Assistance on Questbridge Rankings

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
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Here are some tips for making supplemental essays easier.

For Why us essays: Spend time on their website. Go to pages that a lot of people won’t go to. Always look at the college Mission Statement and try to fit a few of those buzzwords in your essay. Find classes of interest specific to your intended major. A professor whose work interests you. Particular clubs or community groups you’d like to be involved with. These essays are about gauging fit, how active you will be on campus, and showing genuine interest. Use every word wisely because these are often extremely short.

For instance U Chicago is affiliated with a program called Pilot Light. The program is making a difference in childhood nutrition. I found it by clicking in Community, then civic engagement. It took three seconds. Maybe you could get involved in something like that. There is a goldmine of stuff to bring into your essay under the Research tab. Start clicking and look at stuff that might not immediately seem obvious.

Yes, you can reuse essays. My students do this often. Just be sure you adjust them to fit the prompt and word count. Your fly in essay can probably be reused if you alter it the right way. Or you may be able to reuse that essay for another school.

Re your portfolio, I know nothing about art, but I would think that five would be the low end of acceptable pieces. It is possible that as long as the rest of the app is submitted on time, you might be able to send the portfolio separately. For example, students who achieve something (an award, etc…) after the original app is in routinely submit updates to applications. You might consider emailing AOs and ask if it’s okay to submit portfolio later, especially as it isn’t part of your main application.

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Thank you all very much for the advice and encouragement. I am in great need of it.
This financial information is easy to do but highly confusing. If Princeton and UChicago had a checklist, I’d be much less stressed. Not only can I not see what I’ve submitted, but I don’t know if it’s what they need. My dad’s entire transcript was submitted as well as my own, but there’s a form I mislabeled as well as one I’m not sure I submitted. Do I need to email each one’s financial aid office to ask about what they have and what they need? That seems to be asking way too much of them right now to actually dig up my file and review it early. Other colleges are being vague about their submissions guidelines in my emails, but these two are my main concern.
It’s just a big waiting game and I hate that, because I don’t know how long it will take for my documents to get processed. God forbid it takes longer than past the deadline.

As for the portfolio, Hamilton was the first to respond with information. They require it by November 1. UChicago also requests it by this deadline; thus, I must have my materials ready ASAP.
I have decided I’m going to primarily do my portfolio in a neat and monochromatic form. I have a special brown paper on which I use just a pencil, a gel pen, blending pencils, and a white pencil. Much easier than color, which takes an entire relayer of the drawing as well as three times as many pens. I’ll have one or two colored drawings in there to show diversity of medium. My primary goal is to show intellectual curiosity, proof of my essay work, and my experimental mindset, not my proficiency in multiple mediums, though. I have established the following drawings:

  • Devil's Advocate (done)
  • Devil's Advocate concept (done)
  • Anatomy Sample 1 (done)
  • Anatomy Sample 2 (done)
  • Bird Colored Drawings (wip)
  • Budgie (my pet) Colored Drawings (wip)
  • Anatomical Possibilities Sketches
  • Bird Flight Sketches
  • Bird Adaptation Sketches
  • Teacher bird thing

All of these topics revolve heavily around my essays. Everything except the last drawing is related to my first QuestBridge essay, where I talked about how I regularly drew bird anatomy and studied them to connect my pets to wild birds as well as an aspiration to merge human and bird anatomy into one creature as a creative and fun way of educating myself about the two systems. The “Teacher bird thing” is Princeton specific, and I was wondering if I should even bother with it. The Devil’s Advocate art is UChicago specific, but I may throw it into other applications since it’s a more poetic application of the same creature.
Do any of these ideas sound worth pursuing? Do some of them sound like they’re worth dropping? I listed them in order of relativity and importance, aside from the completed ones. If I can make the remainder of my work sketches, I can complete them in time, I think. If I can, I believe it may really spruce up the application.

I can complete both of my remaining essays in one day, and I will do those while I’m at my Hamilton fly in as well as work on the artwork. (I almost pulled an all nighter at the Haverford fly in).

I apologize if I sound stubborn on this art supplement. Something strongly inclines me to submit some material, as I feel my application may be lacking without it. Luckily, for some colleges, I don’t need much. Emory and Vanderbilt won’t even take an arts supplement (unless they specifically ask for it). Grinnell and Haverford suggest around 5 pieces.
I’m just intimidated by Princeton, Rice, and UChicago, and I am doing my absolute best to put my best foot forward primarily with those colleges to get as high chance of admission as possible. The art stuff is mainly for these schools, as I feel like I’m competing with a bunch of highly competent students with more academic and extracurricular experience than me, so I really need to step up my game.
Not that the LACs are bad (not at all), I believe I may have a secure chance with Haverford and Hamilton, since I got accepted to both fly-ins, am applying ED, and did very well in Haverford’s interview. (I visit Hamilton next week) Do you think I’m being a little naive about this? Usually, for me, confidence is a precursor for disaster, and the more uncertain I feel, the better I perform (I did a QB short answer on this)

I’ll be doing a lot when I get home today… French homework, drawing, sending essays out, financial info…

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Call the FA office. So much easier than guessing.

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Princeton isn’t accepting arts supplements from QB kids due to time constraints. At least I can take one of those art pieces off my list! Hopefully that doesn’t mean a guaranteed rejection.

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I am very familiar with music supplements, and the instructions are specific about how many pieces, how long each piece should be, what type of pieces, and how they should be recorded and submitted. I would assume that it’s similar for visual arts. Don’t guess. Research the specs for arts supplements.

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Did you mean you are applying ED to one or the other between Haverford and Hamilton? Did you make a typo and mean to say RD? You can’t ED to two schools. Unless I’m not understanding something about QB.

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As a guess, the OP may have interpreted QuestBridge matching to be equivalent to a series of ED applications. However, from the colleges’ perspectives, I wouldn’t think that would be the case.

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Is QuestBridge early decision not “like ED x 12” as MYOS put it in one other thread? Early deadline, binding choices? Are there any estimates as to the admissions chance?
I have viewed each college’s portal, and there aren’t any specifications for non-majors. Most of the instructions revolve around accepted formats, quantity, how the portfolio should reflect you and experimentation, and how they prefer quality over quantity. Art majors, I believe, have a few more guidelines.

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A QB partner can accept you through the matching program without any assurance you will attend. From the perspective of the colleges, then, QB matching differs from mutually binding ED agreements.

Using information from an online encyclopedia, it seems about 13% percent of QB finalists match with one of their ranked colleges, with another 33% receiving an offer of admission and financial aid from a QB partner through regular decision. Highly qualified finalists who rank their schools with a bit of imagination will benefit from better odds, of course.

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I’d say you get the benefits of ED without the obligation to attend, but come on, who’s going to turn down an early admission at a top school with a free ride?

The ranking matters because if you’re admitted to #1 that’s where you’re going. All ranked colleges examine your application but you get admission to the highest ranked on your list.
So, if you really like Haverford, a #4 rank makes sense. However I’d wait for the Hamilton fly in to decide whether you keep Hamilton and Grinnell there. If the fly in goes well and you can see you there, ?. If you don’t, perhaps move Davidson up?

Decrease th workload on the portfolio - one recent work of art, select 2-3 you’ve done that have been shown in an exhibit or won something (could be at your school). Don’t do new drawings etc. Do include sketches. Your list sounds very good but very comprehensive and time consuming, unless it includes mostly old drawings. Sending already completed colored drawings makes sense but limit yourself to one more + sketches. Chicago’s devil’s advocate could be part of the portfolio.

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If the OP were to be accepted (i.e., positively reviewed) at all ten of her ranked schools, my interpretation is that she would, in effect, turn down nine of them through her ranking order. From the colleges’ perspectives, this is unlike ED.

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@KelseyM: If you are uncertain regarding Hamilton, you may want to watch The Sterile Cuckoo. The idyllic scenery of the film endures as an essential aspect of the current collegiate experience at Hamilton.

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@MYOS1634: You introduced Kelsey to QB. You’ve made an incredible contribution to her life.

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Kelsey, I just had a look back at the first pages of this post to refresh my memory. I know you are applying to several LACs. I must emphasize to you that if research as an undergrad is a priority, you should consider ranking LACs higher. LACs only have undergrads. It is easy to get research opportunities at LACs because you aren’t competing with post grads. Really bear this in mind. By now, you might be aware that going to Princeton isn’t necessarily going to open more doors for you than going to Haverford.

I’m not super familiar with how QB ranking works, but if ranking some of your lower choices more highly improves your odds of four years of free education, I suggest you consider doing that.

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The inclusion of schools of varying selectivity should improve Kelsey’s chances of matching. In my understanding, the ranking positions themselves should not though.

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Yes, the ranking positions matters.
QB applicants can only be admitted to ONE college - the college that they ranked highest that also admitted them.
So, for instance, if college 1 doesn’t admit you but college 2 does, it doesn’t matter that college 3 and 4 did too. You’re committed to the college you ranked as #2. That’s why it’s so important to rank colleges in the order you want to attend.
And actually, I made a mistake: ranking colleges makes attending binding. Only QB RD is non binding.

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To be clearer: ranking positions matters, not for admission per se, but for where a QB finalist ends up.

Wrt to research: Princeton requires senior year research so I think you are covered there even if they aren’t strictly undergraduate-focused. (They ARE more so than other universities though.)
At UChicago = it’d be worth checking out (asking questions about % undergrads involved in a personal research project or senior thesis). I truly don’t know. It’s an intellectual college so I imagine many students would be writing a thesis or trying to be an author listed on a paper about to be published, but I truly have no idea how common it is v. kids trying to join a hedge fund or Silicon Valley.

To test a wider range of politics than what you might be used to (but still not feel stiffled or mistreated), try this:
1- look at the headlines for your national news (ABC, NBC, or CBS); pick one issue from that and look at the way news channels cover it: Fox news (mostly conservative&older viewers), MSNBC (mostly liberal), and CNN (about equal division between conservative, moderate, and liberal viewers). Not to agree with one or the other, but just to get used to different political viewpoints.
If you want to know what many (?most) academics/researchers listen to, try “NPR: Up First”, “NPR: Shortwave”, “NPR: Hidden Brain”, “NPR: Weekend edition”, or “NPR: all things considered”.
On TV, look for programs by Christiane Amanpour and/or Fareed Zakariah.
I really don’t think it’s going to be as horrible as you think it’ll be to attend college surrounded by peers and leaders who listened to these.

2- try listening to this: https://crooked.com/podcast/reclaiming-patriotism-intro-ft-jon-favreau-tammy-duckworth/
It’s a topic you may find interesting, with lots of good starting points.
You can also try “With friends like these” with Minnesotan Ana Marie Cox, who invites people with whom she disagrees.
Can you handle this type of discussions?
Obviously college freshmen aren’t going to be like adult podcast hosts but it’ll help you see whether some things are truly painful for you to hear, or just interesting perspectives you hadn’t heard before and can consider even if you don’t necessarily agree, or even if you can see merit to some of that thought process.

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My absolute #1 focus in college is research experience. I am willing to give up things I may like, such as an urban environment or political vibes.
The only exception I am willing to make is if a vibe is an extreme at a school, i.e. openly hostile to believers of a certain political lean or other belief (I’ve heard Oberlin is like this), or so rural it hurts, because I feel like I’d at least be doing some things in my spare time at a college, so I should find some degree of enjoyment outside of academics (i.e. clubs, a job, and local attractions) I should have done more research on the LACs, I feel, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it outside of what I had done. Here’s a bit of reasoning for LACs, I hope it isn’t too flawed:

Haverford - highest because of its decent ranking as a top LAC with the additional benefit of Philly being close by.
Hamilton - it shares Haverford’s vibe, but has a more rural tone, which is still acceptable.
Grinnell - very rural, which is slightly concerning, (there’s also no clubs listed on the site of my particular niches, oddly enough) but it ranked very highly in Ph.D. turnover rates concerning colleges of my interest; lots of people (including my own instinct) told me to trust MYOS on this one concerning their science programs and campus activities
Davidson - unsure about how it compares to these on my list in terms of academics because I don’t hear a LOT about it, but is close by, nice town, and is a high ranked LAC, like the others here

Carleton - MYOS said ‘quirky’ was not my kind of vibe, so I abstained from ranking it; however, they’re one of the top LACs I’ve heard of and they also send me mail, so I wonder
Swarthmore - heard from Haverford students it’s a lot more competitive than collaborative as well as politically outspoken, yet the prestige with Swarthmore is higher; I can also take classes at Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr at Haverford if I really feel like I need to
Amherst - very rural and outdoorsy (not my type); one member here suggested it wasn’t a good fit for me
Bowdoin - kind of the same thing as Amherst
Williams - I think Linda told me that Williams kids are “uppity/upper class” and may be a bit offputting due to some sort of income separation, so I abstained
Washington&Lee - not enough research, saved for QB RD?

My main sources of evidence for “prestige” come from Cech’s paper http://www.thecollegesolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/cech_article2.pdf as well as this article http://www.thecollegesolution.com/the-colleges-where-phds-get-their-start/ . Notice that UChicago and Princeton make a few notable appearances. Haverford and Rice make 1-2, etc. Hamilton actually doesn’t show up in either of these, which I didn’t notice. It had a very high education rating in the Princeton Review.
Do these justifications work, or am I being too picky?

I noticed that a LOT of QuestBridge kids rank the Ivy Leagues mainly and maybe a couple of colleges they know (MIT, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton are very popular picks. Caltech and Dartmouth were heard fairly frequently too). I heard a lot of this in the Discord server (400+ people) as well as at my Haverford fly-in with other applicants. Why is it that students resort to Ivy Leagues so often? May I have better chances since I ranked LACs, especially since I’ve already established myself pretty well with Haverford?

Thank you for all of the resources. I will definitely tap into them.

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In light of your goals, it seems appropriate to consider the comparative ratio of graduates who continue on to PhD programs among your criteria. Note, however, that for many fields a PhD would not be warranted (e.g., law, medicine, business), or may be regarded as superfluous (most fields not related to academia). Note as well, it seems for some colleges there’s an inverse relationship between early career salaries and general PhD inclinations. (Salary figures are available through USN, e.g., https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/haverford-college-3274.)

Btw, in case you overlooked it, the Cech study covered students who would have received their undergraduate degrees in the 1980s.

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My daughter is at Haverford- she discovered it after visiting Swarthmore twice and really hating their vibe, but loving LAC, the area, and the idea of the consortium. She is only a freshman, but she already realizes the full consortium isn’t easy to access- Haverford and Bryn Mawr classes are actually set up in complimentary ways such that she can actually end a class at Bryn Mawr and be at her next class at at Haverford ten minutes later. The buses are perfectly aligned. She has one kid from Swarthmore in a class but he’s auditing it only, to prep him to get a better grade in it when he takes it next semester at Swarthmore. That is actually the kind of thing that turned her off about Swarthmore, but my point is that UPenn and Swarthmore are part of the consortium, but it’s not the same ease and connection of the Bi-Co at ALL. Not to discourage you from either school- Swarthmore has all that prestige for a reason, and my daughter absolutely loves Haverford.