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QUESTBRIDGE
 
Connecting America's Outstanding Students With Opportunity
 
The QeustBridge College Prep Scholarship provides unparalleled opportunities designed to help outstanding low-income high school juniors prepare to apply to top colleges.
 
WHY APPLY?
Through this program, more than 2,000 students will be selected as College Prep Scholars.  These students will receive one or more awards that will help prepare them for the college admissions process and make them stronger applicants to selective colleges.
 
QuestBridge takes all of the following factors into account when evaluating an application for the National College Match:
POSSE FOUNDATION
 
Their History
Posse started because of one student who said, “I never would have dropped out of college if I had my posse with me.” That simple idea of sending a group of students to college together to act as a support system for one another was the impetus for a program that today has become one of the most comprehensive college access programs in the United States.
 
Vanderbilt University was Posse’s first partner institution and took a Posse of five students from New York City in 1989. Four years after setting foot on Vanderbilt’s campus, all five members of Vanderbilt Posse 1 graduated with honors and accolades.
 
Since then, Posse has sent 4,237 Scholars to top-tier colleges and universities throughout the country. Nationally, Posse Scholars have won $486 million in scholarships from Posse’s partner institutions and are persisting and graduating at a rate of 90 percent—significantly above the national average.
 
 
Posse's Mission
The Posse Foundation has three goals:
 
  1. Expand the pool from which top colleges and universities can recruit outstanding young leaders from diverse backgrounds.
  2. Help these institutions build more interactive campus environments so that they can be more welcoming for people from all backgrounds.
  3. Ensure that Posse Scholars persist in their academic studies and graduate so they can take on leadership positions in the workforce.
The Posse Foundation has identified, recruited and trained 4,869 public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential to become Posse Scholars. Since 1989, these students—many of whom might have been overlooked by traditional college selection processes—have been receiving four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s partner institutions of higher education.. Most important, Posse Scholars graduate at a rate of 90 percent and make a visible difference on campus and throughout their professional careers.
 
 
Posse is one of the most comprehensive and renowned college access and youth leadership development programs in the United States. In fact, President Barack Obama recently said in an interview in The Chronicle of Higher Education , “One of this year’s MacArthur awardees—the ‘genius’ awards—is an innovator named Deborah Bial. She proposed a model to identify promising students from disadvantaged urban backgrounds using an alternative set of qualities as predictors of success in college. …The students that are selected form a ‘Posse’ and are provided with extra supports, and end up graduating from selective colleges with a very high success rate.”
 
 
Where is Posse?
Posse has sites in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York and Washington, D.C. Posse opened its ninth site in Houston in 2012.
 
College Access and Leadership Development
Founded in 1989, Posse identifies public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse extends to these students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams—Posses—of 10 students. Posse partner colleges and universities award Posse Scholars four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarships.
 
Who Nominates High School Students?
High school faculty and staff or community members may nominate high school students.  Posse will notify LACES how many students we can nominate and a deadline.  Once we are given this information, Ms. Perez, College Counselor, will provide nomination forms for all faculty and staff.  Of those students with the highest number of votes, LACES will submit information to Posse.  Students will be informed and Ms. Perez will meet with them as a group to explain what Posse is and does and what to expect.
 
For additional information goto: www.possefoundation.org
 
  • Academic Achievement
  • Financial Need
  • Additional Criteria
  • GPA: both unweighted and weighted considered
  • Class rank: Over 75% of finalists are in the top 5% of their class
  • Rigor of high school curriculum: Finalists typically take the most challenging courses available, including Honors, AP, and /or IB level courses, if available.
  • Standardized test scores: Average scores of past finalists are: SAT=1940, ACT=30 (SAT Subject tests & AP test results also considered) To be considered, students MUST submit scores required by QuestBridge partner colleges they're interested in attending directly to the colleges.
  • Essays: strong writing ability, as well as intellectual spark, determination, and altruism.
  • Recommendations: Letters of recommendation reflect student's academic abilities, how a student interacts in the classroom and school community, and how the student compares to other students at his or her school.
Financial Aid
The National College Match is designed for students who come from families with a history of earning low to moderate income.  Some of the factors we use to assess financial need when selecting finalists include annual household income, assets, and household circumstances:
  1. Annual household income: Typically earning less than $60,000 annually for a family of 4, and often less than $50,000.  All sources of family income taken into account include:
  • salaries, wages, tips
  • business and farm income
  • rental income
  • interest and dividend income
  • retirement distributions
  • alimony
  • child support received
Note: Students with divorced or separated parents must report the income of both biological parents, as non-custodial parent information is taken nito consideration when determining financial need.  The only exception is when the student has not had contact with the non-custodial parent for an extended period of time.
 
2.  Assets
  • Home ownership
  • Business or farm ownership
  • Cash and savings
  • Investments
  • Additional properties
3.  Household circumstances
  • # of people supported by the household income
  • # of students in college (undergraduate only)
  • Unemployment or other changes to the household income
  • Eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch
  • Having been in foster care
  • Other non-discretionary financial commitments, such as high medical bills.
Please note that finalists will need to submit official documentation verifying their financial situation to the colleges to which they apply.  A thorough financial review will be performed by QuestBridge and by the colleges for all students who become finalists.
 
Additional Criteria
We also take the following factors into account when reviewing applications:
  • Parents' level of edcuation: Many past award recipients have been among the first generation in their family to attend a four-year college.
  • Extenuating circumstances: For example, if students have jobs to help their parents pay the bills, or spend much time out of school caring for siblings if their parents are absent or at work.
  • Extracurricular Achievements: Accomplishments and leadership roles in extracurricular and community activities.
HOW TO APPLY
Visit www.questbridge.org to access the online application.  It is free to apply.
APPLICATION IS DUE: September 29, 2021