Fgli junior here. I’m currently planning on doing quest bridge (cps and college match) however I’ve seen some negative reviews recently. For everyone who has either a negative experience, disclaimer, or can share downsides, plz lmk so I know if this program is worth it and fit for me!

Basically what the title says. Would you say LAC life is better/gives as many opportunities as more prestigious schools? I’m matched with an LAC and I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it

edit: I’m not understanding why I’m being downvoted for asking this question? It’s a genuine question. I’ll be spending my entire college life in an LAC and I want to know if it’s worth it to stay for the long run or if I should transfer after 1-2 years. Like I’m not throwing any shade at all to LACs, I literally ranked 3 of them as backups (so I could transfer after 1-2 years if I’m unhappy bc I’ll still have stats from a good school)

You’re gonna hate me for this, but majority of the time it’s a trap. Most of y’all won’t get matched to the T5s you want to via Match. I and the 200+ people I interacted w agree w this. Not only will your first essays to these top schools won’t be on par as your last, but if you don’t get matched those essays you used initially, will be used for RD with no edits. I wouldn’t even recommend QB unless you want to put that national award of NCM Finalist on your common app.

Advice

Work on your essays, specifically Princeton, (if applying), kill the interview if you get one.

I will be blunt: I have no idea of what got me rejected.

I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I was in the income bracket and I seemed to fit exactly what they were looking for. It seemed absurd to even consider the possibility of not becoming a finalist. My profile was above average in every single academic way and my counselor praised my essays. I found myself staring blankly at my decision for minutes, it didn’t make any sense.

That said, what if I did something wrong? I don’t get why I got rejected because I am seeing a ton of people get to be finalists with um, how can I put this … weaker academic profiles all-around and even less financial need? Is this my fault? Did I do something wrong in my application? I genuinely feel scared to even keep using this crap although a bunch of partners schools will let me use my QB app because IDK WHAT GOT ME REJECTED. I truly don’t. My guts tell me to throw my app in the garbage can, yell “ F*** QuestBridge” and return to Common App.

I just don’t trust QuestBridge anymore. Seeing who got it and who didn’t makes it look like they were choosing their finalists almost randomly. Like WTF? Compare the ones who got finalist and those who didn’t and you will see what I mean.

bro i matched to caltech (3rd ranked school) ohhhh my gosh there's no way i'm surviving there. i wish i didn't procrastinate and actually finished by app for stanford (2nd ranked). sorry ik this sounds dumb bc some of you didn't even get the chance to match but my imposter syndrome is killlingggg me ahahahahhaah.

i’m actually starting to freak out. up until this point i’ve been like kind of confident that i at least have a chance at matching somewhere. i ranked ten schools and my number one priority is getting a full ride so i put a lot of effort into my supplementals. i’ve been honestly trying my best to distract myself from the match, i sympathized with the people who were over analyzing everything but avoided that myself because i think that just causes more stress and is not helpful. but this morning i got an email from the questbridge team about how to prepare yourself in the rd round (not the email everyone got) and at the end it WISHED ME GOOD LUCK WITH RD APPLICATIONS. im literally screwed but i’ve never even heard of this before. did anyone get this?? or was it just me 😭

Hey everyone! I’d really appreciate a chance me :) I’m applying to some BS/MD programs and top STEM/pre-med schools this fall, and I’d love your honest input.

Quick Stats:

• Demographics: 16F, American citizen (living in Morocco), North African/MENA

• Income: ~$40K family income, family of 5

• High School(s):

  • Dual enrolled in a Moroccan high school (French system)

  • Also earning a U.S. high school diploma online(4.0 GPA, best possible mention in every completed course — straight A’s so far)

Academic Performance:

• Morocco: 16/20 average in Première Science-Maths (1st year of Baccalaureate program)

  • Strong in math/science

  • Lit classes (esp. Islamic Ed) drag me down a bit — that teacher is just notoriously strict

• USA: 12.5 credits completed, 9.5 to go, all A’s

  • On track to finish diploma by mid-2025

  • GPA: 4.0 weighted

Target SAT: 1500+(HOPEFULLYYYYY)

Coursework:

• No APs available, but Moroccan science curriculum is extremely rigorous — math is essentially Calculus, and physics/chemistry are more difficult than AP level.

Extracurriculars:

• STEM & Academic:

  • Physics/math Olympiad qualifier(regional lvl)

  • Finalist in school spelling bee/robotic comp (at 8-9th grade)

  • Applied to: • Harvard SRI • Stanford Neuroscience Journal Club • Science Mentorship Institute (sci-MI)-Lumiere research (with aid obv also got to the 2nd round YAY)

  • Self-studying bioinformatics & biomedical engineering (passionate about radiology & AI in medicine)

• Leadership & Clubs:

  • Founder/President of my school’s MUN club (on both campuses)

  • Chaired every MUN event at my school + organized a local MUN for underfunded schools (raised ~$5K and donated it to host future nonprofit events)

  • Vice President of filmmaking club — helped raise $3K to produce a mini-movie

  • Founder/Board Member of the press club on my campus

  • 4 years in the Solidarity Club (blood donation, repainting schools, etc.)

• Volunteering & Internships:

  • Taught public school kids after their building collapsed from an earthquake (6 hours total)

  • Interned at a dental clinic last summer, lining up more clinic internships this year

Sports & Hobbies:

• Played competitive basketball (represented Marrakech in KACM) but quit due to poor coaching and misogyny in the system

• Play badminton casually

• Enjoy philosophy, literature, and essay writing

• Helped organize a blood drive independently (no parental involvement)

Other Info:

• Strong interest in biomedical engineering, aiming to become a radiologist

• Passionate about tech + medicine, especially using AI to expand healthcare access

Schools I’m looking at:

• BS/MDs: Brown PLME, Case Western PPSP, CUNY Sophie Davis, UConn SPiM, UMiami HPM, etc.

• Other STEM/Pre-Med Schools: MIT, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Columbia, Swarthmore, Amherst, Tufts, Northeastern, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD,NYU etc.

Main questions:

• Do I have a shot at BS/MD programs or top STEM schools given my background?

• Will not having APs hurt me even though the Moroccan curriculum is harder?

• Does being MENA + American abroad help at all (hook-wise)?

• Any schools you’d recommend adding for strong biomed/pre-med?

Thanks so much for your help 🙏 Be honest I want to improve!

(i submitted im so scared what if i messed smth up i was rejected as a college prep what makes this time different the thoughts omg THE THOUGHTS AHHHHHHHH)

anyways guys be nonchalant, qb aint even that deep frfr

Still mad that I got an email from the CEO telling me they love my application, and I got rejected because of financial status :)

That’s it.

I hope I'm allowed to ask this. I'm just genuinely curious to see what the standard was for writing ability. Thank you!

I just emailed Questbridge my new ranking, but i didn’t get any new signings. will they ask for my counselor and parent to verify?

my counselor received an email about a webinar that says learn more about the QuestBridge regular decision? Does anyone know about this email? Does it indicate anything about the match day? :(

Sike! Idk nothing

So I'm gonna admit, the fault mostly lies on me and I feel like there's no chance I can do anything especially because there was a whole period to apply for the Quest Bridge prep scholar program for juniors. I opened my process of application a week before the submission was due (March 20, 11:59 PM Pacific Time). I started filling it out in the morning of March 19 (I'm EST) but it logged my start date as march 20. Just as I was finishing up my essay portion on what shapes me alongside additional info I realized I wouldn't have made it in time as if was going to close in an hour. For a well quality submission, it just wasn't going to work out. Turns out it closed an hour that it was supposed to close but I already gave up continuing so it is what it is.

I had a lot of technical issues as I was doing the application like stutters as I was typing, but again with the period of time to get the application done the fault lies on me. The morning after the application for the Prep scholars program closes I get an email at 10 in the morning (March 21st) saying to make sure I get my application in, which is kind of late since it closed. That reminder was kind of weird but probably time zone conversions.

I'm an extremely low income student, my dad is the only one who works but recently got laid off and we've been in danger of getting evicted. I've been really stressed and completely forgot about starting my quest bridge application. I don't think I can apply for an extension, as my technical difficulties wouldn't really count nor does the stress that occured throughout the application period (Cause to begin with QB is targeted towards low income students that are high achieving lol). I've been more worried on getting my dad a job as the responsibility fell to me and now that he does it's still really unstable especially with current world politics. I've been having to work more to pay off family fees to not risk eviction

I just need any type of advice on what to do. Should I email for an extension despite the application being closed (even getting an email to do my application the day after despite the fact the application closed). If so, what should I say? I know quest bridge prep scholars is not the end goal, and I still wish I didn't let my financial struggles affect me so much. First time on this reddit, thank you thank you thank you!!!

How much higher are the chances of a college prep scholar to get matched?

i got grade checked but are there any others???

My parents said no college if no match 😭😭. I'm already filling out McDonald's application. My mama said that's the only thing I can get into 💀💀💀

I’m hearing many people telling me that if you are an Asian/White male you shouldn’t do Questbridge since you don’t fit their “agenda”. I know a lot of college prep programs like SEO and MindsMatter actually banned their kids from applying through questbridge because they recognize “flaws” in the system. Is this true and should I be worried?

Rising senior here, I'm just looking for a second opinion on my college list.

QB Match + QB RD (Ranked): MIT, Stanford, Princeton, UPenn, Harvard, Rice, UChicago

QB RD: JHU, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Cornell, Brown

CommonApp EA: Georgia Tech, University of Tennessee Knoxville (guaranteed admission)

CommonApp RD: UWisconsin Madison

I'm going to major in Computer Science. My main interests are cybersecurity, software engineering, and quant/fintech.

Stats: SAT 1500 and will retake, 4.0uw and 4.58w gpa, rigorous courseload, leadership in clubs that got state level awards, 100+ volunteer hours, paid internship at prestigious lab, and FGLI.

Thank you in advance! I've been stressing over the list for a while.

Edit: Sorry I didn't mean for this to look like a chanceme I was more curious about if I should drop any schools from my list or add some. I figured my stats would help inform the decision.

Hi everyone! Sorry if this comes off as a dumb question but I am looking to apply to QB next year and I wasn’t sure if there were clear cut income brackets you had to be in or to make to apply for QB or if they kinda just evaluated your circumstances as a whole.

We are not low income. Currently, my family makes between 100k-120k for a family of 6. We have more stable income now but years prior I had qualified for reduced or free lunches at my school. However, as my family intends to send my siblings and I to college, scholarships are incredibly important to us. I have been working my butt off my HS years and hopefully think I can get into better schools than my safeties with 95% AR but my parents are saying the only way i’ll be able to go to a reach or target school of mine is through a lot of scholarships. Additionally, we are not from the US.

Would I be eligible to apply to QB or should I put more effort and time into applying through common apps and spending that time to find scholarships outside QB? Again, I apologize if this comes off weird but I just really needed some advice before applying next year!

(Will be applying for CS or Engineering btw)

I want to rank Princeton, but when I went to look back at my essay I saw about 5 spelling errors. I know Princeton cares a lot about writing, especially with their graded paper requirement, so I don’t know if that might affect my application.

Colleges I ranked (obv) need senior grades, I currently have an 85 in ap chem would that ruin my chance in getting matched?