waivers, etc. Seems like Questbridge is an unnecessary middle man requiring a tedious amount of effort and extra deadlines.

Uh, no they don't.

[Anonymous]

How is it an unnecessary middleman? Do you know how much of a hassle it is to contact 12 schools individually and get confirmation regarding a fee waiver?

QuestBridge Match guarantees a full scholarship with no loans, and it also covers books and supplies and gives a stipend for health insurance/travel. It is part of their agreement with the organization. The FA packages students get tend to be much more generous with Match than with Regular Decision. Many of the colleges do package loans, or they have hefty student contributions, or they only cover up to room/board/tuition, leaving students to figure out the other substantial costs.

The application is a consolidated one like the Common App. It's an alternative application process. A low-income student who applied normally would go through the same track. Pick the Common App schools to apply to. Fill out the Common App and the supplements for each school. Submit financial aid information. QB works exactly the same.

Not to mention that the college admissions process is a mess to navigate and could be extremely challenging for a low income and first gen student coming from an under-served school. QB specifically tailors to help these students out.

You just sound unbelievably bitter. Get over it. The most respected colleges in the country know and respect QuestBridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is it an unnecessary middleman? Do you know how much of a hassle it is to contact 12 schools individually and get confirmation regarding a fee waiver?

QuestBridge Match guarantees a full scholarship with no loans, and it also covers books and supplies and gives a stipend for health insurance/travel. It is part of their agreement with the organization. The FA packages students get tend to be much more generous with Match than with Regular Decision. Many of the colleges do package loans, or they have hefty student contributions, or they only cover up to room/board/tuition, leaving students to figure out the other substantial costs.

The application is a consolidated one like the Common App. It's an alternative application process. A low-income student who applied normally would go through the same track. Pick the Common App schools to apply to. Fill out the Common App and the supplements for each school. Submit financial aid information. QB works exactly the same.

Not to mention that the college admissions process is a mess to navigate and could be extremely challenging for a low income and first gen student coming from an under-served school. QB specifically tailors to help these students out.

You just sound unbelievably bitter. Get over it. The most respected colleges in the country know and respect QuestBridge.

It's jealousy. The Questbridge college partners are indeed the best schools in the country https://www.questbridge.org/college-partners

[Anonymous]

Now we are going to diss Questbridge? Lord. The truth is that there are 25-30,000 low income high achieving seniors across the US - that score in highest percentiles on standardized tests and have high grades. They DO NOT apply to selective colleges for a variety of reasons. It's a phenomenon called undermatching. Questbridge does an incredible job of creating a pathway for those students but it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Once QB scales up more, the competition is only going to get stiffer.

[Anonymous]

They just released their numbers. 918 students received the scholarship this year, up 20% from last year and on average 24 full scholarship recipients per school.

For comparison, 5 years ago only 350 students got the scholarship.

Kudos to them for increasing access.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it an unnecessary middleman? Do you know how much of a hassle it is to contact 12 schools individually and get confirmation regarding a fee waiver?

QuestBridge Match guarantees a full scholarship with no loans, and it also covers books and supplies and gives a stipend for health insurance/travel. It is part of their agreement with the organization. The FA packages students get tend to be much more generous with Match than with Regular Decision. Many of the colleges do package loans, or they have hefty student contributions, or they only cover up to room/board/tuition, leaving students to figure out the other substantial costs.

The application is a consolidated one like the Common App. It's an alternative application process. A low-income student who applied normally would go through the same track. Pick the Common App schools to apply to. Fill out the Common App and the supplements for each school. Submit financial aid information. QB works exactly the same.

Not to mention that the college admissions process is a mess to navigate and could be extremely challenging for a low income and first gen student coming from an under-served school. QB specifically tailors to help these students out.

You just sound unbelievably bitter. Get over it. The most respected colleges in the country know and respect QuestBridge.

It's jealousy. The Questbridge college partners are indeed the best schools in the country https://www.questbridge.org/college-partners

YAY!!!!!! My niece (I posted up thread) got accepted to University of Chicago through the QB. Full ride!!!!! Her next in order choices were Brown, Princeton, Vanderbilt and John Hopkins.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations!!!

[Anonymous]

Congratulations! I am impressed by UChicago- they matched 84 students this year, the highest of any QuestBridge partner school and almost 10% of all the scholars! She'll be with a great community of bright, passionate students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
YAY!!!!!! My niece (I posted up thread) got accepted to University of Chicago through the QB. Full ride!!!!! Her next in order choices were Brown, Princeton, Vanderbilt and John Hopkins.

Fantastic! Congrats to her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They just released their numbers. 918 students received the scholarship this year, up 20% from last year and on average 24 full scholarship recipients per school.

For comparison, 5 years ago only 350 students got the scholarship.

Kudos to them for increasing access.

I'm not hating on QB. But it's a lot of work... for dubious results. How many applied for QB? I thought I read the match rate is like <20%? Maybe even 10%. So again, how is that favorable over just applying on your own?

[Anonymous]

How is it any more work than applying normally? It's an alternative process.

The match acceptance rate is ~15%, and about half of the finalists get in regular decision (Match is only the first round). That's a huge improvement over the 5-25% acceptance rate virtually all of these schools have.

I'm sure that the acceptance rate wouldn't change much if these students applied via Common App instead, but why should they? There already is a consolidated application process which tags them as a QB Finalist (a hook), enables them a central place to apply to 39 top schools, and gives them benefits once they matriculate (alumni network, campus community, etc.).

Unless your goal was a non-QuestBridge partner school like Harvard or Cornell, what would be the justification to not apply?

[Anonymous]

15% = dubious. Do you work for QB or something? It sounds more like a jobs program for those working at QB rather than actually moving the needle.

[Anonymous]

Isn't the real hook URM + poverty? QB is a non factor. You're hyping too hard to be a casual observer. QB is hq'd in DC, yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They just released their numbers. 918 students received the scholarship this year, up 20% from last year and on average 24 full scholarship recipients per school.

For comparison, 5 years ago only 350 students got the scholarship.

Kudos to them for increasing access.

I'm not hating on QB. But it's a lot of work... for dubious results. How many applied for QB? I thought I read the match rate is like <20%? Maybe even 10%. So again, how is that favorable over just applying on your own?

My niece did all of the applying and work on her own. So it couldn't be that treacherous. She lives with my disabled mother because my brother took a job out of state after being unemployed for a year and her mother is deceased.

Even if it is difficult, it is totally worth it. Our family is overjoyed!!!! We can't believe that she is going to have full ride to one of the top universities in the country. The two of us had weekly calls to discuss her progress but she did this primarily all on her own while working 25 hours a week as a team leader at Domino's.