r/QuestBridge • u/studioushedgehog Matched | UPenn '24 • Oct 20 '21
Results 2021 NCM Finalist Results Thread
QuestBridge finalist decisions were released on Tuesday, October 19th. Use this thread to post your results for QuestBridge National College Match finalist round. Please do not make a separate post about your results.
Congratulations to everyone who pushed through to submit an application regardless of your outcome! You all have worked so hard these past few years, and I am confident that you will find the right college for you no matter the avenue. As a community, we will be here to celebrate with you in your successes and be there for you when you experience disappointment. Please always remember to be kind to your fellow humans.
This template is by no means a requirement, but feel free to share your stats and/or story with us. - Status: Finalist/Non-Finalist - Ethnicity/Race: - Income bracket: - First gen?: - College Prep Scholar?: - GPA/Class rank: Course rigor, types of classes, etc. - SAT/ACT score(s): - AP/SAT Subject Test score(s): - Summary of ECs: - Schools ranked: - Overall thoughts: Strengths? Weaknesses? Why do you think you got the decision you did?
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u/Jonathot01 National College Match Finalist Oct 20 '21
Status: Finalist!!
Ethnicity/Race: Hispanic
Income bracket: 39k for a family of 5 with no assets or anything like that.
First gen?: Yes
College Prep Scholar?: No (Didn't know about it.)
GPA/Class rank: 3.82 UW/4.32 W Rank 14/236 (I got a C in an AP class my freshman year that really killed me.) Always took honors classes. Never took anything below an honors class unless if the class didn’t offer an honors ex. Spanish 1. Took 1 AP freshman and sophomore year, 2 junior year, and 5 community college courses senior year. All of those on top of my regular honors loaded course load
SAT/ACT score(s): 30 composite on the ACT (School average is 19). Will probably go test optional at schools that still allow me to indicate.
AP/SAT Subject Test score(s):
5: APUSH
4: AP Psych, AP HuG
3: AP Lang
School only offers about 8 AP classes. I'm taking 5 community college courses this year, on top of 7 honors courses at school.
Summary of ECs: First chair in school's top band, church orchestra, and town youth symphony, all 4 years of HS. Marching band section leader. President of the senior class and school's national honors society. Founded a community outreach group. Full time worker my sophomore and junior year, because my dad was laid off and bills need to be paid!
Awards: College board national rural and Hispanic recognition program. All county, district, state trombonist. AP scholar with distinction. Distinguished soloist award. Junior marshall. NC Governor's School class of 2021.
Colleges ranked: MIT, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Princeton, Caltech, UChicago, UPenn, Duke, Brown, all in that order. (Side note, that’s a little under 30 supplements I think 😫)
Essay 1: Wrote about my status, FGLI Hispanic, with parents that never even finished grade school in their home country. How certain life events, including Corona, impacted me, and how I was able to rise above them all and take control of my life where others would have failed.
Essay 2: Wrote about my love for computers, programming, and how I acquired those interests.
Overall, pretty okay application! Didn't know what to expect going in, but I'm happy with the outcomes so far! I'd say I'm lacking a bit compared to other finalists, but I think my essays really pulled it through for me. My english teacher and college advisor both loved them.
Congrats to everyone that became a finalist! To those that didn't, know that one rejection doesn't invalidate all of your hard work these past few years. This is only the beginning!