Hello! I’m excited to share my Questbridge application process with you all. For those who are unfamiliar, Questbridge is a national college scholarship program that partners with 42 colleges and universities around the US to send high-achieving, low-income high school seniors to these great undergraduate schools. Participating students either ‘match’ with a partner school, meaning that they receive a full tuition scholarship at that institution and are bindingly obligated to attend that school (kind of like Early Decision), or they apply to the partner schools through Questbridge Regular Decision, which is not binding. Scripps is one of these 42 Questbridge partner schools, and I came to Scripps through Questbridge Regular Decision. I can confidently say that Questbridge changed my life. Questbridge introduced me to Scripps, new friends at schools across the United States, diverse alumni networks, and a community of Scripps Questbridge scholars who have become very close friends of mine. The road I took to get here was not always straightforward or smooth, but I can confidently say that the pay-off of all the hard work that I put in to becoming a Scripps Questbridge scholar was worth it. Today, I’ll take a look at my Questbridge application process from four years ago.
First, I heard about Questbridge through my mom. She had learned about Questbridge from one of her own friends and encouraged me to apply for the College Prep Scholars program. Luckily, I was selected as a College Prep Scholar in April of my junior year of high school! This set me on the path towards applying to the Questbridge partner schools.
Applying to college
Fast forward to early in the fall of my senior year of high school. I applied to be a Questbridge National College Match Finalist- this is a necessary first step for people who want to participate in applying to college through Questbridge. While waiting for my decision from Questbridge, I worked on the supplemental essays for some of the Questbridge schools I was interested in applying to. It was highly encouraged to me by Questbridge alums to, even before I found out whether I was finalist, start on the supplemental materials because there were only a couple weeks between the decision being released and the deadline for the supplemental materials to work on the supplemental materials. During October of my senior year of high school, I was notified that I was selected as a National College Match Finalist (yay!), which meant that I could continue on with the Questbridge process. I thought about whether I should ‘rank’ schools. National College Match Finalists have the chance to rank up to 12 Questbridge partner schools by order of preference. If I ranked schools, I would then be bindingly obligated to attend the highest ranked school on my list of rankings that accepted me, with a full 4-year tuition scholarship (there are some exceptions to this- check out the Questbridge website for more info). At this point, I was still unsure what colleges I was especially interested in. All of the partner schools seemed really great, and I didn’t have a ‘yes I would 100% attend if accepted’ school in my mind yet. So, I decided not to rank any schools and skipped the binding ranking process, moving myself onto the Questbridge Regular Decision process.
I applied to lots of different schools through Questbridge Regular Decision, which meant that I had to write lots of supplemental essays and send lots of different financial documents to each of the schools. It got to be really confusing sometimes because I couldn’t remember if I sent my FAFSA to School A or to School B. It eventually helped me out a lot to create a spreadsheet with the names of each school I was applying to, copy the required application materials for each school onto the spreadsheet, and check off each one as I finished them. Look closely at the application materials for each partner school, because they differ depending on the school and depending on where you are in the Questbridge process (i.e. whether you ranked Scripps or not). For Scripps, these materials include federal tax returns, the mid-year report, official transcripts, optional test score reports, and more.
As I was applying through Questbridge, I really learned how to manage my time wisely. I learned that writing down small goals for each day in my planner was really helpful and made the big tasks seem more manageable and accomplishable. For example, I would tell myself to email financial documents to the school on Monday, start my supplemental essay on Tuesday, and finish writing the rough draft of my supplemental essay by next week. The task of applying to colleges through Questbridge can seem really daunting at first because there are so many extra forms and pieces of the application you need to turn in on top of the already large pile of things you need for the regular college application. However, I can attest that breaking it all down into smaller pieces really does help and allows you to determine how much you need to get done every day or every week to be able to make the deadlines!
Parting wisdom and advice
A piece of advice I’d give to Questbridge applicants is to really do your research on the schools that you are applying to. I wish I had honed in more closely on what I wanted in a school, which probably would have helped me find Scripps earlier than I actually did! Connect with fellow Questies attending the schools you are interested in through Facebook or LinkedIn and ask them about their experiences. Ask yourself, “Is this somewhere I can see myself living and studying at for the next four years?” and “What kind of a community and learning environment do I want to be surrounded by?”. I didn’t do this when I was applying, but if you can’t find people through Facebook or other social media, email the admissions offices of the schools that you are interested in and ask them to connect you with Questbridge students at the school or the Questbridge Network at the school. Lots of Questbridge partner schools, including Scripps, have a club or organization dedicated to the Questbridge scholars at that school. In other words, do as much research into the schools and yourself as you can! Think about what you want out of your college experience.
In conclusion…
I learned a lot from my Questbridge application experience. It certainly was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done, and it took a lot of time and effort on my part to put together my Questbridge and subsequent college applications. However, I’m grateful for the experience because it led me to Scripps and a great four years of college. To anyone going through the Questbridge or college application process now, my heart and support go out to you. It’s hard, but there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel that will make it all worth it.
Gloria