In the U.S. education system, there is a gap—and it’s a big one. It’s the gap between the nation’s brightest high school students from low-income backgrounds and leading colleges and universities. Each year, nearly 30,000 low-income students receive national standardized test scores high enough to make them competitive to top colleges, but over 80% of them don’t even apply to a single competitive college. These students are intelligent, talented, and motivated, but they may not realize the extent of the opportunities that exist for them, or that these leading colleges actually want them on their campuses.
Are you one of these students—excelling academically, but concerned about your ability to attend a great college? Are you worried that there’s no way you and your family can afford the high price of college? Or maybe you don’t know anyone who attended a very selective college so you think your own chances of being admitted are limited?
QuestBridge is a non-profit organization that has over twenty years of experience helping students like you get admitted to top-tier schools with full four-year scholarships. We partner with forty colleges and universities—like Amherst, Stanford, Yale, Williams, and Emory—that are looking for the best students in the nation, regardless of financial background.
If you’re a student who strives for the best opportunities regardless of your financial background, we invite you to apply to the National College Match: a program that connects the nation’s most outstanding students with admission and full scholarships at our college partners.
We’re looking for students who exhibit academic excellence and who are financially qualified. Are you a top student who comes from a family with a combined yearly income of less than $65,000 for a typical family of four, with minimal assets? Is this you? Do you have the motivation and academic ability to thrive at one of our college partners?
If so, here’s how the National College Match works for you:
- Submit a free, online QuestBridge National College Match application in late September of your senior year. The application is designed to highlight your strengths and unique circumstances in a way that other college applications do not.
- QuestBridge reviews applications and selects Finalists to continue in the process.
- Finalists can choose to rank colleges in order of preference to participate in the College Match. Ranking colleges simply means that these are the colleges you wish to be considered for early admission along with a full, College Match Scholarship. If you match, you will only be matched to one school, the highest one on your list that wants to admit you with a full scholarship. Important note about rankings: They are binding! That means that if you are admitted through the College Match, you are obligated to attend.
- By December, you will be notified if you have been matched to a college partner. If you are, Congrats! You are now a College Match Scholarship Recipient, admitted with a full four-year scholarship, including tuition, room and board, and other expenses. College Match Scholarships are generously provided by QuestBridge college partners.
- If you don’t match, don’t worry! Many do not. It doesn’t mean you were rejected. You can still apply for Early or Regular Decision to our college partners. Finalists who didn’t rank colleges can now apply through Regular Decision as well. And if you get in through Early or Regular Decision, you can still get a lot of aid from our college partners, who will meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need to make attending college very affordable for you.
We have thousands of scholars throughout the country that dared to dream to meet their college aspirations. You could be one of them. So go ahead and dream big! You can afford it.
Visit
www.questbridge.org to learn more about our college partners and how to apply for the National College Match.