r/QuestBridge

Basically the title. When I checked this subreddit for info about CPS, I went down a wormhole of NCM finalists' horror stories of not matching AND not getting into any of their schools. This really did terrify me.

I'm now wondering, especially considering that you can't apply EA w/ NCM -- is it really even worth it to go through the NCM turmoil? Is the main purpose of it not just the full ride? What are the other perks? I know some people say that you are given more space to write and elaborate on your circumstances, but I'm curious about the specifics.

My main plan is to apply to a good handful of 100% of demonstrated need schools and safeties which my stats will be good enough to get me good merit. I believe I am a strong applicant and if I apply to a good 8ish of these need-aid schools and 4ish safeties, I should be able to get into at least 1 hopefully (knock on wood). I am in like the very lowest low-income bracket, so that is why I am so confident about receiving aid. However, I did apply to CPS and get rejected, so I don't know.

The major perk I am seeing right now is that I am very, very interested in a ton of Questbridge partner schools. I easily think I would rank and write everything for the full 15 schools. Are the finalists who don't match with any school usually ones who don't apply to many? Or does this happen even if you fill up all slots?

I'm curious for your guys' overall opinions, insights, agreements, disagreements + whatever commentary. Thank y'all and feel free to redirect me if what I'm asking is basic information.

Side note, I'm realizing I should not talk about NCM so definitely as if I will become a finalist but, all in all, I'm wondering if it's even worth it for me to apply if the NCM is such a tumultuous pathway.

this might be rlly stupid but im so confused with this whole process. what is the csp n other stuff u guys keep mentioning. ik i missed the deadline for the juniour year thing but thats not the one where u write essays for college, right? also what do u guys mean when u say that u cant change ur application? is it like u cant change it if u dont get matched to the school but decide to roll it over to rd? n one more thing, is it even worth trying to do the match thing if i didn't do the junior thing or should i js apply thru common app ea/ed. i wish i heard abt this earlier but i come from a rural school in literally nowhere n im my parents have no clue/care abt college thins. idk if this important but my parents make around 60k per year n were like a family of 6 😭

should i apply to QB NCM if my fam has a household income of $130k? it sounds like a lot, but honestly most of the money goes towards bills and my mother’s schooling. i’m wondering if i should apply because i applied to prep scholars and i didn’t get in.

does anyone want to read and review each others essays for dartmouth bound?

For context I go to a super competitive school in a community that is actively being gentrified, and there is a huge wealth disparity in my school. It costs 70-120$ to even JOIN an extracurricular activity and there are so many barriers that prevent low income students at my school from being in the same classes or extracurriculars as the wealthy people in my school.

I had a teacher and coach who I thought I was really close with and was looking to ask him for a rec letter for NCM, but recently I just found out that our team has an entire separate group chat without me in it, and they constantly talk bad about me behind my back. And the worst part is that my coach is in on it too and actively participates in the racist and elitist comments directed at me. I literally have screenshots of him telling other people on the team that I was "less worthy" and would "never be as good as" everyone else, and making fun of me for not being able to afford to travel to certain competitions. idek what i did wrong besides just being an FGLI because i always show up to and stay the latest at every practice and this season i literally starved myself so i could afford as many competitions as i could and the only thing i got in return was people on the team spreading rumors that i had an eat*ng dis*rder.

Besides one of my other teachers, I dont have anyone else that I am close with and would be able to write a good rec letter for me, and i'm genuinely worried if I ask my coach he'll write a bad rec letter on purpose because of all the things he's said about me. if I explain this in the additional info, would questbridge + the colleges i'm ranking understand? or would the bad rec letters still have a negative impact on my application

College prep scholar here, the horror stories I seen on this subreddit from this cycle of admissions is making so nervous. It’s honestly making me consider the common app route.

Because you could have so much confidence be a prep scholar be a Ncm finalist and not get matched. Then your application gets rolled over to rd and some people are STILL rejected from everywhere. This is a literal nightmare of mine and I feel like I’m spiraling because idk if that could happen to me because what’s even causing all this is it that some colleges have a cut off how many qb applicants they take??

My financial situation is pretty weird, since I have money in a trust from dead parents that I don’t have access to unless I graduate 4 year college. Disregarding that tho, my home income is around 59k per year for a family of 6. I also qualify for free and reduced lunch (and ebt somehow but idk if that’s relevant). My gpa and sat score is pretty good but the thing that worries me is the trust. Would smth like that disqualify me from a match?

Hi guys! I have a few questions about the college process and I’d really appreciate any help!

1. If I apply to QuestBridge, become a finalist, rank schools, and don’t match, can I still apply to the schools I ranked through Common App RD afterward?
2. If I apply to QuestBridge, become a finalist, but choose not to rank, can I still just apply through Common App RD and list QB Finalist as an award/honor?
3. Can someone explain the QuestBridge timeline a bit? If you become a finalist, how much time do you usually have to complete supplements for the Match? And if you don’t match, how much time do you have before RD deadlines?
4. Does QuestBridge RD actually provide any advantage over applying through Common App RD?
5. Since the EC section is limited, are you allowed to upload a resume to QuestBridge?

Thank you so much!

I got rejected from every single fly-in (~7) and every summer program I applied to besides one that had a 100% acceptance rate. For months, I thought I wouldn’t even become a finalist, and when I did, I thought there was no way I’d match. Lowkey, it turned me into an insufferable person from September through November, but when I opened that email on December 1st, I matched into my #1 choice!!! (🌲💚)

All that to say: one rejection doesn’t define you, and whatever happens as summer program and fly-in results come out is NOT indicative of how college app season will go. Good luck everyone!! And don't let a rejection from a stupid fly-in bum you out.

I am a current College Prep Scholar; I have a pretty good spike as far as ECs. I am planning to improve my test scores as they are pretty bad ngl. I would love to be admitted into one of these top schools, and I am wondering what it looks like to be accepted in. Please use this template :)

Income range:

# of household members:

Rural or not:

Class rank (# out of #):

ACT Score:

SAT Score:

Personal Essay focus / summary:

GPA (W/UW):

Major ECs:

Additional Information/ Other Factors that you think influenced your acceptance:

I really appreciate any replies!!

I was a CPS and NCM Finalist who sadly didn't match and started losing so much hope as time went on, thinking that I had wasted my time, wondering if I even deserved to be a part of Questbridge. Now that everything is over, I am so grateful to go to Berea College with a full scholarship!! Everything will work out exactly as it's meant to, and for all future applicants NEVER LOSE HOPE

- My GPA is a low 3.8 right now (doubt I'll be able to raise it any further bc I'm burnt-out as hell), with mostly As, a few A-s, a B in English honors (1st semester only, A- second sem), and a B- in the 1st semester of AP Calc BC (I'm on track of getting an A- this semester tho).

- I've taken 4 APs so far and planning to take 2-3 more next year. the rest are mostly honors with regular classes in my first two science classes (we only have honors Chem and Physics for now) and Spanish (the only Spanish I know is from watching Dora the Explorer as a toddler)

- My SAT superscore is 1310 (680 R, 630 Math)

- I only have 2 awards: Honor Roll and QB CPS (Maybe AP Scholar, I suck at tests lol)

- My ECs are fine but I wouldn't say impressive:

Coding Club - Manhattan, NY                                                                                                      September 2025 - Present
President (Was a member since freshman year)

• Created fliers and facilitated the creation of the club’s Club Fair poster in order to promote the club and acquire    more members, ultimately growing it to the greatest number of members seen since Freshman year
• Scheduled fundraisers, such as Bake Sales, in order to fund the club’s affairs.
• Redesigned the club’s delegation system.
• Advocated for participation in coding competitions and STEM-related field trips, repurposing the club entirely.

NBCUniversal Media Fellows Program - Manhattan, NY                                                         April 2026
Media Fellow

• Collaborated in a team of four to develop a comprehensive cross-platform sponsorship proposal for Instacart to be integrated into BravoCon, aligning brand identity with the fan base of Top Chef.

Academic Leadership & Development Academy - Manhattan, NY                                        July 2025
Mentee

• Attended from Monday to Friday to participate in test prep,  networking, and build upon public speaking skills.

Debate - Manhattan, NY                                                                                                              April 2025 - Present
Member 

• Created arguments in order to persuade judges to side with values. 
• Participated in order to build confidence and public speaking skills.

Minds Matter of NYC - Manhattan, NY                                                                                       October 2024 - Present 
Mentee

• Attended weekly sessions to improve writing, networking, and public speaking skills. 
• Participated in test prep and college readiness activities.

Career Essentials - Manhattan, NY                                                                                              October 2024 - January 2025
Mentee

• Attended weekly sessions to improve on networking, and public speaking skills. 
• Learned to build a resume and elevator pitch for future use.
• Made a business model called HomeBot in a team of four which aimed to create robotic assistants for both public and corporate use.

Muslim Student Association - Manhattan, NY                                                                          October 2023 - Present
Member

• Assisted in hosting events that aim to teach Islam to the school community by contributing to their planning, scheduling, and promotion.

Creative Writing - Bronx, NY                                                                                                       August 2020 - Present
Independent Writer  

• Wrote comics and short stories for fun, sharing them online on occasion.

hey everyone! (excuse my grammar and typos, im in class and in a rush). Anyways, I got rejected (sadly) from cps and I really wanted to do ncm, and I thought that would have been the way fr me. Recently, i found out about posse and it seems similair rnought o ncm, tho a bit more limiting if that makes sense? Im gonna try and get nominated for posse soon, but after that im not sure. out of my partner school list for posse the only school im interested very much in is Vanderbilt, though that is based on name only. it is very possible that after research, i'll like more schools. Obviously thoufh I cant do ncm and posse at the same time, so I dont really know which one to choose. I dont want to miss out on an opportunity to get a scholarship to my dream school but at the same time I want to do whichever has the better chance/outcome for me. ncm takes income and financial stuff into account, and i qualify but then again, i got rejected from cps so im not too sure. at the same time there is a realy good chance that ill get rejected from posse, but it seems somewhat more like something I can control? Since its an interviewprocess. Last year/i gues this year, three kids from the co26 got into vandy and was a posse scholar and that sounds amazing to me and i would love to get accepted. basically what im asking is what are the pros and cons of both and which one should i do? ik obviously you cant pick for me but if anyone has done either i would love to hear your thoyghts about it and the procss? thank you so much :)

Kind of what the title says. As application and flyin season approaches, Ik a lot of people worry about their essays, but if you’re being genuine, do NOT stress. All of my friends ik literally wrote every fly-in/questbridge essay (including PS and supps) week of and if its coming from the heart it will work out itself. For reference all of us r now going to ivies and did several flyins, and I’m just saying to not write what you think people want to hear. Reflect on where you’ve came from, where you’re going, and be proud of and embrace that. You guys got this!

HELLO, HELLO! As AP season rolls to an end, me and my friend have completed this fly-in program list, which you can find right here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17D2ecj-3Jng\_gilHjQhwMUQQllCXgNXG3fQidssNqfs/edit?usp=drivesdk
We chose to do a lot more ‘niche’ fly-ins, mainly for LACs and other small, but good colleges! I hope this helps y’all, ALSO JOIN!!!

title. also was your GPA a downward or upward trend

Not a chance me post; this is more of a general question. For context, I’m a junior planning to apply to Questbridge. Due to extenuating circumstances, I’m ending with a C+ in AP Calculus BC, but all my other grades are A’s. My unweighted would be a 3.9 even with a C+, and I’ve also done a lot of dual enrollment.