QuestBridge (QB) (2023-2024)

[sour palm]

INSTA KNOWSSS

deserved

[graceful ridge]

Anyone who did Rice: What did yall submit for The Box?

[sour palm]

roddy rich

[zinc terrace]

i might do rice rd but idk yet

[graceful ridge]

It's cool honeslty

[royal gorge]

Fun fact, not necessarily

[zinc terrace]

dont know if i wanna be that close to my houston family 💀

[sour palm]

bro one of my friends brother got into rice by applying for geology with an interest in petroleum engineering

[royal gorge]

Right across Pomona is Harvey Mudd, an LAC known for being cracked in engineering

[sour palm]

he basically wants to be an oil tycoonist

[zinc terrace]

lmaoo they make bank (and kill the planet)

[sour palm]

LAC just means more focus on everything as a whole rather than stem

[zinc terrace]

Mudd doesnt get enough attention

[royal gorge]

(They let you cross register classes with each other too 👀)

[sour palm]

if i make money, everyone else can be sacrificed

tis but pawns to me

[zinc terrace]

mudd is literally the caltech level stem experience plus having an actual college life

[zinc terrace]

lmaoo

[sour palm]

i have wasted so much of todya

[royal bear]

You're right, I didn't know Harvey Mudd was considered an LAC

[winter cove]

the questbridge silent era

[obtuse horizon]

the post-match apocalypse

[sour palm]

now we wait for rd

[karmic mountain]

Pomona better

[brisk spindle]

Okay so I knew QB NCM had a lot of questions but there are like 3 short answer sections??

[tired yarrow]

Kind of? There's a bunch of smaller questions where you write max 35 words while there's also two 200 word essays, one 500 word, and then your personal statement which is 800 words

[brisk spindle]

Oh okay

[craggy pelican]

800 is crazy

[tired yarrow]

800 is crazy and I still had to cut down by like 100 words from my initial draft because I overwrote

[craggy pelican]

i could never do quest bridge

too much to write

[fringe estuary]

this is so tone deaf ngl

[still berry]

it was meant as a joke, sorry if it was offensive/tone deaf!

[craggy pelican]

what did you say 😭

[jaunty pawn]

Uh yeah let’s not

[craggy pelican]

fuck i keep missing it

[jaunty pawn]

Nothing exciting

[atomic marsh]

Qbrd

Poor man's Rd

[zinc terrace]

qbrd come in clutch

[craggy pelican]

Where’d you get in

[zinc terrace]

nowhere yet

[untold raptor]

yet

[royal gorge]

QBRD No supp schools my beloved

[zinc terrace]

no literally

[royal gorge]

Tfw I threw on like 30 QBRD schools onto my list but only need to write 24 essays

[zinc terrace]

i added like all the schools that arent womens only or common app rd

and most of the supps are just repetitive

[royal gorge]

Ngl it's extremely funny that they have to warn kids on the QBRD and Match forms that the Women's colleges are Women's colleges

[zinc terrace]

ik a guy who ranked barnard lmaoo

[royal gorge]

It's even funnier that the warnings evidently didn't fucking work 😭

[zinc terrace]

IK LIKE HOW ARE YOU NOT GONNA READ THEM

[royal gorge]

Bro coming up with his match rankings be like:

https://tenor.com/view/starcrafts-nukes-missile-buttons-press-gif-16470667

[obtuse horizon]

wtf orange wave

[royal bear]

WHAT LMAO

[zinc terrace]

yeah he didnt realize until after

[royal bear]

When you have to tell your gender on there, what did he think when there was only the option of Female or Other?

[zinc terrace]

other 💀

[royal bear]

lOL

[zinc terrace]

yeah he found out when he didnt match so barnard sent him an email

[hallow crane]

got questie list

[hallow crane]

crazy bro

im applying to 8 on common apl

so 14 total

[zinc terrace]

i filled out all 20 💀

[royal bear]

What the hell

[craggy pelican]

Ngl I did not know that was a women’s college

[tired yarrow]

I thought my list was too much.... How are you going to do all of these abe 😭 Will you even get to enjoy your winter break for a little bit?

[zinc terrace]

i started writing them alr 😭

i have no hope in brown ed

[craggy pelican]

Nah there is

[fluid vapor]

why

[zinc terrace]

cuz im avg 😭

[graceful ridge]

Same with Rice ED

[royal bear]

@zinc terrace is it thur or Friday for brown Ed

!brown

[forest nymph]

Brown University ED Decision Date

Brown University ED decisions come out <t:1702681200:F> in your local time
2 days, 21 hours and 43 minutes until the decision date

ApplyingToCollege

[royal bear]

Ah

[hallow crane]

friday

so i get mine then abe gets his

[royal bear]

Then nerd gets his 🙂

[hallow crane]

all in a row

[zinc terrace]

friday but all the other ivies are thurs

[hallow crane]

brown likes being different 💀

[zinc terrace]

gives me another day of anxiety fr

[royal bear]

Fr

[zinc terrace]

uchicago is monday i feel bad

[wise cargo]

55

What the

Abe

How many have 0 sips

Supps

[hallow crane]

abe shotgunning likr me

[wise cargo]

15 is not 55

Ur doin fifteen right

[hallow crane]

55 is supps

[wise cargo]

No

It’s schools

Ask him

Wait @zinc terrace we’re u joking

I thought u we’re being far

Fr

Man how do. I turn off autocorrect

[zinc terrace]

no its schools

[wise cargo]

Lmao

[hallow crane]

bro why

[zinc terrace]

like 7-8

[hallow crane]

u will get into like half of thise

[wise cargo]

Oh nahhh

💀💀

[zinc terrace]

i hope so 😭

no but ive gotten to the point where like 75% of them are the same 250-300 word diversity essays

[hallow crane]

mine is technically 28 schools i think

but i withdrew some

[wise cargo]

Sheesh

[zinc terrace]

hey who knows maybe i get in on friday and i dont have to even do half of these schools

[hallow crane]

me w harvard

i have like 3/4 of my rd supps done

just missing the long ones

cus i dont wanna write those

unless i have to

[royal gorge]

Hahrdvahrd

[royal gorge]

Y'all makin' it fr

[still berry]

@zinc terrace why are you no longer late

[karmic mountain]

Real

[still berry]

can gap year people do qb

[royal bear]

Yes.

As long as you are planning on entering college as a FRESHMAN (I.E. during your "gap year" you didn't take courses at your local CC and plan to go into college as a sophomore)

[zinc terrace]

cuz i didnt have enough space to add the brown part

[still berry]

oh lmao fair fair

[still berry]

ahhh okay

but at 18 people independent and dont have their own income right

[royal bear]

no

i'm 18

it just depends on if you are claimed as a dependent on taxes or not

and they use the taxes from the last year not the upcoming year

so you'd do financial aid and stuff based upon your taxes from 2023 if you take a gap year and apply next cycle

whereas this cycle we use taxes (our parents taxes) from 2022

[still berry]

ah

[spring bone]

guys decisions are out

[wise cargo]

Oh really? No way dude

[hallow crane]

ur about 2 weeks late

[drifting ginkgo]

!vanderbilt

[scarlet plume]

hope you get in abe

[zinc terrace]

tysm ❤️! you got this for yale

[scarlet plume]

thanks

[grim narwhal]

Not in the qb network but we made it guys ❤️

[untold raptor]

ayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[grim narwhal]

Love you alkie

Helped me with my topical essay conclusion remember

[untold raptor]

ye

[ashen lion]

Do u guys know what Leda is by chance

Leda cohort

[zinc terrace]

its a fgli program i believe that helps juniors prepare for college apps and helps during college too

[brisk spindle]

When does QBs CPS app open?

I'm aware it's in Feb but is there a specific date?

[spring bone]

really?? i only got my acceptance when i messaged this

[hallow crane]

u def got it before

they released december 1st 💀

it was on ur questbridge portal

did u not look lol

[zinc terrace]

yeah you mustve never opened your portal

[wise cargo]

Where did you get in

[tired yarrow]

That's lowkey super funny 😭 Congrats on your acceptance!!

[brisk spindle]

Wait JHU doesn't have a supp for the match right?

Like they just require a form

[zinc terrace]

yeah same for qbrd

[brisk spindle]

Nicee, thank you!

[scarlet plume]

Hey questies!!! So this was my list of merit scholarships!

Am I missing any that may have deadlines in January?

[hallow crane]

OMG RON BROWN

THATS WHAT I FORGOT TO DOOOOO

[scarlet plume]

Yuh

[hallow crane]

Well not like it matters now ig

[scarlet plume]

Ron brown is too selective tho 😭

[hallow crane]

i did ronbron guided pathway support

and they told me to apply to scholarship

but i forgot

[scarlet plume]

that sucks

[hallow crane]

eh not like ir matters now

[scarlet plume]

Yeah harvards financial aid is good I bet

was your aid like a full ride?

[hallow crane]

yes

harvard sholly covered everything but 3.5k which my pell covers

[scarlet plume]

That’s so great! Wow

[tired yarrow]

Yeah, if you have a full ride at basically any top school, then there's kind of no point in applying to scholarships except for the benefits of the network and community because the scholarship subtracts from the work-study (which is usually just the money you can earn for extra things and not usually a necessity according to my big sister) then the grant paying the tuition, so it becomes kind of obsolete

I'm not trying to deter anyone from applying if they want to!! But my sister said she felt like she wasted a lot of time applying for scholarships that basically disappeared 😭

[scarlet plume]

I definitely agree, I’m preparing for the fact that if I don’t get into any of my reaches then I’ll def need to look for scholarships yk? And decisions come out late march which is wayyyy too late

Also honey for the Cornell community essay did you reference the any person any study thing?

I talked about how much community had an impact on me but that’s it

[tired yarrow]

Ough, yeah that's really scary, I know how you feel because before I got my Cornell decision I had loaded up on 13+ RD schools for QB (which was a pain to withdraw from all of them, another unknown con of shotgunning) because I was almost sure I was going to get rejected or deferred

[hallow crane]

we risked sm by opting out 💀

high risk high reward ig

[tired yarrow]

I didn't really? Unless you count my point about listening to other people's stories to gain their perspective

[scarlet plume]

I know it sucks so much waiting for decisions, I have no idea if I should look for more :// in Jan I def will have to look for more

[tired yarrow]

Never doing anything that risky ever again to be honest 😭

[scarlet plume]

And shotgunning sucks!!! I had to write 50+ supplementals

[scarlet plume]

Great!! I asked a few admitted students and they said the same thing so this gives reassurance

[tired yarrow]

I thought it sounded a little corny to add a reference to "any person any study" so instead if you want to add it into your essay, add an aspect of the motto like differing perspective, niche interest, exploration, etc.

[scarlet plume]

I know right! I thought I had to talk about it because that’s what the prompt said 😭

[tired yarrow]

Does that make sense? 😭

[scarlet plume]

Yeah thanks honey!

[tired yarrow]

Of course!!

[scarlet plume]

Oh forgot to ask if my essay has to do with learning about other people’s stories and perspectives, is this good enough to not add anything about the any person any study thing?

[tired yarrow]

Mine was like that, but it's hard to tell if that was what was actually what they wanted, I talked about webnovels and how I found a community through them which made me realize how much I loved hearing other people's opinions because it revealed a part of themselves in their answers

[scarlet plume]

Oh that’s so interesting!

[tired yarrow]

The basis, really, was human connection, but the message of listening to other people's perspectives is more direct

I think it's enough to do what you're doing with learning other people's stories and perspectives, just make sure to develop it enough so it makes a strong impact!! I think partly the reason my message about my desire to understand others was impactful was because I talked about how I had hidden and disconnected myself in the first place, it's like a full circle moment—by listening and learning from others about something I love, I'm more true to myself

Complexity in your answer is always good, so good luck on your application!!! I hope you get in

[grim narwhal]

My counselor told me some smaller ones just give you checks for personal expenses lol

[hallow crane]

depends on the school

[tired yarrow]

Yeah, but I think you still have to report them so they ultimately get taken out of your work-study 😭

[hallow crane]

a lot of the time you are obligated to report any outside awards

if u get a 5k scholarship and ur workstudy was only 3k, they reduce ur tuition

thats how most ivies are

idk why they dont just put a cap on it

like aside from reducing work study u can have an extra 5k per year before it reduces tuition or sum

[tired yarrow]

I would rather leave the scholarships for people who need it more to be honest, I don't mind working freshman year, but this only works if you already know you're accepted....what a rotten situation

[hallow crane]

yeah i was so worried when i got rejected from gates but i think since i put mostly full-aid schools they knew i wouldnt need it

[grim narwhal]

This was very helpful guys

[hallow crane]

hmm

[hallow crane]

what would they do if ur award amount exceeded ur tuition 💀

[grim narwhal]

I don't even know what my expected contribution OR work-study allotment is so guess I just gotta send them all

[hallow crane]

penn's policy is crazy wtf

[grim narwhal]

How so?

[hallow crane]

"outside funding cannot be used to replace parent contribution" ❓

[grim narwhal]

Looks pretty normal to me

[hallow crane]

its crazy that ur parents could have a 30k efc and u could have a 30k scholarship and be unable to use it

[sour palm]

that makes no fucking sense

they want money regardless

[zinc terrace]

the schools want you to pay something

[grim narwhal]

I swear they say somewhere if it's below a certain amount you don't needa report

[tired yarrow]

My big sister goes to penn, I think the fact they don't allow it to go towards parent contribution is actually insane because my family's EFC was supposed to be 0, but the financial aid office or my parents made a mistake where we would have had to pay 7k like my parents tried to deal with it by asking my sister to see if the scholarship would cover it but the office wouldn't budge, so I think my mom had to take out a loan from my grandma and go on a payment plan even though the financial aid office was going to reimburse us anyway??? Made no sense

7k was insane anyway because that's like 1/3-1/4 of my family's income

[royal gorge]

That's actually ridiculous

Bruh

[hallow crane]

did cornell give u full

[tired yarrow]

My estimate at the moment is full ride yeah, I don't think FAFSA should change it (knock on wood, especially since they already got all the tax documents)

[grim narwhal]

Was it like a filing mistake or..? Not tryna make that error too 😭

[tired yarrow]

I think it was a combination of filing error plus late financial documents? It was strange

[still berry]

no bcuz im considering ed2 rn and my only drawback is that i really dont wanna withdraw lmao

[royal gorge]

Ain't no way

Pomona just sent me an actual piece of mail telling me to apply QB to Pomona

They never even sent me any emails 😭

They skipped straight to the actual mail bruh

[zinc terrace]

i mean you are like right there

[royal gorge]

Tfw this is the entire ED2 agreement for Pomona

[royal gorge]

😭

I keep getting scared that I somehow accidentally stepped into an ED2 agreement

Horrendous

[zinc terrace]

😭

[royal gorge]

How did you manage all the ED2 schools yourself man

[zinc terrace]

i stopped checking my portals after i got everything in

i dont even wanna hear the word college until like march atp

[royal gorge]

based

[grim narwhal]

👀

[jaunty pawn]

???

[royal gorge]

[zinc terrace]

https://tenor.com/view/confused-huh-what-dog-question-mark-gif-17338208541034173103

[tired yarrow]

You get that page when you withdraw lmao 😭

It's pretty deceiving

[grim narwhal]

HAHAHAHA yep

[royal gorge]

Huh

I got mail from QB and MassTech

Neat

[royal gorge]

Bruh QB gave me a College Prep Scholars sticker but I never took part in the program

😭

[tired yarrow]

That's super funny I can't remember where I put all my QB stickers, they're somewhere in my house...

[errant meteor]

Dang they must think you’re cracked

Look at you go

[hallow crane]

huhhhh

i have cps sticker and in sad we never got a ncm stucker

[zinc terrace]

I think only kids who matched got one

[spice wyvern]

are there any schools that accept qb rd apps this late?

i know denison, swartmore, rice, and pomona

are there any more

[hallow crane]

wdym

u just submit any supps u needed to submit by their normal rd deadline

ur qb is automatically sent

[spice wyvern]

yeah but i ran out of room on common app. some schools usually send you a link where you can submit ur qb apps to them

[hallow crane]

u had to select where to send ur qb apps on december 10th

ur very very late if u never did that

[spice wyvern]

yeah i get that

[tired yarrow]

You might have to email them, but I'm pretty sure those things have to be in conjunction with the QB RD

[spice wyvern]

some schools take later dates

[spice wyvern]

well i already got the portals

and i used my qb app yesterday

[hallow crane]

u can only apply to the ones u selected

[spice wyvern]

no some schools would email u

like this for example

they send u a link where they receive ur qb app

and i got the portal today

[tired yarrow]

If you have the portals then I would email?

[hallow crane]

then unless they send that u prolly cant

idk how qbrd works

[spice wyvern]

wym

like i have access to the portals and everything in the checklist is fine

[tired yarrow]

Then I'm not sure what you're asking sorry

[spice wyvern]

its alr

im just looking for more schools that does this

[scarlet plume]

does anyone know when jack kent cooke comes out

[tired yarrow]

I think it says on the website, but I think it's sometime in March?

[scarlet plume]

oh no i meant the semi finalists

like the next phase

[tired yarrow]

Wait, I didn't even think of that my bad....

I'll check when I look at my laptop

[tired yarrow]

Looking at past data, it's looking like the last week of January?

[zinc terrace]

@tired yarrow omg cornell is now a qb partner

[tired yarrow]

STOP 😭 they'll never know how much I risked...

[tired yarrow]

I can't believe they saw my application after I mentioned being a finalist and now want in on qb...

[zinc terrace]

you convinced them

[tired yarrow]

Noway

[tired yarrow]

Also, congrats on mod!! 🥳

[zinc terrace]

TY

[royal gorge]

Lmaoooo

Congrats on essentially being the first class of Questies at Cornell tho

Retroactively becoming part of the QuestBridge scholars network 🔥

[royal gorge]

Also yeah congrats on mod!

No more Orange tho 😔 RIP

[zinc terrace]

green is the new orange

[tired yarrow]

My power... It's far too strong

[brisk spindle]

Is there a possibility of Harvard joining QB like at all?

[scarlet plume]

maybe cause cornell joining was super out of left field

[brisk spindle]

Imagine they join after I've applied 😞

[visual walrus]

probs unlikely but less unlikely than back then

[brisk spindle]

Do they have a reason for not joining or is it just their preference?

[visual walrus]

something along the lines of the money spent using QB services could be better applied to actually providing more money to students who need it via financial aid packages

this was way back in 2008 but good points made: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2008/10/15/overlooking-questbridge-applicants-merema-m-ahmed/

[brisk spindle]

Omg, they have to pay to use QB?

[visual walrus]

it's probs just service fees but basically

[brisk spindle]

Makes sense but dang. I think QB is fine as long as ppl don't feel pressured to match or be a finalist since QB regular is still an option

[hallow crane]

thing is, its as if qb doesnt want u to know that

they push "full ride to a great college" SOOO much

to the point that kids think its the ONLY way

speaking abt what ive seen on the qb group

someone said they chose to do the match cus its a full ride and they cant afford school without ut

but they wouldve gotten the same package ed'ing or rd'ing to that same school

[brisk spindle]

True, I'm personally matching because of my status in the country since colleges have different ideas on that

[tired yarrow]

I know some people don't have an EFC (or I guess SAI now....) of ≤0 so it might change their package a little? But even then it's very unlikely and those school usually don't let people apply in the first place for match

[visual walrus]

i dont think that this is the majority. i think ppl's reason will vary but most still have reasons to do the ncm outside of this.

1. basically ED to multiple schools <- most useful to those with many, genuine school interests
2. free application
3. one application but up to 15 school
4. very, very early decision
5. serves as a motivator for students to get a headstart
6. timeline can be accommodating to seniors with light schedules during the start of the year
7. more space to discuss personal circumstances than the other mainstream applications

[tired yarrow]

It's pretty insincere that they don't try to reassure you during QBRD that the packages will be the same, but I guess they can't make that guarantee, so instead they say something like "great aid packages" I can't quite remember right now since it's been a while

[visual walrus]

i agree. it may seem discouraging to not be selected as a finalist. tho, it's important to know that the whole finalist status is just a pre-screening process directly done by QB. many ppl who don't get selected as a finalist are still pretty successful in admission processes.

[hallow crane]

but almost all of those are also part of qbrd

[hallow crane]

yeah thats what i hate

they say "generous aid" but for ncm say "full scholarship"

it just seems misleading

[tired yarrow]

That's the one

Yeah, it's deliberate for sure

[hallow crane]

i personally had no idea i could get a full ride from somewhere without qb until i got into a2c

[tired yarrow]

But at the same time, I don't think they can make the guarantee

[visual walrus]

i think that's just because of technicality with each college since students admitted in RD aren't always guaranteed full-rides.

[hallow crane]

thing is, ncm isnt actually a full scholarship 😭

[visual walrus]

you might be very likely to receive a full-ride scholarship but not always.

[hallow crane]

theres still work study

and other stuff like student contributions

[visual walrus]

it really varies across universities

financial aid policies at schools are different everywhere

[hallow crane]

ncm only guarantees no parent contribution

[tired yarrow]

Work study is basically extra money from what my sister said, you don't have to work if you don't want to, and I don't think my package has me paying student contribution

But of course it works differently at different schools and I'm going to Cornell

[visual walrus]

it's a number to help off-set your own expenses (indirect costs)

[hallow crane]

im not sure how work study works, ik for harvard, fafsa eliminates my work study

not sure if that means they just give me 3.5k per year or what

[tired yarrow]

Yeah, no student contribution (which is strange since I saw someone in the Cornell server say that it's impossible to get away from paying at least 1.5k student contribution) but it's just an estimate

[royal gorge]

They pay $3500 for each student placed

In the grand scheme of things not a lot tbh especially for Harvard

The amount of QB students placed at each institution is usually just two digits at most

So ngl Hahvahd using that specifically as the excuse to not partner with QB doesn't make much sense

[brisk spindle]

It literally doesn't with the amount of money they have

[visual walrus]

wait where did u get the number from

there just has to be fees outside of a commission-like fee by matches bc of the application reading, finalist screening, etc. plus, very many qb applicants still apply to harvard regardless.

i do think that their stance is flawed but some are still pretty valid

[royal gorge]

Who Gets In and Why, the book by Jeffrey Selingo

[royal gorge]

Fair

Still just feels like a bit of a troll tho ngl

[untold raptor]

as somebody who’s said some blatantly anti-QB things both here and IRL before, I think its important to recognize that QB both is slightly misleading and also helps a lot of people attain opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have been aware of

[hallow crane]

yeah i agree w that

i wouldve never thought abt applying to harvard if i was never a CPS

[untold raptor]

like, Is it true that you’d get virtually the same aid package at a school like Yale regardless of how you get in? yeah.

is it true that QB puts a little too much emphasis on early rounds? I’d argue yes

but they still do good stuff

[zinc terrace]

QB does a good job encouraging fgli kids to apply to reaches but it overemphasizes the need to apply early

[royal gorge]

Tbf iirc a big reason why they emphasize that is 'cause most scholarship applications come after usual college applications so FGLI kids have to take a gamble on where they gotta go

You could also make the argument that the existence of QB and its influence on colleges on increasing their FGLI accessibility also helps FGLI kids even if they don't necessarily go through the QB process

[zinc terrace]

true

QB is great its just the kids that end up not thinking carefully about the match that get fucked over

[royal gorge]

Yeah 😭

The fact that they tuck QBRD in the back of their website doesn't help

[zinc terrace]

the non-finalist section is literally buried deep

like they dont want you to know you can still do qbrd lol

[royal gorge]

It's odd how much they de-emphasize that honestly

Like, what sort of pressures are going on behind the scenes to make 'em do that?

Colleges putting pressure? Something else? Who knows

[zinc terrace]

maybe themselves cuz they make money off of finalists

[untold raptor]

yes

this

literally this

But I’d be remiss to not mention that there’s still a pretty healthy debate about the benefits and detriments of ED

[scarlet plume]

this is true

why even do qb if ur low income ull get a ful ride

and thru qb u have to pay part of ur savings?

soo overall a no for me

[scarlet plume]

yeah ncm being due in september is wild

i was still trying to navigate the college process and def wouldn't be ready then

[royal gorge]

No that's not unique to QB

The finaid packages, as far as I know, are the same between the match scholarship and being admitted through other means (*though iirc by agreement with QB, match scholarships must cover all four years, not subject to fluctuations in income)

Most colleges expect some sort of student contribution which you usually get through work

They usually don't bill you for that money tho iirc, it's for your own personal expenses

Some colleges don't ask for that student contribution or have some means for reducing that contribution to 0

[royal gorge]

Imo the appeal of QB is the QB application itself and the whole QB Match + QBRD process

I certainly liked the QB app more than the common app at least

The QuestBridge application has far more space to explain your circumstances, which is important for low income kids, and just in general more space to really show who you are in the app

[royal gorge]

Yeah there's a dual edged sword there with it being so early

NCM being so early allows you to get your decisions super early, and because everything is automatically deferred if you don't match, you automatically get a second and sometimes even a third chance for QB partner colleges

There's also the peer support within the QB community else

And QBRD is actually fire

There's no restrictions and you can go as wild as you want

I do think it is a problem though that a lot of kids end up getting subpar QB apps compared to their common app because of how early it is

It gets locked in so early, so if you weren't able a good QB application you can get 😬

The compressed timeline also hurts for supps

Especially since QB doesn't seem to be doing anything to curb the amount of colleges kids put on their match list

That leads to lower quality supps which just hurt more

IMO the QB process can be incredibly helpful if you're able to take advantage of it, but it can kinda screw you if you don't approach it in the right way

It really is a problem how much enphasis QB puts on the Match specifically though

Listing just your top choices in the match round + Applying QBRD to the rest of your colleges is the play imo

There's always the option of carrying on with your Common App too

Working on the QB app early potentially helps you structure a better common app than otherwise

QB, especially the match, isn't the end all be all but it somewhat presents itself to be that way

In reality it's just another route that can potentially help you a lot, in addition to the other routes that you have

But QB doesn't do a good job of making kids aware of that, though there are some tidbits about that here and there, so kids just get locked completely onto the QB process (even though they dont have to), which could potentially be 😬 if they entered the process with an app that could've been better if not for the early timeline

I suppose the early timeline also gives a chance to pivot to other options though

Just in general while QB has some problems, imo it's still a great option that can do wonders for you if you approach the process with a healthy amount of caution and preparation

[frail creek]

Exactly how long do you get to fill the apps? Because if I do put only my top choices during match, won’t I still be risking bad work considering it’s time frame😭

I’m so confused by this process LMAO

[royal gorge]

You get two weeks from finalist announcements to the match requirements due date, but you can start working on your supps beforehand, and especially do that for your top choices

[frail creek]

Ohhh how do we have access to them beforehand? Are they online?

[royal gorge]

Tbh though two weeks is enough time to get good enough supps unless you apply to like 228828282 schools

[frail creek]

LMAO true true

I was thinking like 3-5

It’s also due on my birthday??😭

[royal gorge]

Yeah 3-5 is a good plan

[frail creek]

(Is this good luck??!🥰)

[royal gorge]

Take advantage of QBRD after to shotgun 🔥

Or use QB experience to write a fire common app

[royal gorge]

They're usually the same as the college's regular supplemental essays

Some colleges ask for all of their regular supplemental essays, some ask for only a few of them, some don't ask for any supplemental essays through QuestBridge

[frail creek]

QB experience as in CPS?

Ohh ok bet

Imagine I write them all and they don’t want any of them

[royal gorge]

Kinda, but just submitting the QB app itself

[frail creek]

That would be the worst birthday gift☺️☺️

[royal gorge]

It's due in September, which is waaaay before most common app deadlines

[frail creek]

Ohh ic

[royal gorge]

And ofc after you've written a QB application you'd do better on writing your common app

It's just practice

[royal gorge]

Some colleges are better at documenting what supps you need to do tho 💀

[frail creek]

HAHAHA

I’ll look out for that

[royal gorge]

Yale makes it clear what essays QB kids to need to write on their website

[frail creek]

As they should

[royal gorge]

I wrote JHU's supplemental essays even though they don't even ask for supps for QB apps

:/

That's the painful part

[frail creek]

Aaaa man

[royal gorge]

But just generally if you work on your supps before the due date you'll be fine

[frail creek]

Icic

Thank you for the help!!

[royal gorge]

Just in general you can't really procrastinate college apps, at least not for your main app

Make ample preparations and exercise a healthy amount of caution and you'll be fine

Start your application sometime in the summer before senior year and ideally have it mostly drafted out by the start of the semester

So you have time to make your drafts not terrible

[frail creek]

Oh yeah i think I wrote a rough draft already

But it’s like a REALLY rough draft

[royal gorge]

Because you will become better at writing and spotting application mistakes after you do more research

[frail creek]

Because I needed a similar thing for bovard scholars

YEAHH

[royal gorge]

So just take the extra time to refine your app

[frail creek]

through these summer programs I feel like I’ve become a better writer

[royal gorge]

Don't go insane over it though

[frail creek]

I’ve already gone insane don’t worry

[royal gorge]

Like, it is possible to overedit

So just be mindful

[royal gorge]

True

You'll feel the improvement through the course of senior year too

I don't wanna even think of my first drafts they sucked so much 💀

[frail creek]

HAHAHA mine prob is trash rn too

emphasis on the rough ROUGH draft

I need to go study for my physics midterm but thank u for the help I really appreciate it😭

I’ll prob bother you again later

[royal gorge]

🫡

Gl

[scarlet plume]

Yeah tbh

You don’t need much time to even apply to college

I hate when people say it took forever and the process was hard and stuff

I applied to 30 schools including 19 on the common app and didn’t need to sell my soul

[brisk spindle]

I think the process is a little harder for those who are first gen or immigrants and aren't entirely familiar with the system.
When it comes to college apps, in my opinion, it's more about planning and preparing. As long as you can get some drafts down and write a list of ecs and other things you think might be important, then yeah it shouldn't take too much time

[scarlet plume]

I’m first gen, parents are immigrants lol

I had barely any help and still got stuff done

It definitely is about planning but beyond that it’s not the hardest thing

[brisk spindle]

I'd say it becomes a little harder due to the financial aid process

It's not just the application itself, it's everything that goes into it. Some get deterred and even discouraged due to their status in the country which can make things harder

[scarlet plume]

yeah ofc

Even being low income and having to request aid as a us student has its obstacles

I’d honestly say looking for scholarships has been more time consuming than college apps

[brisk spindle]

Yup, and I have a very limited amount of scholarships I can apply to

[scarlet plume]

Oh why is that?

There’s a ton of scholarships out there I can send you a list of the merit based ones that I applied to

[brisk spindle]

Unfortunately not a citizen nor legal which makes things a bit tricky

[scarlet plume]

oh, I’m so sorry that sucks

[brisk spindle]

Yeah, praying for that QB match

[scarlet plume]

ahhh hope it works out

Definitely apply for college prep scholars

And check to make sure all of your scholarships allow you to apply as undocumented

I’m sure there are some out there but it will be hard

[brisk spindle]

Already started working on QB CPS thankfully

[scarlet plume]

Oh great!! Yeah def work on it and spend a lot of time with essays, keep up your grade

And also if your school district has a foundation or rotary club look into those scholarships

Look into local scholarships definitely those don’t tend to have citizenship policies

[brisk spindle]

Yeah, thanks for the advice! Yeah my district has its own scholarship but sadly they have a citizenship requirement

They require legal residency so that sucks

[scarlet plume]

Oh 😭 I know Jack Kent Cooke doesn’t have a citizenship requirement!

Yeah that does

Could you possibly get daca?

[brisk spindle]

Really? I thought they did

[brisk spindle]

I think daca stopped a few years ago so I'm out of luck

[scarlet plume]

Yeah you’re good! They don’t.

Oh my bad

[brisk spindle]

It's all good. Hopefully laws change soon or I'll just marry someone

Or move to a diff country after college

[scarlet plume]

And also, here’s a list of some undocumented scholarships

And apply to schools that are full need met and hopefully no loan, and do as best as you can in school so you can get more scholarships

Seriously, cannot overstate that enough.

[brisk spindle]

Thank you so much! ♥️

[scarlet plume]

And definitely apply ED2 if you like a school enough that is accommodating to your situation!!

[scarlet plume]

No problem!!! Happy to help!!

[brisk spindle]

Yup loving Emory for their new no-loan policy

[scarlet plume]

that’s great! The no loans thing is amazing!

[brisk spindle]

Luckily I'm ranking Emory as 1 on QB so hopefully I match there

[scarlet plume]

Good decision !!

Hope it works out for you next year

[brisk spindle]

Thank you! I hope everything you need works out for you as well!

[scarlet plume]

forgot to say some state schools in certain states allow for undocumented students to be considered as domestic students. Same with some private schools. Definitely check if your state is on that list

[brisk spindle]

Georgia isn't on that list unfortunately 😭

[scarlet plume]

awww I’m so sorry 😭😭

[frail creek]

hey! if possible, could you send me the list of scholarships? thank you :)

[scarlet plume]

Forgot will send

[frail creek]

thank u sm!!

[brisk spindle]

Can students whose family's income is over 65k still apply?

[hallow crane]

yes but u need special circumstances

like if u have a big fam or smth

[brisk spindle]

Oof that's not the case for my friend unfortunately, I really wanted her to be able to apply

[hallow crane]

whats her yearly income

if shes around 65 then its fine but if shes like 100k then no

[brisk spindle]

Like around 90-95k

[hallow crane]

ok yeah prolly not

[brisk spindle]

Well she has a twin so will they consider that?

[hallow crane]

is her family greater than 5 people

like in her house

[brisk spindle]

Well her parents are divorced so no. it's just her, her twin, mom and brother so 4 ppl

[hallow crane]

then yeah she prolly wouldnt be accepted but anyone can apply

[brisk spindle]

Ah, they'd probably end up favoring a student with lower income then. I'll just recommend her more scholarships instead

[zinc terrace]

try posse

its not need based but still a full ride

[brisk spindle]

Posse?

[zinc terrace]

yeah its like qb

[brisk spindle]

Okay tysm

[scarlet plume]

QB cps is harder afaik but ncm might be easier for them @brisk spindle

My friend’s family made around 150k and she became a finalist

[hallow crane]

how tf

do they have extenuating circumstances

[scarlet plume]

Idk

[brisk spindle]

She already decided not to try so I recommended posse to her since her family doesn't really have any extenuating circumstances or anything to make up for the high income

[scarlet plume]

oh yeah posse is great too!! Also QB only has 5 ec slots which can be a con for some people

I opted out of QB bc of that and bc it’s so so competitive (not to mention parents weren’t ok with ranking) 😂

[brisk spindle]

Yeah the whole 5 ECs thing made me a bit sad but it's not like mine are anything out of this world so it's eh

I'm applying to schools outside of QB too so regardless of match or not I'll still have some schools early action to consider

[scarlet plume]

That’s great!! Yes if you are trying to maximize aid try and apply to as many schools as possible

I wish I didn’t do common app bc of the limit, coalition has no limit though!

[brisk spindle]

I'm ranking 7 schools on QB and I'll probably reapply rd if I don't get matched(which I will jk unless)

[scarlet plume]

ah that’s great! good luck to you

[brisk spindle]

Tyy! You too!

[fresh cipher]

whos applying to cps?

[brisk spindle]

Me!

[leaden ridge]

me, haven't started writing yet 😭

[brisk spindle]

Does anyone know what day CPS usually opens in Feb?

[leaden ridge]

^ id like to know as well

[fresh cipher]

yay only 2 ppl are applying. hopefully we get in

[zinc terrace]

yh a2c tends to not have that many qb kids

but a lot of ppl do apply to qb

[fresh cipher]

ik i was manifesting

[dusty elbow]

questbridge is awesome

good luck to you 2 💖

[fresh cipher]

anyone willing to help me out with my application?

[brisk spindle]

Is it true that if you don't do prep scholars you're less likely to get in as a QB finalist?

[zinc terrace]

not true I got rejected cps and still became a finalist

[brisk spindle]

What if you don't want to do CPS?

[zinc terrace]

i dont really think it matters tbh

my friends who did do cps said it was kinda useless

mostly just a networking thing

[brisk spindle]

Oh, then there's no point

Not no point but I'd rather just point all my effort into NCM if it's just networking

[dusty elbow]

i would be very willing!!

[errant spoke]

it’s still a valuable award and it forces you to write some of the ncm essays

you can also apply to summer programs with your cps application which can also be pretty valuable

[brisk spindle]

I'm already working on the NCM essays since I have the prompts for everything. And I'm doing DE classes+a summer program so I'm already feeling stretched a bit thin

[hallow crane]

its still a great thing to do

theres scholarships and summer programs available

lets u meet a lot of ppl

[brisk spindle]

True, but I think I'd rather focus on the real thing, y'know? Esp with having to write so much in a short amount of time id rather start now and focus on that, plus I'm not too worried about scholarships

[hallow crane]

if ur alrdy writing ncm why not do cps as well though

[errant spoke]

^

[hallow crane]

the prompts are very similar

[brisk spindle]

Stress 🤷🏽

[errant spoke]

if you don’t do the summer programs then you can still get the award

[hallow crane]

and it will let u see what the qb app is like

[brisk spindle]

Yeah, I wanted to do it beginning of the year but too many things keep piling up for me and I just decided that focusing on NCM is better, taking my time and refining my essays and everything else I have to deal with

[zinc terrace]

applying to cps still helped me as I took my cps essays and refined them for my ncm essays

also cps essays gave me a draft for my caps

[brisk spindle]

Yeah that's what I plan on using CPS for and also as a basis for ncm

[tired yarrow]

For me, CPS was helpful because I didn't need to fill out 80% of the information other than the essays since the applications transfer the information over, so it shaved off a lot of time there and writing CPS essays gave me a good idea and early practice about what I should be doing when writing college essays, I think the difference between my CPS essays and NCM essays are day and night, and I know my essays wouldn't have been as good if I hadn't done CPS

[leaden ridge]

for qb personal statement about "circumstances in which you grow up," are they specifically asking for you to write about being low income?

[royal gorge]

The QB prompt is so vague you can honestly write just about anything but that is one way you can go about it yes

https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/student-resource-center/applying-for-college/writing-essays

[brisk spindle]

So it transfers financial info over automatically?

[tired yarrow]

Yup, I would just check to make sure everything is up to date before checking the box at the bottom that basically says you acknowledge that you've read the information above and it's correct

[brisk spindle]

Alright, but I just moved so I don't think my teachers know enough about me to give a proper recommendation, like they've literally told me it will be as generic as chatgpt

[tired yarrow]

Like for example, my parents switched businesses during the middle of NCM, so I had to add a little section about how my parents were switching businesses and finances might change but they should stay relatively the same

[brisk spindle]

Makes sense but about the recommendation

[tired yarrow]

That sucks, I know my sister told my parents that we couldn't move while she was in high school because it'll mess up applications, but I never considered the recommedation aspect, I was just thinking about things like extracurriculars and transcripts

[tired yarrow]

You might want to get in touch with the teachers at your old school if you feel like you have a better connection with them, that's what I did when I needed recommendation letters in middle school for a program and I just moved to a new school

I think QuestBridge might also mention something about wanting a recommender from a core subject from 10th/11th grade in NCM since you need two recommenders for NCM, so it wouldn't hurt to get in touch with some of your older teachers to see if they would be willing to write a recommendation for you

[brisk spindle]

Yeah I also can't do any of my ECs anymore not just cause of moving but lack of transportation

[brisk spindle]

I hope so, cause one of my old teachers already quit and left.

[tired yarrow]

You can mention that on the application that you don't have any modes of transports so your ecs are limited to things you can do at home

[tired yarrow]

I'm not surprised, a lot of teachers have been quitting recently, but if you really wanted that teacher as a recommender you could always ask one of your recommenders that knew that teacher if they still keep in contact with that teacher and if they could ask them if they're willing to write a recommendation (but be prepared for it to be a no, it'll probably be pretty unlikely that the teacher would say yes and the person/recommender asking might not feel comfortable to ask such a thing but it doesn't hurt to try)

[brisk spindle]

No he's like gone, he was a teacher that didn't like his colleagues 😭

[tired yarrow]

OH

Sorry, my jaw literally dropped whoops.... I guess he's off the table for recommenders....

[brisk spindle]

Yeah he left and is working in IT now 😭

[brisk spindle]

Yup, I really wanted to ask my cybersecurity teacher tho but he's not a core teacher

[tired yarrow]

For CPS, does it need to be a core teacher? I don't remember, I just know for NCM you need at least one core teacher from 10/11th

[brisk spindle]

Mkay, I think my biggest fear is that I wanted to do the award prompts since one of them came with a possibility of getting to do Pomona research institute completely free(like they'd pay it for you) but I have too much on my plate and it'd be scary if I actually got accepted

[tired yarrow]

You can cross that bridge when you get to it, don't worry too much about whether you have too much on your plate at the moment because you can always decline if you do get accepted

[brisk spindle]

Omg really? I thought you couldn't decline or that it'd look really bad if you did

[tired yarrow]

I don't think they ask for an explanation or anything if you do decline, I think they just assume it's conflicting since a lot of people who do CPS also apply to summer programs with scholarships that have their decision dates released around the same time as CPS and those programs might conflict dates so if you're accepted to both you have to decline one of them, if you do decline I think they just offer the award to someone else

[brisk spindle]

Oh, cool

[leaden ridge]

thank you for the response! Would you personally recommend it?

[royal gorge]

It really does depend on you

If your experience as a low income kid has been integral to shaping who you are a person, then it'd probably be a good essay

If another topic can better reveal who you are, then it'd be better to write about that

[leaden ridge]

is the personal statement for cps 650 or 800 words?

[zinc terrace]

650 for cps and 800 for ncm

[leaden ridge]

noooooooooooooooo 😭

thank you!

[leaden ridge]

can you bold and italicize on qb essays?

[tired yarrow]

I don't think so? It could be me misremembering, but most college application programs don't support bold, italics, underlines, etc. (also indents) so it's just easier to adjust your style of writing to account for the lack of visual emphasis, i.e. you have to be smarter about creating emphasis through other means

Sometimes that means you use emdashes, other times it could be a short sentence in between long ones, or you could even isolate a line as a single "paragraph" to show emphasis, it's kind of neat if you think about it because it just forces you to use the structure of your essay more creatively and in some ways I think college essays are closer poems

[leaden ridge]

ty!

[fluid vapor]

Most actually do allow for it. I'm able to italicize, underline, and bold on Common App.

[tired yarrow]

My bad then, I used a lot of application programs for scholarships that didn't allow me to do any of that 😭

[dusty elbow]

college prep scholar is now open

crazy

[brisk spindle]

Open and so long

[leaden ridge]

and no personal statement :O

[hallow crane]

there is personal statement

650 words for cps i believe

[leaden ridge]

the application opened yesterday, and we only have two writing exercises of 25 and 75 words each

[hallow crane]

are you sure

[hallow crane]

theres more lol

but ur right, no PS this year

seems like they added an optional video instead

[still berry]

damn

what is cps

[leaden ridge]

whoops I didn’t click the box to proceed 😅

[hallow crane]

college prep scholars

precursor to national college match

[leaden ridge]

I kinda wanted the personal statement

[still berry]

ncm is qb right?

[hallow crane]

yes

both are qb

[still berry]

ah

[hallow crane]

you'll write one next year anyway

and u can do a similar thing in ur essays and video

just shorter

[brisk spindle]

Way shorter not what I was expecting at all tbh, kinda sad now ngl

But I just started and my teacher can't even add our school on her recommendation form 😭

[dusty elbow]

whaaaaaattt

they totally changed the prompts

[brisk spindle]

Yeah it's so much shorter now which I actually find annoying ugh

[leaden ridge]

me too, a little. I had prepared for the personal statement a bit

[brisk spindle]

Same, but I am wondering why they changed it so much

[leaden ridge]

yeah, I would have liked to write a personal statement draft so I could start somewhere in ncm

[brisk spindle]

I just started anyway bc oh well. Really sucks cause I was hoping to use what I wrote for prep Scholar in my common app

[leaden ridge]

gl!! i hope you get selected for cps :D

[brisk spindle]

You too!

[still berry]

@royal gorge hi im curious so mit is the only non binding qb partner right? isn't that just basically regular mit ea? what are the advantages of doing it through qb rather than ea (apart from like an earlier decision)

also can you do qb match along with other eas through common app?

[royal gorge]

Yeah MIT is the only non-binding QB partner

Stanford, Yale, and Princeton used to be non-binding too but they dropped that for whatever reason

[royal gorge]

Technically the QB round is a separate round from EA

Some kids, ironically, don't get in on the QB Match round and end up getting deferred to EA

I actually do know some MIT questies who actually ended up getting in EA that way lmao

Usually it happens because QB has some restrictions in the match round that prevent them from matching with kids they'd like to admit (i.e EFC is just slightly over 0)

There's also the chance of getting deferred to EA and then RD, and then maybe even waitlisted 💀

Tbh I really do wonder if anyone's actually gotten the double defer into waitlist into acceptance route once

[still berry]

ok but why does mit participate in qb then? like for other schools match is a way to increase yield rates bcuz like if you match you have to go right

[royal gorge]

'Cause they like QB's goal and they participate because it allows them to connect with FGLI applicants that they may not have gotten otherwise? 😭

[still berry]

ah okay

[royal gorge]

It's not that cynical

[still berry]

no im just curious 😭

[royal gorge]

As for the advantages

The first one is as I've already mentioned

You get more chances

The QB match round is an additional opportunity with EA and RD

[still berry]

hmm idk about double defer from qb but i know a friend who got deferred rea then waitlisted then rejected stanford which was surprising to me bcuz of their final decision policy 💀

[royal gorge]

And the second is that you get to use the QB app in place of the MIT app

[still berry]

ohhh right qb app gives you more space for stuff right

[royal gorge]

The MIT app is very restrictive in comparison

[royal gorge]

Yeah it's also designed with FGLI kids in mind

So there's a lot of opportunities to explain additional info

[still berry]

thats nice yeah makes sense why mit uses qb

[royal gorge]

But just in general the added space is welcome

Allows you to express yourself more

Comes at the expense of EC description spaces tho

[still berry]

you have a lot of short answers like 100 words stuff right? is everything compulsory or is it just optional if you wanna explain more?

[royal gorge]

That'd normally be a problem but ngl MIT already has a 4 EC cap so it's not like QB's 5 EC cap is much different

💀

[still berry]

4 ec cap wtf 💀

5 ec cap is also 💀 do you have a lot of words to describe tho?

because you could just club together stuff

[royal gorge]

100 characters

💀

[still berry]

💀 💀 💀

do you have ec essays?

[royal gorge]

There are four essays and like ten short responses of varying lengths, yes (about 35 words)

[still berry]

all mandatory?

[royal gorge]

Those are compulsory yeah

There's an additional info box in basically every section tho ngl

💀

[still berry]

oh thats nice

[royal gorge]

I fear just how big a QB app could get if you exhausted all the additional info

[royal gorge]

Yeah, there's one question about ECs (short tho)

[still berry]

i mean its there for a reason right to explain circumstances and stuff

[royal gorge]

But you can choose to describe ecs in the other essays

[still berry]

so even if its big itll be necessary

[still berry]

ah fair

well thanks for answering my questions! are you practically committed to mit or would your parents prefer something closer like stanford or idk caltech?

[royal gorge]

Tbh I really love the QB app, but I suppose it really depends on your individual profile

[still berry]

fair

[royal gorge]

Pretty much committed tbh I don't even think they like Stanford that much

[still berry]

you didnt use common app at all right lol

[still berry]

damn 💀

[royal gorge]

And they don't even know about Caltech

[still berry]

why the stanford hate rip

[royal gorge]

💀

[royal gorge]

It's moreso they're ambivalent

[royal gorge]

I did common app to throw out a few Longshot apps lmao

[still berry]

lol

[royal gorge]

Didn't really put any effort into my apps there tho so I fully expect to get nothing

Actually wait I did use common app for one thing before QB

I applied to the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship through the Common App

[still berry]

asu?

ah

[royal gorge]

It was like the only thing I used common app for until December 💀

[still berry]

if you get an external scholarship, does that negate your aid package from mit?

[royal gorge]

I believe so

[still berry]

ahh okay

[royal gorge]

But I already get full aid so 💀

Doesn't really matter

[royal gorge]

I dunno how I got semifinalist for Jack Kent Cooke tbh

My Common App was hot garbage

[still berry]

lol no yeah i wanted to know if like an external scholarship would be additional money? to use for travel and stuff

or does mit pay for your travel

[still berry]

cracked moment

[royal gorge]

They include travel expenses for aid yes

[still berry]

v cool

[royal gorge]

My CAPS wasn't even at the word limit 💀
I reused my QB 500 word essay and couldn't bother to add more to reach the word limit

Frankly my app was just hot garbage

[still berry]

💀 💀 💀

[royal gorge]

I conjecture that maybe my LORs really helped me there cause no way in hell my common app Essays/ECs got me Jack Kent Cooke

[still berry]

was it the tomato one

[royal gorge]

Or maybe the bar was just really low 💀

[royal gorge]

Nah it was a more serious essay

[still berry]

do you have the usual recommenders for qb btw? or do you have extra ones to talk more about circumstances?

[still berry]

rip tomato was goated

[royal gorge]

Same recommenders

Tbh QB really helped me since it forced to ask for LORs early

The flood of kids asking for LORs in November was insane 💀

[still berry]

lol

my friend did her lors and transcripts day before deadline

messed them up

had to do it the next day

teachers were busy

she cried

one teacher (who wasn't a recommender or counselor) took pity on her and demanded the other teachers finish asap

[royal gorge]

That's actually so sad 😭

[still berry]

i mean its her fault she procrastinated 💀

the lors were ready, the teachers just didnt know where or how to upload, and she procrastinated till the end to actually upload it

[royal gorge]

OK ngl at that's just her fault at that point for not giving them basic instructions 💀

[still berry]

yeah

we're intl so they haven't done this much

[royal gorge]

Wdym by this question btw

[still berry]

can i rank mit stanford penn for qb match but also apply ea to like usc scu uchicago on my common app?

[royal gorge]

Uhh, USC yes, the others no unless SCU has ea scholarships

It's basically an ED agreement for the match

[still berry]

oh so qb match is kinda like rea?

yeah but even with ed you can EA random privates

i know its binding but i mean rea in the sense that you can't ea other privates

you can still ea publics tho right?

[royal gorge]

Yes as long as it's nonbinding

[still berry]

ahhhh

[royal gorge]

Schools with scholarships that need an EA application are exempt, "home state public" colleges are also exempt

Rolling too ofc

[still berry]

oh not oos public?

[royal gorge]

I have no idea

https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/early-application-policy

If the OOS public has EA scholarships tho then that's probably allowed

[still berry]

oh ok

tysmm

[leaden ridge]

for ncm, will colleges see what order applicants rank them in?

[brisk spindle]

I don't think so, I think only QB knows not the colleges

[dusty elbow]

nope

[leaden ridge]

ty!

[brisk spindle]

Should I explain in addtl Info why I haven't taken many AP classes? By senior I will have maybe 5-6 total. I've heard that having a lower amount of AP classes is typically looked down upon

[zinc terrace]

if you have a valid reason go for it but also just know that if your school doesnt offer that many or has restrictions they wont hold it against you

[brisk spindle]

My school has like 20 😭 but yeah I do have a genuine reason for not taking so much

[leaden ridge]

on the CPS application, should I write my grade as A+ if it was 97 or higher? My school doesn't do A+ and my grade is shown as an A on my transcript

[brisk spindle]

Yeah, I do A+ for anything that's a 96+

[brisk spindle]

Has anyone done the pioneer research program through QB CPS?

[frail creek]

guys why did the cps app change sm 😭

i thought it was supposed to be almost the same as the ncm one

[brisk spindle]

Did you see the email where they said its supposed to be more interactive? I just hope they don't end up changing ncm or I might end it all 💀

[frail creek]

oh im already shedding tears

i genuinely think the universe hates class of 2025

why is everything changing???

[brisk spindle]

No cause this is so real even universities are starting to think of going back to test required like why

[frail creek]

YEAH

DARTMOOUTH

[brisk spindle]

I'm so done my scores are so not it because I'm truly horrible at sat tests like ughhh

[frail creek]

me too omg...

not even in the bottom 25% of my dream college

[brisk spindle]

I'm not even anywhere near the score range like I'm so far below

Ugh the only thing that makes this worthwhile is that I'm doing it for the pioneer program

[frail creek]

ooo ic

i wanted to do it for the practice but it changed so...

[brisk spindle]

Yeah I was going to use it as my common app if I got in but oh well

But pioneer research program is still really helpful and nice but so hard to get into

[frail creek]

maybe we'll get through this together 😔 😔

[brisk spindle]

But imagine if NCM changes and they shorten it to like 650

[brisk spindle]

Fingers crossed that we can 🤞🏽

[leaden ridge]

I’d be so sad 😭

[brisk spindle]

Same esp since I don't have like out of this world ecs or test scores

[leaden ridge]

me neither 😭

[frail creek]

maybe we can make a server or gc to help eachother out💀💀

[leaden ridge]

a cps server would be cool :O

[frail creek]

we can make a gc for now🤞🤞

[brisk spindle]

Ooh I'd love that

[karmic mountain]

There is a Questbridge discord sevrrr

[brisk spindle]

Wait fr? What is it?

[karmic mountain]

I’ll dm

[brisk spindle]

Okay

[frail creek]

Can u dm it to me too? Thank you!

[karmic mountain]

Ok

[leaden ridge]

sorry can I also get the server link?

[karmic mountain]

Yes

[fresh cipher]

hey can u dm me the link as well

[karmic mountain]

Yes, I dm’d

[royal gorge]

Finally got my sticker 💀

[dusty elbow]

i put mine on my school chromebook

[karmic mountain]

How, I got that mail like a month ago

😭

[royal gorge]

We ain't checked the mail for all that time

[karmic mountain]

😭😭😭

[leaden ridge]

if I apply to two summer camps through CPS, will one of them be able to see the essay that I wrote for the other one?

[zinc terrace]

no they send the specific essays to each program

they dont see all of them

[leaden ridge]

okay thank you!

[leaden ridge]

will the summer programs see the rest of my cps application?

[vital slate]

how are yalls essays going

im lowk struggling with the 200 word limits😭

[zinc terrace]

omg good luck to all of you cps kids

[brisk spindle]

Right? Especially those character limits like I hate it
But at the same time, the higher the word limit the more it stresses me out bc then I feel like I have to fill it

[vital slate]

reall! its just so much pressure to describe your life in like 2 paragraphs

[brisk spindle]

It makes me feel like I have to just go straight to the point which might actually be the point I think

[vital slate]

true, but i don't wanna sound TOO "hey look at me i struggle" theres just not enough room for presenting the words in a pretty way

interesting prompts tho

[brisk spindle]

Right? I love taking my time crafting my words but this time I have to cut it all out and just be really straightforward

[vital slate]

yupp makes me realize i tend to be a little vague in my writing

[brisk spindle]

The one about asking yourself the question is the only interesting one imo

[vital slate]

yeah, but its also a lot of pressure cuz if we choose to change our prompt we have to restart our answer too

[graceful flume]

I need some feedback on my essays/written portions of the test

[brisk spindle]

True

[brisk spindle]

I can look but I doubt I'd be much help

[graceful flume]

Okay, I'll send them later

[brisk spindle]

Okay!

[tired yarrow]

My biggest struggle because I love writing poems and prose so I had to relearn how to write for college and how to set up a "narrative" rather than just leave it a vague mess of feelings and impressions

[graceful flume]

Wait I can't send images in the channel

[brisk spindle]

You can just DM it to me

[graceful flume]

Alright

[vital summit]

How much would be considered low-income for a family of five? Ik it’s 65,000 for a family of four, which is 16,250 per person, so would it be 81,250 for a family of five?

[brisk spindle]

You can email and ask but I think they do make allowances for those with bigger families

[lusty willow]

do they check your parents education status for college prep scholars

also what year’s tax form are they gonna ask for

if any of y’all know.

[brisk spindle]

They ask on the application about your parents' educations

[lusty willow]

do they verify it is what i’m asking

[brisk spindle]

No, you just put it down. They're not going to like run a check on them or anything

[lusty willow]

thx

and do u know anything ab what tax form they’re gonna ask for

like which year’s salary should i put down

[tired yarrow]

I think it should be either 2022 or 2023, but I think it's said on the application already

[tired yarrow]

They have a FAQ and a guide for financials on the application, you might want to check that out as well!!

[leaden ridge]

2/6 written 😭

[lusty willow]

Alr thanks

[graceful flume]

Finally turned in my application
I'm not sure if it's good even though I got it reviewed by my college counselor (who is a qb scholar herself) and several persons

[tired yarrow]

If you had it reviewed by several people and they all liked it then I'm sure it's just you psyching yourself out, don't worry about it now!! I'm sure you did better than you think

[vital slate]

any progress

[leaden ridge]

2.5 😭

[vital slate]

im glad im not alone

[leaden ridge]

yay me too! :D

[lusty willow]

I haven’t even started

Is it even worth it if I’m above 65k

[jaunty pawn]

if you have more people in your household i think they have exceptions

[lusty willow]

just 4

[jaunty pawn]

oh yeah idt you qualify then

[lusty willow]

thank god

i really dont feel like writing rn bruh

[jaunty pawn]

double check though

[lusty willow]

alr

yeah its under 65k for a household of 4

and i dont have any financial hardships i can BS about

[vital slate]

can "honors/distinctions" include acceptances into programs?- im gonna ask this in the app questions channel too lol

[tired yarrow]

Yes, I put accepted as a QB college prep scholar as one of my awards in the common app, so for qb you can put acceptances for another program as part of your honors

[vital slate]

oh cool ty

[fresh cipher]

aren’t there only 2 writing sections? what do you mean 6?

[leaden ridge]

including additional prompts, like the ones for awards and summer camps

[vital slate]

should i include self studying a course in my extracurriculars?

[tired yarrow]

You can just put that in your additional information in the education section since you have limited slots for extracurriculars

I'm also self-studying a course and I just felt like it wouldn't have fit as an extracurricular since extracurriculars are meant to show off more of your commitments outside of school and self-studying just felt like an extension of school, so I put it in my additional information, however, it's ultimately up to you to decide

[vital slate]

tysm for the advice!

[tired yarrow]

Of course, good luck!!

[full condor]

Hey, are there any College Prep Scholars here I can ask a few questions?

[dusty elbow]

i was one for 2023

[full condor]

I dmed you

[barren lynx]

for some reason im grateful for my questbridge rejection...

[full condor]

Why

[obtuse adder]

Ehh I'm not seeing a reason why questbridge will be a con though

Gives us tons of attempts to get in without being outright rejected

[vital slate]

how are yalls apps goin

[tired yarrow]

@zinc terrace @regal pivot You know how you were talking about me being the first QB scholar for Cornell?

[regal pivot]

yayyy

[tired yarrow]

I think it's kind of funny, is it not? 😭

[regal pivot]

how did they find out tho

[tired yarrow]

On your portal for QB, you can input what school you're committed to and I basically had to tell all my original QB RD schools why I was withdrawing my apps after opening them only a few days before 😭

[regal pivot]

ohhh

i see

i forgot about that

[tired yarrow]

No no, you're good lol

[zinc terrace]

omg do it

[tired yarrow]

I will!! I want to be able to say I built the group up with my bare hands lmao

[merry girder]

oooo

[royal gorge]

LET'S GOOO

QUESTIE THROUGH AND THROUGH

[tired yarrow]

EXACTLY!!!

[regal pivot]

harvard needs to join qb

i wanna be qsn leader person

[barren lynx]

if i was matched to another school from questbridge, i wouldve never gotten a likely letter to yale

and my estimated financial aid is a full ride, so i ended up not needing questbridge after all

[regal pivot]

i couldve done qb match but being bound sounds so scary

[barren lynx]

the full ride sounded so nice to me

it was a dream

[regal pivot]

yeah i hate the way they kinda mislead people

like they dont advertise qb rd nearly as much

even tho most can get a full ride with the exact same package

[barren lynx]

even with my nonfinalist rd application, ive still gotten full rides to grinnell and washu so far

which is pretty crazy to me

[regal pivot]

i chose harv and they aint even a qb patner, but i got the same package i'd get at any qb school

[full condor]

Well you could just not do the match

There are other benefits to being a finalist

[barren lynx]

well the thing was, i was obsessed with matching

getting rejected forced me to re evaluate my app and stopped me from being bound to one from my long list of ranked schools lol

[royal gorge]

I lucked out ong

Though ngl I wouldn't mind being bound in this specific instance

[karmic mountain]

It is scary, sometimes I wonder where I would have gone if I wasn’t bound

[karmic mountain]

I feel ya

[jaunty pawn]

UCLA

[karmic mountain]

:/

[jaunty pawn]

UC Berkeley 😭

Idk

Where did you want to go again

Oh wait