thebioguy

For example, based on these characteristics alone, which would be the greater "hook" or tip factor?

1. African American Female, Middle Class, Non-1st Gen,

2. QB Finalist, Lowest Income, Worked to support family, 1st gen, White

I realize 2 is supposed to be "more desirable" for top tiers, but from my experience, 1 often seems to be much more beneficial. Thanks.

iabass

Depends. If you can convincingly convey the magnitude of your hardships in your Questbridge or Common App essays, I'd say, in my opinion, the latter. However, as I am not an admissions counselor, I cannot say this definitively. But try not to worry about things that you really can't change. Focus on extracurriculars instead (in addition to keeping up with your academics, of course).

seniorsfo

I am a QB Finalist, Low Income, 1st gen, White and I didn't get to any private school.

My dream schools: MIT and Caltech

Rejected from: Columbia, Stanford, MIT (EA defferred) and Caltech (waitlisted)
Accepted to public state schools: UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD, UCI, CalPoly SLO

SIR to UCSD - Aerospace Engineering with Chancellor Scholarship

My problem with rejection was my high school (not enough AP classes, no advance math classes) and White skin (no minority, my parents are immigrants with no English or education) and low income (private schools prefer full price)

I started to take AP classes too early in 9th grade. By Junior year I had 60 college credits.
I didn't have any AP class in Fall my senior year, and now I have only one.
I was looked like I got lazy, but I couldn't find any college math or science class as a concurrent enrollment in 12th grade.
I am white, but I am minority in my school and city. (only 5% whites)

QuestBridge saved me application fee - THANKS

Columbia94

I think that Questbridge definitely helped me get into many schools. For University of Pennsylvania, I'm certain that they only read my Questbridge app because I wasn't required to send the common app but it really depends on your essays and other factors.