u/ihatemva

I find that people either signal the second before they're about to turn or they signal 3 intersections before their turn and I think they're going to turn but they don't.

But can we just signal as soon as we pass the intersection before the one we're turning on, at least for most smaller roads?

Sometimes I'm coming out of a stop sign or right on red and these cars coming at the lane closest to the shoulder onto the road I'm trying to turn really throw me off and almost always they signal the second before they turn. Like I can't tell if you're a grandma, texting or driving, or about to make a turn if you do that.

'26 QB applicant here about to head to college.

Seriously. If you can find one unique, human thing about yourself make it. And I know you all can because you are all cool people with your own unique stories whether you realize it or not

I made mine about my plant collection and a small science experiment I ran.

InitialView's customer service is so wonderful; there was a technical issue I had on a Sunday night and they responded to my email and resolved it within 10 minutes. Plus it's free for us Questies.

I had a school personally reach out to me stating that my video was awesome and they hoped that I'd choose their school.

It's basic human psychology. AOs get burnt out and forget you're a human behind your application file that's just words on a page. There's just something so undeniably human about a face and a voice telling a story. If you're a borderline applicant for that school, it'll make it so much harder for the AO to discard your application into the reject pile.

I probably won't remember to post this when finalist decisions come out this year so I'm gonna post it now while I remember and I hope someone will use the search function and find this!

I'm a low income student from an immigrant family and I'll say, having walked through the college process, I survived, and thrived!

I certainly felt a sense of dread when I learned I wasn't a finalist, but everything worked out!

I selected a ton of schools for QBRD, and submitted an updated personal statement and EC list (literally just a typed up 2 page PDF) directly to each application portal as I felt my QB personal essay wasn't as strong as I liked.

I also asked my counselor for a Common App fee waiver, which I was able to get.

I applied to 34 schools total, paid $0 in app fees (Boston College from QBRD didn't waive my fee for some reason and I didn't really wanna go there so I withdrew) and received 10 offers with generous financial aid that my family could well afford.

I hope this post helps someone out there whether now or in the future.

Feel free to DM for any questions.

I'm an incoming college freshman (so class of 2030) from a poor immigrant family, and I keep hearing misconceptions that low-income students should only apply to public schools. Many school counselors of low income areas spread this myth too.

The ticket price of these schools may be terrifying, but their need-based financial aid is so much more generous for us low-income folk. It's life changing. My mother, who has pinched and saved every penny the past 5 years, fearing I'd get into a good school but not be able to afford it, has said she can finally relax now.

Ivies and expensive Liberal Arts Colleges are your friend if you get in!

Another recommendation is if you have atypical assets (for example, we bought our house under a short-sale, so we paid way less than it's worth right now, so we have our house's value as a huge asset when we couldn't have afforded that price with our normal income) is apply to as many colleges as you possibly can. See if you can get a fee waiver. I applied to 34 haha. Maybe don't apply to that many but the more the better, if you have a fee waiver. It's up to you to weigh the value of your time vs. flexibility of potentially getting more offers. Also don't forget QuestBridge. I didn't get selected for the match, but its webinars helped me so much and I was able to apply to so many great schools for free during the RD round and get amazing offers because of it.

Here are some of the offers I've got with the expected family + student contribution I've gotten:

1. Williams: need based full ride
2. Colgate: 8k/year w/o work study
3. Haverford: 6k/year w/ work study of 2k a year (so 8k/year w/o work study)
4. Vanderbilt: 4k/year not including merit scholarships
5. Northwestern: 7k/year with 5k/year loans (so 12k/year kind of)
6. Grinnell: I don't remember but it was less thank 10k with both need based and merit scholarships
7. Emory, both Oxford and Emory accepted me but I couldn't find aid info. Admittedly I didn't look too hard because it wasn't one of my top choices but I'm sure it was great

I'm not gonna share where I ultimately decided or my stats or financial information publicly on here, but if you're applying soon you're more than welcome to DM me for this info or ask for advice on which schools to apply to or QB.

EDIT: Don't let need aware discourage you either (especially if you get a fee waiver). Colgate is need aware yet I still got a great offer with a special program. I'm not sure how much it affects internationals but there are schools that are need blind for international students.

TL;DR: kids from poor families, get fee waivers and apply to as many expensive private schools (ivies, LACs) as you can because it'll be life changing if you get in.