QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship 2015 Decisions Thread

tngn98
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 22:28:31 +0000

[size=4]Decision: DENIED[/size=4]

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): Taking first time on Saturday May 2nd

PSAT (breakdown): 181 (51CR - 71M - 59W)

Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/289

AP (place score in parenthesis):
-Sophomore year: AP Chem (2)
-Currently: AP Bio, AP Language, AP Calc AB (school has 4 block schedule & these classes are all full year, can only take a maximum of 4 APs per year. Wish I could take more)

Award(s) Granted:
-A regional competition award
-NHS
-Girls State delegate
-Employee of the Month 02/15 at work (first month working at first job actually)
-Got selected for a Harvard leadership conference last fall

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurricular Activities:
-Student Council (Vice President 11)
-HOSA (Vice President 11)
-Ocean Sciences Academic Team
-Upward Bound
-Dual enrollment (took some classes at local university)

Job/Work Experience:
-Part-time job ~15-20 hrs per week

Volunteer/Community service:
-Worked with senior citizens with disabilities one summer ~70 hrs
-Internship at the public schools human resources department another summer ~70 hrs
-Currently volunteer at my old middle school every week working with ESL students.
-Occasional this & that during the school year also.

Summer Activities:
-Upward Bound 6-week summer program ever since 8th grade

Essays:
-Personal Statement: Talked about how transportation limited my opportunities when I first moved to America but eventually I found a way by taking the public city bus and started to explore and get involved more & stuffs… (7/10 I would say, last minute change of topic and couldn’t go over it with anyone :C. Still don’t know if this last minute change of topic was a good decision.)

-Short Answer #1: Talked about wanting to teach adult immigrants English so they can obtain better jobs… (8/10)
-Short Answer #2: Talked about the idea of how one acquires language fascinates me… (8/10)
-Short Answer #3: Moving to America… (7/10 now I wish I wrote about something different tbh)

Teacher Recommendation:
-English teacher freshman & sophomore year but still talks because she’s my club advisor. Didn’t get to see it but I believe it was great. (8.5/10)

[ b]Other:**
State (if domestic applicant): Massachusetts

Country (if international applicant): U.S.

School Type: Public, Small, Suburban (one of America’s Most Challenging High Schools)

Ethnicity: Asian

Gender: F

Income Bracket(mention if FA candidate):
-I put down ~$70,000 but I explained why it was high… (explanation below in Hooks)
-House valued ~$150,000

Hooks (First Generation College, Minority,Learning Disability, etc.):
-First Generation
-Immigrant at age 11 (Permanent Resident)
-Minority
-Dad in America but doesn’t live with me & Mom is not in America
-Grandmother and Step-grandfather has full custody (I live with them). Household consists of us 3.
-Step-grandfather with disabilities has been retired for years
-Grandmother is retiring this year therefore the income was still high (the one I put for the application) but I explained how she has to support her brother back in our country while paying all the bills here and how my Dad & Mom won’t be much help to my college finance & how once she retires our income will drop significantly (down to ~$30,000, she passed in the retiring paperwork and so we know but I couldn’t put that on the application :C). Pretty much explained how I’m gonna be on my own for college in terms of financial support.

[ b]Reflection:**
Strengths: Life situation, academics…

Weaknesses: awards, essay, possibly #3 short answer, no test scores…

Why you think you were accepted/rejected:
…now looking back once again at my application and reading through it, it looks completed but it feels uncompleted at the same time. I just feel like I can’t fully express & show who I am to QB. Maybe that’s why… Now that I look at it, my application seems dull to me… I wish I could express myself better in writing!!! I also feel like there just wasn’t enough “boxes” for me to show them all of my abilities and ambitions.

What other Scholarships will you be applying for:
-QB College Match
-Coca-Cola
-Gates Millennium
-Anything else I can find tbh. Wish I knew about Nordstrom sooner.
-Waiting to hear from a state scholarship… was selected for an interview with them… did the interview… but QB kinda just destroyed my hope but there’s still some left for this one!!!

[ b]General Comments: **
-I tried to put in my Dad’s income for Non-Custodial Parent but that page never showed up for me so… I don’t know if that might have affected me?
-I would be lying if I say I’m not sad about the results… I was tearing up but it’s okay because no real tears came out. Maybe I just don’t fit the mold for a College Prep Scholar but I hope there will be other programs out there for me! I really needed the financial support & this was something that could possibly help me a lot in my college application. But my philosophy in life is that no matter how good you are, there would always be people out there who are better than you in one way or another and therefore I wasn’t expecting much. I am doing the best I can & what I can right now and that’s all it matters!
-Congratulations to all College Prep Scholars of 2015 out there!!! Reading all of your stats motivate me so much and I just admire every single one of you for what you’re doing for yourself as well as your community!!!