<p>I do not believe that the Questbridge schools are required to all do their admissions, match selection process, or their financial aid identically. The one thing we CAN count on them doing identically is awarding the match scholarship that is shown in writing on their Questbridge Partner School pages. All match recipients will get that award, unless otherwise specified on that page. </p>
<p>But that award will not necessarily be what a non-matched student, accepted via regular decision, will get – there are too many variables. The Match award is stated in writing because it makes the school affordable to every matched student, and all Questbridge finalists are too shaky financially to go applying Early Decision to ANY school without that guarantee of affordability.</p>
<p>It’s not the same at Regular Decision, where you’ll get to compare Financial Aid packages before you commit.</p>
<p>If I am right, then students like yourself, who prioritize winning a no-loan, no-family contribution scholarship package above all other considerations, would do well to rank eight schools. Your ranking within those eight should definitely be in order of preference, but the decision of which eight schools to rank should not.</p>
<p>Questbridge is trying to choose their finalists in such a way that the most possible schools will Match the most possible students. Face it, some schools are going to have a lot more finalists to choose from, and will be able to be more selective, because they are the schools the whole world recognizes. So limiting your Match list to the schools that are everybody’s favorites only makes sense for some students (the top-grade, top-score, top-compelling-story, top-essay students who would rather go regular decision than miss a chance to attend one of those particular schools). </p>
<p>If you want to maximize your chances at the match scholarship, and perhaps your chances at becoming a Finalist as well, I think it is important include at least SOME schools on your list of eight that are not quite as popular and super selective as Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, Brown etc. etc.</p>
<p>DO include a few Dream schools, and DO put them at the top of your list. </p>
<p>BUT, also include some schools (maybe a majority of the eight) where your stats make YOU look good to the school, as they will be considering their pool of Early Decision applicants at about the same time, and perhaps concurrently.</p>
<p>Once you have your list of eight decided, put them in order of YOUR preference. The algorithm is SWEET, and it is going to make sure that not a single student misses an opportunity to be matched based on their order of preference.</p>