UChicago / QuestBridge questions and concerns

JHS
Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:09:15 +0000

I don’t know exactly what you should do, but I do think you should take a few deep breaths and calm down a little.


Yale and Chicago are amazing colleges. I don’t blame you at all for wanting to go to one of them. But they aren’t THAT unique, and pretty much any of your “lesser” choices (if your lesser choices are like the ones you listed) will also be amazing. It is a little silly to think that you wouldn’t be comfortable at Wesleyan or Oberlin. The former, especially, has a LOT of intellectual energy. I understand completely why you might prefer Yale or Chicago if given a choice. But, trust me, if the worst that can happen to you is you wind up at Wesleyan with a full ride . . . things will be great for you. Not 50% great; 100% great.
In terms of selectivity/chances there are a number of schools (including, frankly, Chicago) between Yale and Oberlin, and the same goes for intellectual rigor. If you can rank 8 schools with QB, surely you can find a couple others that you would be excited to attend with a full ride, and that you don’t feel quite as ambivalent about. Carleton? Haverford? Brown? Northwestern? USC? Caltech? UVa?
QB gives you a great chance to apply early to multiple schools, but you are right that you will risk getting matched with any school you rank. If I were you, I would feel confident that you will be accepted at several of these colleges – if not necessarily Yale and Chicago – in the regular decision round, and that given your family income you will be offered enough aid to make college do-able. So you don’t HAVE to go all in on the early round. You are not going to miss the boat entirely if you don’t get matched.


I know it’s nerve-wracking, and you want everything resolved right now, if possible, but your long-term interests may require staying calm and waiting a while. I think for the early round you should rank 4-5 colleges you know in your heart you would be thrilled to attend with a full ride (i.e., not just Yale and Chicago), without worrying whether one of them is a “safety”. It sounds like you shouldn’t rank Oberlin or Wesleyan, but maybe you should think about Swarthmore or Pomona, for instance, which are much closer to Yale and Chicago in general vibe. Or Dartmouth or Rice, for heaven’s sake. And be ready to apply slightly more widely for RD if you don’t match.