A group of 18 freshmen and sophomores who applied to the College through QuestBridge a scholarship program for low-income students met in the Collis Center on Sunday for the first Dartmouth Quest Scholars meeting of term. The club, which received recognition from the Council on Student Organizations during spring term, hopes to spread awareness about issues related to socioeconomic disparities, QuestBridge liaison and Dartmouth Quest Scholars acting president Ilenna Jones '15 said.
QuestBridge, a member of the Quest Scholar Program, aims to facilitate the admission of talented low-income students to its 33 partner colleges, according to CEO David Hunter. The College has admitted approximately 40 students since it began its partnership with the QuestBridge program last year, according to Rick Palomino '15.
QuestBridge students are referred to the program by one of their high school teachers, according to the program's website. Partner institutions screen Questbridge applications with the same scrutiny with which they screen all applications, but Questbridge applications do not require a submission fee and allow students to highlight obstacles that may not have been addressed in a regular application, according to the website.
Each September, QuestBridge applicants submit applications to up to eight schools that they rank in order of preference, according to the program's website. If these students are selected as finalists by QuestBridge, their applications are forwarded to the schools they selected. Dartmouth admits three QuestBridge finalists through a matching process each fall and guarantees them full-ride scholarships, according to Quest Scholar Ethan Falleur '16.
Students are required to attend the school they are matched with, which can be a disadvantage for some applicants, Quest Scholar Hongyu Chen '15 said.
Students who are not selected as finalists have the opportunity to apply through the regular decision process with their QuestBridge applications, Falleur said.
Chen said he applied to 30 schools through QuestBridge, which was possible for him because Quest Scholars do not have to pay application fees.
The QuestBridge application process requires students to submit a series of essays and three teacher recommendations from teachers in different subject areas, Falleur said. The "set of extra hoops" that students go through is worth the effort, he said.
"A full scholarship is nothing to laugh at it's a big deal," Falleur said.
The additional essays allow students to present a more complete picture of themselves to admissions officers, according to Palomino.
Students whose households earn less than $60,000 a year are automatically eligible to apply, though the financial aid application process provides colleges with a more comprehensive understanding of a student's financial background, Jones said.
"You don't just say how much money you make and that's your financial story," Jones said.
QuestBridge exposes students to top schools across the nation, according to Latrell Williams '16. Williams said he didn't know what the Ivy League was before beginning the program's application process.
Falleur said that QuestBridge was the reason he considered applying to the College.
"Dartmouth wasn't even on my radar before seeing them on QuestBridge's list," he said.
The organization offers students a viable pathway to success, according to Jones.
"QuestBridge doesn't just say, Go pull yourself up by your bootstraps' it says, Here's how you do it,'" Jones said.
Another benefit of the program is the strong community it builds among applicants, according to Williams. Finalists connect online through Facebook groups and other forums, he said.
"We became like one huge family," Williams said.
The Dartmouth Quest Scholars program wants to bring the community of scholars at the College closer together during the year, Jones said.
The group plans on hosting a forum to discuss "socioeconomic awareness and ownership" and conducting outreach in the Upper Valley community to expose students to the scholarship program and the possibility of attending an elite university, Jones said.
The QuestBridge program inspired Jones to think more critically about socioeconomic status and its impact on social life, she said.
Finalists for the Class of 2017 will be notified on Oct. 22, according to the program's website.
The Admissions Office could not be reached for comment by press time.
Staff writer Jennifer Dalecki contributed reporting to this story.
