Stanford, Brown, Princeton, Yale, and MIT – some of the most prestigious universities in the world – are more than willing to give high-achieving students like you and me a full scholarship to attend, thanks to Questbridge, a national nonprofit organization that, according to its website www.questbridge.org, “connects the nation’s most exceptional, low-income youth with leading colleges and opportunities.”

Quest what?

One Questbridge scholarship program is called the National College Match in which students rank their schools in order of preference, and they get a binding, full-ride scholarship – valued at $200,000 –  to the highest-ranked school that accepts them.

Questbridge also offers their own Regular-Decision Path scholarship, where students can apply to Questbridge partner schools for free. Questbridge finalists are guaranteed to receive 100% of their financial need met by the partner colleges that accept them through Regular Decision, which can be equivalent to the value of a National College Match scholarship.

I heard about Questbridge through an email they sent me on February 3, 2016, probably because I had checked the box on my PSAT that allows colleges and organizations to send me emails.

My email inbox, like those of many other students, gets filled with spam mail from colleges I have never heard of, but the Questbridge email caught my eye. The email’s subject heading read, “Dear Olvin, You could be qualified to attend a top college on a full scholarship.” Say no more ̶ next thing I know I’m at the Questbridge website reading all about the program.

Questbridge’s College Prep Scholars Program

After looking at their website, I learned about the College Prep Scholar Program, a gateway program to the College Match scholarship. The application for Prep Scholar was due in March, and required almost the exact information that as the College Match scholarship application.

After I got accepted into the College Prep Scholar Program in May, many new opportunities were made available to me. For starters, I received writing tips for the essay I would need to write for the College Match Application.

Another benefit of the Prep Scholar program was that during the summer, I attended the National Questbridge Conference at Yale University. I had lunch with the admissions counselor from Stanford University, attended many college application workshops, and met other highly accomplished students going through the same process as me. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had as a college-bound student, and it better prepared me to become a Questbridge Scholarship finalist.

Who’s Eligible?

Questbridge does not have very strict eligibility requirements for its scholarships, but finalists usually come from financial backgrounds of less than $65,000 for a family of four. Finalists also tend to perform at an extremely high academic level, participate in extracurricular activities, and possibly have overcome many challenges.

I wanted to become a Questbridge Finalist because I knew that my family could not afford for me to attend top-tier universities, and I did not want this to prevent me from receiving the best education possible.

How does the scholarship work?

Interestingly, the Questbridge organization is not the one funding the scholarship. Instead, Questbridge acts like a friend trying to hook you up with someone who can pay; they introduce you to their partner colleges that offer the scholarship money and present you in the best way possible, while you hope to get accepted.

College partners use a mix of their own funds (which come from their students’ tuitions, local/state/national organizations that support them, gifts from donors, and local/state/federal grants) and state and federal aid. The scholarship covers tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and travel expenses. This means that there would be zero parental contribution and student loans, though there may be a work-study program.

Applying for the National College Match

This year’s Questbridge scholarship application opened during the summer. The deadline for it was September 27^th, 2016.

The application asked for personal, household, and coursework information. This was the more tedious portion of the application, since you had to do things like type in all of the classes you have taken in high school and provide information on your household income.

Aside from this, the application asks for two recommendations and extensive writing supplements. The writing portion requires short responses to a set of 8 questions and two essays, one biographical and the other a response to one of three prompts.

From my experience at the National Questbridge Conference at Yale, I learned a lot about how Questbridge reviews applications. They wanted to “read a student’s story” through his or her writing, get a sense of the student’s personality, and learn about his or her inspirations. For me, it might have been easy to write about my achievements, but it wasn’t as easy to write about myself.

Besides the College Match Scholarship

The opportunities that Questbridge provides go well beyond the actual scholarship.

Aside from the College Prep Scholars Program and the National Questbridge Conference, Questbridge also gave me access to fly-in programs, which are all-expenses-paid trips to top-ranked universities.

Thanks to this, I visited Rice University, a STEM oriented school in Houston, Texas. Rice is a great university with the most closely-knit students I have seen. Both nights that I stayed, there would be college kids in my host’s dorm until 2:00 in the morning, just chatting, playing the guitar, and having a good time.

I also visited the University of Pennsylvania. Nestled in a neighborhood called University City in the heart of West Philadelphia, this Ivy League school is known for having the best business school in the U.S., the Wharton School. I really loved the city of Philadelphia, and sitting in on an Introduction to Management class at the Wharton School showed me the great minds at UPENN.

How competitive is it?

   By meeting Questbridge applicants through these fly-in programs, I noticed that I was part of a very competitive application pool. Every kid had near a 4.0 GPA, held officer positions in clubs at their respective schools, scored near-perfect on the ACT and SAT, and sometimes overcame very rough obstacles in their lives.

My Reflection on Questbridge

Questbridge is a great organization. Although I did not choose to rank schools through the National College Match, Questbridge allowed me to learn about the University of Pennsylvania, which is now my dream school.

My getting the Questbridge scholarship will all depend if I get accepted by one of their partner colleges where I sent in an application.  I should know by spring 2017 whether I’m a winner.

I think that highly-motivated students at Miami High should consider Questbridge. If you would like to expand your horizons and are a very diligent student, what’s holding you back?

Interested in Questbridge?

• Next year’s National College Match application will open in the summer of 2017 and will be due in September, 2017.
• Although there aren’t strict cutoffs, check if you meet the requirements at https://www.questbridge.org/high-school-students/national-college-match/who-should-apply
• If you haven’t, build relationships with teachers. You will need recommenders later on!
• Don’t forget to sign up and study for SAT/ACT, as high scores can make you a more competitive applicant.