Is The College Match Program worth it?

LaughLoveLive
Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:35:11 +0000

“I’d advocate not to do the QB match round. I don’t see why we should apply to this program because the selection process to be matched is highly competitive. Applicants can apply straight to Harvard SCEA and have a 18% admittance rate (like this year) or 1% being matched with Questbridge. I’d choose the former.
Also, the prompts are a little stiff.”

To offer a different perspective/correct some mistakes on this-
And also, disclaimer: I was matched to Pomona through the National Match program.

I’d totally advocate for people to do the Questbridge National Match program, as long as you do your research with the schools and make sure that the schools you choose are those you would be happy to be accepted to.

“the selection process to be matched is highly competitive.”
This is not as correct as many of you would like to think. When you do the National Match, you are evaluated in a different pile than that of the regular or early decision kids. Questbridge folks are statistically less competitive than the kids that apply to those programs. If you’re an exceptionally high achieving student, you may be at the top of the pile for Questbridge but only at the top 50% for the regular application process. Even if you’re not, you have much more leeway to be unique among a crowd of 500 applicants compared to 10000 applicants in the regular process. Furthermore, what’s the risk? They can’t reject you through the process.

“Applicants can apply straight to Harvard SCEA and have a 18% admittance rate (like this year) or 1% being matched with Questbridge.”
Complete nonsense. 321 people out of the 3500 who became finalists last year were matched, which is around a 10% admittance rate, not a 1% admittance rate. Harvard SCEA is such a COMPETITIVE pool that 18% does not mean it is EASIER to get in- it just reflects on the fact that Harvard had the privilege to choose more people that were qualified to get in.

You’d actually have a higher chance of getting matched than to get into Harvard SCEA because of how scary the pool for Harvard is. The Questbridge pool is nowhere near as intense.

“Also, the prompts are a little stiff.”
No, they’re more reflective of a Questbridger’s unique circumstance. They will bring more depth to your application than the Common Application. More work they may be, but I’d consider better quality to be a good price.

Actually, the more work is really not true for all of them. Many of the QB schools do not require any supplements which are required in the Common App.