QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship - Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the relationship between the QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship for High School Juniors and the QuestBridge National College Match?

The College Prep Scholarship for High School Juniors (CPS) and the National College Match (NCM) are both programs offered by QuestBridge. The CPS is open to high school juniors and grants awards designed to prepare high-achieving low-income students for the QuestBridge NCM as well as the college admissions process in general. The NCM is open to high school seniors and serves as a joint application for admission and full four-year scholarships to QuestBridge partner colleges. The information that applicants submit for the CPS application as juniors is automatically transferred into the NCM application if a student chooses to apply to the NCM program once they become a senior. Applicants will still be able to edit their information before they submit their applications for the NCM.

2. Is the College Prep Scholarship application required in order to apply for the National College Match?

No. Students may apply to either or both.

3. Will winning a College Prep Scholarship award make me more likely to win a National College Match award?

Probably. The College Prep Scholarship awards are designed to prepare students to be strong applicants for the National College Match as well as for the admissions process for selective colleges more generally. At the same time, it is important to note that many past applicants have received College Match scholarships without having applied for or received a College Prep Scholarship award.

4. What qualifies a student as “low-income”?

Please see the eligibility page.

5. What qualifies a student as "high-achieving" or academically "outstanding"?

Please see the eligibility page.

6. How are College Prep Scholarship winners selected?

Students are evaluated based on every section of the application. No single factor is decisive. Grades, standardized test scores, socioeconomic factors, and essay responses are the most heavily weighted factors. Due to the volume of applications that we receive, QuestBridge cannot comment on individual application decisions.

7. Is the College Prep Scholarship only for minorities?

No. QuestBridge programs are open to students of every race, ethnicity, and cultural background.

8. Does QuestBridge accept paper applications?

No. College Prep Scholarship applications must be completed and submitted online. Teacher recommendations may be submitted by fax, but must be sent using the appropriate cover sheet provided in the student’s application.

9. Do I need to have taken the PSAT, SAT, SAT Subject Tests, ACT or PLAN to apply?

QuestBridge recommends, but does not require, that students take at least one standardized test before applying for the College Prep Scholarship.

10. How do I calculate my unweighted Grade Point Average (GPA)?

An unweighted grade point average (GPA) is reported on a 4.0 scale. If your school does not provide you with an unweighted GPA, you will need to calculate it using the following table:

To use this table, find the grade point value of your final grade in a class (for example, a B+ is a 3.3) and multiply it by the total number of units the class is worth (for a five unit class, multiply 5 x 3.3). Do this for each of your courses in grades 9-12, adding the grade points as you go. Then, divide by the total number of units you have taken. For example, if you have taken only three classes, each worth five units, and you have received an A, B+, and A-, calculate your GPA as follows:

(5 x 4.0) + (5 x 3.3) + (5 x 3.7) = 55, 55/15 =3.67, or a 3.7 GPA (you can round to the nearest tenth for this application).

11. How does weighted GPA differ from unweighted GPA?

Some secondary schools choose to grade students on a 5.0 scale rather than the typical 4.0 scale. A student typically receives 5.0 grade points for a class if he or she earns an “A” grade in an Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) class, while each subsequent grade is worth an additional point over its worth in a non-weighted system. An “A” grade in a non-AP/IB class still earns 4.0 grade points. While the system described above is the most common weighting system for GPA, there is no single standard for weighting secondary school grades. Different schools have different weighting practices, while others refuse to weight grades at all. We ask that you use the system described in the response to the previous question if your school does not weight grades for you or provide any instructions on how to calculate a weighted GPA.

12. Whom should I contact regarding technical difficulties?

Please send a message to techsupport@questbridge.org that describes the nature of your problem in detail. Please do not send multiple messages regarding the same issue, since this only increases the amount of time it will take for QuestBridge to respond to help inquiries.

13. Will the College Prep Scholarship pay for any of the costs of attending college?

No. The College Prep Scholarship is designed to provide high school juniors with resources and information that will prepare them for the college application process. When students who are currently juniors become seniors, they will then be eligible for the National College Match Program, which does provide full four-year scholarships to QuestBridge partner colleges.

14. How will I be notified about decisions regarding my application?

Applicants will be notified via e-mail. Since e-mail will be the primary method of communication between QuestBridge and scholarship applicants, you should ensure that you have consistent access to a reliable e-mail account. In addition, you should regularly check any spam or bulk e-mail folders for your e-mail account in case QuestBridge correspondence has been inadvertently routed there.

15. Will my essays be transferred from the College Prep Scholarship application to the National College Match application automatically?

No. Since the essay component of the National College Match application will be different and much more extensive than the College Prep Scholarship application, you will need to write several new essays for the National College Match.

16. Whom should I ask to write my recommendation letter?

You should request a recommendation from a teacher who knows you well and taught you in a core academic class (math, English, science, history/social science, or foreign language).

17. Can I apply only for one or two specific awards?

You can apply for as many of the College Prep Scholarship awards as you would like. The application includes a section that allows you to select which awards you are most interested in receiving. In some cases, students may be given the option of receiving awards that they did not originally select, but only after they have been considered for the awards that they originally selected.

18. Will transportation costs for attending the QuestBridge College Admissions Conferences be covered?

QuestBridge will offer a limited number of travel grants to students who will be traveling long distances to attend the College Admissions Conferences. As a nonprofit organization, QuestBridge does not have the resources to sponsor travel for all students who receive invitations to the QuestBridge conferences.

We encourage you to fundraise on your own from sources such as local businesses and churches. Many students who have attended our organization's events in past years have been successful in doing so. We encourage you to review the fundraising guide on the Junior Statesmen Foundation’s website for more ideas:

http://www.jsa.org/download/fundraising.pdf

19. Will the College Prep Scholarship pay for me to attend any other summer programs?

No. The College Prep Scholarship is limited to specific summer programs at Harvard, Stanford, the University of Notre Dame, and Yale.

20. What are the details for the application process to the college summer programs?

The application criteria and instructions are different for each summer program covered under the College Prep Scholarship. Relevant details are available on the College Prep Scholarship Summer Program page (http://www.questbridge.org/cps/awards/summer_school.html).