If you’re a high-achieving and low-income student, QuestBridge may be the opportunity for you! Through Questbridge, advantages in the college application process and even beyond college are in reach. 

There are two parts to the program:

First, there’s the QuestBridge College Prep Scholars program for high school juniors. Applications open in early February, and if chosen, a student can receive exclusive access to summer program scholarships, college admissions conferences, and even a chance to visit top colleges for free. These resources help rising seniors stand out during the college admissions process. It also makes them seven times more likely to receive a four-year scholarship through the other QuestBridge program, the National College Match.

The National College Match program is for high school seniors. Unlike Early Decision or Early Action, where seniors have to pay to apply early, the National College Match allows students to apply to up to 15 of 55 top colleges for free, also with an early application deadline. To be eligible for this opportunity, seniors must go through the first round of becoming a National College Match Finalist. If they become a finalist, they can then choose to rank up to 15 schools and complete the match requirements for each school by November 1. On December 1, finalists who completed the match requirements will find out if they matched to a school, meaning they received a full four-year scholarship. 

This year, Earl Coker, Kaden Nguyen, and Jonathan Nguyen each received a match scholarship. 

Earl was matched to the University of Pennsylvania. He advises students to reach out to their English teachers for essay support, to start filling out the prompts early, and to keep on revising your essays until the last moment. He also emphasized completing extensive research on the schools you hope to match to. 

Jonathan was matched to Claremont McKenna College. “Some advice I would give people seeking out the Questbridge College Match is to spend a majority of your time making your personal statement polished and unique. You need to dedicate at least 8 weeks to writing your personal statement and it is vital that you have English teachers or people attending top universities to review and critique your essay. This is very important if you do not have exceptional extracurriculars or circumstances, because it is the only other place where you can make yourself stand out.”

Kaden was also matched to Claremont. Kaden says, “I highly recommend that the underclassmen begin to work on their applications for college, especially if you’re applying for private schools. Teachers won’t be patient with your deadlines. My supplemental writings were rushed and my chances were heavily limited because I didn’t work on them previously before the application opened. I wish the best for you guys. APPLY CMC!” Even if a finalist chooses not to match or they don’t become a finalist, they can still do regular decisions through QuestBridge for free.

So if you want a chance to receive a full ride scholarship to one of the nation’s top colleges, consider the QuestBridge program!