February 14, 2024 • 34 mins
Unlock the secrets of the College Prep Scholars (CPS) program with Dr. Christian Martell from Questbridge. We zoom in on CPS and its role as a stepping stone for high-achieving, low-income, high school juniors aiming for the Questbridge National College Match. Learn about the program's history, its application process, and the unparalleled strategic advantages it offers.
Dr. Martell shares insights into the eligibility criteria, and we tackle the complexities of college applications in a post-pandemic world. This conversation is a must for educators, offering a roadmap to navigate the nuances of academic and extracurricular narratives. Dr. Martell and I also dissect the financial support these programs offer, making elite education more accessible.
We wrap up with a discussion on the power of educator referrals and the critical role of teachers and counselors in the application process. This episode is an valuable resource for anyone invested in changing the narrative around college access for low-income and first-generation students.
Links to reach out to Christian and the Questbridge programs.
- Christian's LinkedIn
- QuestBridge website
- questions@questbridge.org
- QuestBridge CPS Application
- 2023 College Prep Scholar Profile
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jen (00:08):
Hello, I'm Jennifer Shown, your host for the First Gen FN
podcast.
Please call me Jen.
Each week, I'll share myinsights and ideas, solo or with
a special guest, on creatingopportunities to celebrate and
support the First Gen Collegeand College Bound students we
work with.
My goal with this podcast is toconnect you with other high
(00:30):
school and college educators, toshare our successes and
challenges and create a web ofFirst Gen advocates.
Thank you for joining me today.
Now let's dive into this week'sepisode.
Welcome to the First Gen FNpodcast.
Dr Christian Martell, I'm sohappy that you're here to talk
with me.
Today we're going to have agreat conversation about
(00:53):
Questbridge and the college prepscholars and, for those of you
who may not know Dr Martell, shestarted with Questbridge back
in 2022.
She is located in Houston andshe's a native Texan, so she's
happy to be back in Houston and,like I said, we're going to
talk about the college prepscholars.
Christian, welcome to thepodcast.
(01:14):
Yeah, thank you for having mehow long has the college prep
scholars program been going on?
Christian (01:22):
Yeah, the college prep scholars program is one of
two high school programs that wehave at Questbridge, the other
being our program for highschool seniors, the national
college match, which isdefinitely our premier program.
But the college prep scholarsprogram for high school juniors
is actually sort of the firststep for students to come into
the Questbridge programming, andit's been around for quite a
(01:45):
few years, but not as long asour national college match,
which states back to 2003.
Jen (01:51):
Yeah, nice, and your application is open right now,
which is why it's the perfecttime for us to talk about.
Do you ever abbreviate collegeprep scholars, or do you always
say the full word?
Christian (02:03):
Yeah, we tend to refer to it as CPS.
Jen (02:06):
Then we're going to go with CPS.
I think that's much better.
So tell me about CPS.
If I'm working in a high schoolor I'm talking to students, how
do I know who might be eligibleand how can I get them to find
out more about it?
Christian (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Our eligibility for both thecollege prep scholars program
and the national college matchis the same, except for the
grade change.
But for juniors, we are alsolooking for high achieving, low
income students, and so highachieving for us means that you
have students who are earningprimarily A's and the most
(02:41):
rigorous courses available tothem at their school.
They are involved in eitheractivities at their school or
take active roles in theircommunity or in their households
.
A lot of our students have alot of sort of family
responsibilities, and many ofthem hold part-time jobs and
other things, and so you like tosee students that are engaged
(03:02):
outside of the classroom as wellas inside of the classroom, and
, of course, they showintellectual curiosity and great
writing ability all the thingsthat our college partners like
to look for down the road.
So that's really who we'relooking for in terms of the high
achieving part for students,and when we talk about students
coming from low incomebackgrounds, we are really
(03:22):
saying you know, many of ourstudents are coming from your
typical family of four witharound 65,000 annual income and
minimal assets.
Now, of course, there arestudents that come from
households that are smaller thanfour or larger than four that
might make less or more than65,000.
So we don't have absolutecutoffs.
(03:43):
We're really looking at thefull context of the student,
both academically andfinancially.
So if the student believes thatthey have faced significant
financial challenges, there's alot of space in our application
for them to be able to providethat situation, and so we see
many students using thoseadditional spaces in the
application to let us know.
(04:04):
Often there might be otherthings that aren't clearly
visible from.
You know income statements andthings like that that we're
asking for, including highmedical bills or job losses and
things like that.
So the minimal asset part isanother piece.
You know what is a minimalasset?
Students can own homes andtheir families can own
(04:25):
businesses.
That doesn't mean that you haveno assets to your name but, of
course, if you really need forstudents that do not have
multimillion dollar homes andyachts and things like that, no,
yeah that's what we mean by bythose minimal assets, and yeah,
and I always like I'm so gladyou clarified that because I
(04:47):
know too, when I write thingsabout this.
Jen (04:49):
You know the scholarship that I run, the torch
scholarship it's.
You say things like highachieving, but then everyone is
well, what does?
What exactly do you mean?
And you, you can say, well,there's an average GPA, or you
know, the middle 50% fall intothis GPA, but there are always
students on either end who havevarious reasons or maybe
(05:12):
something exceptional in theirbackground, either academically
or outside the classroom, thatpropel them forward to you, even
if they don't match theaverages, would you say.
That's pretty much true for youtoo.
It sounds like it.
Christian (05:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think one of the uniquethings about our QuestBridge
applications for both of ourprograms is that we do have a
lot of space for students totell us some of those things and
in some cases we anticipatesome of those things right.
So, for instance, when Imentioned, you know we like to
see students that are involvedoutside of the classroom.
(05:48):
I think traditionally, manystudents and educators even have
thought about that as yourextracurriculars and your
athletics, and you know thingsinside the school day or
traditional campus.
But for us, we know that manyof our students might be
traveling more than an hour toand from their school, that some
(06:09):
of those opportunities simplyaren't available to them either
because of things like timeconstraints and travel time or,
you know, just the cost ofparticipating in certain
programs, and so we do look forthose other ways that students
are again engaging in theircommunity or engaging in their
household responsibilities.
(06:29):
We have so many students whoare, you know, translating for
their entire family or takingcare of siblings or elderly
grandparents, and you know thattakes that takes a big sort of
maturity right that they're donein taking on some of those
tasks.
So that's just one example ofsort of the types of things that
(06:50):
we like to see in students.
Jen (06:52):
Yeah, and and I mean I always encourage students, if
they're traveling a lot, to goto school, like I have to go,
you know, take three buses toget to school or I need, you
know, I walk this way and then Ineed to do these three things
and it takes me an hour to sharethat with whoever they're
applying, whether it's for yourscholarship, cps, or for my
scholarship or just admissionsin general, because it indicates
(07:15):
that there's a big chunk ofyour time that's going towards
transportation and going backand forth and you know, maybe
they can use it to study or dosomething, but they can't
participate in a lot ofextracurriculars at their school
.
I also appreciate that you'redefining leadership very broadly
, that it's not just you knowI'm president of, you know, the
(07:35):
club or editor of the paper,it's I'm taking care of, you
know, my siblings.
I make them dinner, you know,because my parents aren't home
just yet.
And the job, the job part, likeso many of the students that we
would work with have jobs.
They're working to help supportthemselves, to help support
their family, and if you'reworking 20 hours a week or
(07:57):
sometimes I see upwards of like30 hours a week or more, it's
really hard to engage in some ofthose others because they feel
that responsibility to theirfamily and they need to put that
in any application that theysubmit.
Christian (08:11):
Absolutely yes, yes, and I think being able, as
educators, to tell students thatthat that is valuable use of
their time, to encourage them toshare that because it is a big
part of their story, is reallygreat.
We don't want someone to think,oh wait, I'm not involved, but
actually they're doing all ofthese other things.
Yes, yes.
Jen (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the thing is, when I read an
application and the studentdoesn't put anything in their
student activities list, I'mlike you are doing something,
but for whatever reason, theyjust don't think it's important.
So if you're working with thosestudents, encouraging them to
put those things in, I think isjust so important to them.
So now let me ask you a littlebit on the academic side of
(08:54):
things.
This class that's going toenter in fall 2024, this is the
class that was almost fullyremote in most places for the
2020-2021 school year.
Talk about, you know, if aschool is just giving passing
grades for those times when theywere remote, or maybe they just
(09:17):
had a really tough time whenthey were remote and their
grades are terrible, but theyshow that I have the potential
and I am now high achieving andthat grade trend is going up.
Should we encourage thosestudents to apply or is that
like?
Well, you know it's notconsistent.
No-transcript.
Christian (09:38):
Yeah, I think we're starting to see less and less of
that sort of kind of COVIDdisruption and either the way
courses were reported or some ofthe classes that were available
to students during that time.
So it's nice to see that it'sless of an issue now than, I
think, what we saw a few yearsago.
But regardless, we're sort oftreating it the same way, right.
(10:01):
We like to see, we encouragestudents to work with their
counselors to provide us withschool profiles, that they are
available, and often thoseschool profiles is where
counselors are already lettingus know what types of changes
may have happened to thecurriculum, so what courses were
available to students duringthose COVID years, or if there
(10:23):
were changes in how grades mayhave been calculated or reported
.
And so if a school profile isn'tavailable, then often we're
telling students you know, letus know in the application, or
make sure your counselor isbeing very direct in their
recommendation as part of thesenior program at least, that
they're letting us know whathappened.
(10:44):
Because if we don't have thatcontext right, every school was
functioning a little different,every district was a little
different, and so we rather knowmore information and be able to
contextualize the rest of theapplication in that way than to
kind of be left with a blankright, be left with a question
well, what happened here?
(11:05):
But we, in terms of the studentand their grades, obviously of
course, as we're not availableto them, that is a no fault
their own and we do like to seethat upward trajectory in grades
, despite what may have happenedin some of those years.
Jen (11:23):
Yeah, so it sounds like the application for the college
prep scholars is an excellentwarm-up for applying to college
later.
It's almost exactly the samethings they're going to need to
do Essays, sharing theiractivities, making sure they
include is there anything elseyou want to know about us?
And just submitting all of thatto you, and with
(11:46):
recommendations as well, so theyhave to reach out and find
people to recommend.
So, yeah, it sounds like areally excellent warm-up.
Then, what does the processlook like for you on your end?
Because, again, if I'm acounselor or a from work and I'm
working with high schoolstudents, I'm like you should do
this.
It always helps me to see whatis that going to go through when
I'm thinking about either whatto write about them or how to
(12:07):
advise the student.
Christian (12:09):
Yeah, it's absolutely true that we internally, we
like to say it's the miniversion of the National College
Match application, because itreally is.
I think for students that gothrough the College Prep
Scholars Program, even if theyare not selected as college prep
scholars, it's a wonderfullearning opportunity.
The process of going throughsubmitting the application is a
(12:33):
low stakes way of seeing whatapplying to college and applying
to selective colleges mightlook like for you in the fall.
So we have the differentapplication components, as you
mentioned.
We're asking them about theirhousehold and who they are.
We do have the added componentof the finances because of our
(12:55):
criteria, and then it's thewriting section.
There is a section for theirextracurricular activities and
other things they do outside theclassroom.
There's one teacherrecommendation for the College
Prep Scholars Program and oftenfor those students that do the
junior program and then go on todo the National College Match
senior year, they're asking thatsame teacher.
(13:16):
That teacher already has done arecommendation, so they have
the leg up there that they'reable to submit and simply add on
whatever may have changed inthat time.
And so all of that process, oh,and asking for a transcript,
that's the other big thing.
I think for students this mightbe the first time they've ever
had to ask for a transcript, andwhen you have to do that for
(13:39):
college and maybe multiplecolleges that you're applying to
in the fall, it's already astressful time.
So learning how to ask for atranscript your junior spring
again is going to just make it alot easier and a lot less
stressful, hopefully when thecollege application comes around
senior year.
So I think all of those thingsthe process of applying and
(14:00):
putting together the application, the best application that they
can is a really great learningopportunity for the student.
Jen (14:07):
Is there like a mini FAFSA that they do for you, or is it
just like some document thatthey fill out and just send in?
Christian (14:14):
Yeah, so all of the financial information that we
ask for is self-reported.
So we're not asking for copiesof W2s or anything like that,
but we do ask students to workalong with their parent or
guardian or whoever it is thatis responsible for them in their
life, and to sit down and havethose types of documents
available to them so that theyare able to fill it out to the
(14:37):
best of their ability.
The more accurate it is and themost amount of information they
could provide that we're askingfor, it's better for us in terms
of determining eligibility.
I think the other thing that Iwill say, which is a benefit as
well for the College PrepScholars Program, is that for
those students who do start thatapplication, once they have
(15:02):
that all in and they want to dothe National College Match
senior year, that informationactually carries over in
summertime.
So if they've already sat downto do all that financial
information with their family,all of it will be there right,
and it wouldn't have changedbecause we were using tax
information from a previous year.
So they're really doing a lotof that work, a lot of the work
(15:26):
that is sort of simulated withthe FAFSA or with the CSS
profile.
We kind of do that upfront inthe application.
That's great.
Jen (15:35):
Yeah, so it's a practice run, but it also it's almost
like completing two at the sametime.
If they choose to go intoCollege Match with some extra
things, they'll have to add forthe College Match.
That is such a good idea.
I love that.
I love anything that makes iteasier for the students to go
through the application processfor something like this, because
(15:56):
the harder you make it, theless likely they are to apply
and the students who are comingfrom the low income backgrounds
may have fewer resources to usewithin their schools to help
them go through this process.
So I thank you to Questbridgefor that, for making it simpler
for the students.
We had talked about this alittle bit beforehand, but I am
(16:19):
curious if the SCOTUS ruling hadany impact on you and how
you're considering race or notconsidering race as part of the
scholarship and kind of as anaddendum to that as an
undocumented student.
If I weren't undocumentedstudent, could I apply for the
scholarship?
Christian (16:35):
Yeah, so for for eligibility in terms of
citizenship, it is any studentthat is attending and living in
the US, regardless ofcitizenship status.
So you know any type ofcitizenship status if they're
international students andthey're in the US attending a
high school here they can alsoapply.
(16:57):
And just the follow up to thatis obviously their finances
might look a little different.
So we do ask for them toconvert to US dollars, but but
you know they are eligible ifthey're attending and living in
the US at the time.
So so that's one thing in thein terms of the question around
the SCOTUS decision, you know,for us we've always been an
(17:17):
organization that's reallycentered on high achieving
students from low incomebackgrounds.
You know our students do nothave to come from a first
generation.
You know college studentperspective.
They're not coming fromspecific races or ethnicities.
Of course they do because ofthe nature of high achieving,
low income students.
But for us the income part isreally been sort of the most
(17:41):
present and so you know we werelucky, I think, in terms of
being in the space of collegeaccess and not feeling the
SCOTUS decision as much asperhaps some of our you know
kind of peer organizations did.
That may have been particularlyfocused on certain groups of
students.
Jen (18:00):
Yeah, yeah, okay, great, thank you.
Why, kristen, do you think it'simportant for rising seniors to
take their summer to go to acollege campus and experience a
program there?
Christian (18:14):
Yeah, you know, I think it's.
Actually it makes me thinkabout the origins of Questbridge
.
We actually started back in1994, we started as a summer
program, the summer before thesenior year of high school,
having students come to theStanford campus and living in
the dorms and, you know,reflecting on what they had been
(18:37):
doing in high school, what theywanted to see after high school
graduation.
And these were all again highachieving students and well
positioned to go to places likeStanford and living.
For many of them living closeto Stanford but not really
thinking it was an option forthem and so wanting to introduce
them to that kind ofenvironment, the types of
(18:58):
resources that are located oncampuses like the Stanford, and
having them understand that youknow they were on the path, if
they so wanted, to go to aschool like that, to be able to
apply and to go.
So I think for us, you know, acollege prep scholars program in
a lot of ways is that we'retracing that line straight back
(19:18):
to our history and we believestrongly that for students to
have the view of thoseopportunities is really
important.
And many of these studentswould do really well I mean they
, they would be great withoutPussbridge.
I think what Pussbridgeprovides for many of our
students is the confidence andthe knowledge that these schools
are not just, you know, willingto admit them, but actively
(19:43):
looking for them, wanting themto be on their campuses and
wanting to support them whilethey're there, and that often
for many students that gothrough our programs, you know,
this is actually the mostfinancially feasible option for
college, perhaps even moreaffordable than their community
college or their state flagship.
And so I think for us havingthat time right before your
(20:06):
senior year where you're reallythinking traditionally, thinking
more specifically, aboutapplying to college, it's really
important because it helps setup students to have perhaps a
broader college choice processthan they would have would have
had otherwise.
Jen (20:22):
Yeah, do you send students to the schools that?
Do the students get to selectwhat schools they would like to
do the summer programs?
Do you try to get them to staycloser to home or can they go
anywhere they choose, they getselected.
Christian (20:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So.
So to be really clear, with theCollege Prep Scholars program,
many of our programming andresources that we share for the
students that are selected asCollege Prep Scholars is
asynchronous, it's virtual.
Everyone gets those things andeveryone gets an invitation to a
National College AdmissionsConference, which we have both a
(21:04):
virtual and an in person optionfor students, and so there is
potentially that in personopportunity for College Prep
Scholars if they get invited toone of those in person
conferences, and for those, ofcourse, that are perhaps too far
away from those campuses, theycan always do the virtual.
Otherwise, we do havespecialized awards that students
(21:26):
can apply for within theCollege Prep Scholars program
application, and one of them isa college summer program, and
those vary in length, so theyare housed at.
I think this year we have nineof our college partners with
various opportunities availablethere and in all sorts of things
(21:47):
.
I love to see the list thatthey put together.
It's like you know, if you'reinterested in STEM, there's
something for you, and codingover here, and humanities and
law.
They're really great programsthat students get really excited
for.
But that is one of the mostelective awards that we offer as
part of the College PrepScholars program.
As you can imagine, it's valuedover $20,000 because it covers
(22:08):
everything housing, food, travelto and from all of the tuition,
all of that.
So the students get to choosewhich of those programs they
want to be considered for ateither of those nine college
partners that offer the collegesummer programs, and then from
there again, everything iscovered if they are awarded that
(22:33):
particular college summerprogram.
Jen (22:35):
Nice, that's wonderful.
So can you give me notnecessarily some numbers, but
some idea of how competitive itis to get into the CPS program
and then what it looks like forsome of the other grants, like
the grant to go to the summerprogram?
Or I notice you have the Questfor Excellence awards too, so
(22:56):
talk more about that if youwould like to share everything.
Christian (22:59):
Yeah, yeah, of course I did pull some numbers so I'd
have them in front of me so Ican share a little bit about
what happened last year, forinstance.
So for our College PrepScholars from last year, we had
a little over 15,000applications for the program and
we selected 3,518 college prepscholars.
All of those again were invitedto our National College
(23:23):
Admissions conferences.
They received a specializedcurriculum in the summertime
that was asynchronous andvirtual, and all of them again
have the designation of being acollege prep scholar, which we
have found that if they continuewith us through the National
College match their senior year,they're more than they're about
six times more likely to beselected as match scholarship
(23:45):
recipients, which is a big, abig deal.
So they all get that benefit.
They all get the benefit ofhaving that CPS application roll
into the fall with them as well.
Some of those students wouldhave received a college summer
program.
Like I said, that's probably themost selective of the awards
that we offer and the otherpretty selective award but
(24:08):
there's definitely more studentsthat receive it is the quest
for excellence awards, and thoseare awards that are $1,000
educational awards.
So the student is able to usethe $1,000 for any educational
expenses to get them prepared toapply to selective colleges.
So you know, many of ourstudents tell us that they spend
(24:29):
that money on a laptop becausethey need to be able to finish
their application in the fall ofthe senior year.
Some of them will spend it onthings like SAT or ACT prep.
Others will use it to go visitcolleges that they're interested
in, and so you know they havethat flexibility to use it
however they think will bestprepare them in the fall to
(24:49):
apply to college.
And quest for excellence awardsare again embedded within the
college of scholars programapplication.
That's where a student wouldtell us they want to be
considered.
They can be considered for asmany of our words as they'd like
, as long as they're meeting thecriteria.
So, request for excellenceawards we have some for students
who are interested in thehumanities, some for if they're
(25:11):
interested in STEM or in Jewishculture and studies.
If they are from New York City,we have a NYC award and we also
have one that's called the QFEUSA award, which is basically
we're selecting kind of the topstudent from every state.
So if they believe they mightbe the top student in their
(25:33):
state, you know they can goahead and check off that box as
well.
Jen (25:37):
I love that.
So I love again one applicationmultiple opportunities for
programs, awards, funding, andit rolls over into the college
match.
When students ask me aboutapplying like should I apply for
the torch scholarship?
I'm not sure if I'm eligiblehere or there I'm like, why
don't just apply and we'll makethe decision?
(25:59):
But if you don't apply, youwill not.
I can guarantee you you won'tbe selected.
So that's the only guarantee.
I can ever make a student.
If you don't apply, you won'tget selected.
And we really should.
If we're talking to studentswho are high achieving, who you
know we might feel confident arein that low income range, we
should just we should doeverything we can to have them
(26:20):
apply if this is something thatmight be interesting to them.
Christian (26:26):
Yeah, and I think one thing, just one question that
we kind of get from students andsometimes educators as well, as
you know well, what if thestudent applies and they're not
selected?
Would that hurt their chancesfor the national college match?
You know, perhaps they heardabout the program a little late.
Their application isn't, youknow, the best they could have
produced and so it doesn't hurttheir chances, right In terms of
(26:50):
again them applying.
If they're not meeting ourcriteria for college prep
scholars, right, perhaps theyare a little bit higher income
than they thought, then you know, their results might be the
same in the national collegematch.
But if it's for another reason,right, maybe their short answers
weren't the best, or whateverit is that may have had us not
(27:13):
select MSCP scholars.
That's absolutely not the endof the road, it's not affecting
their decision in the nationalcollege match.
And in fact I like to share thestory that even on the high
school outreach team right now,one of my teammates, she,
applied for the college prepscholars and was not selected,
and then she used that asmotivation to do even better in
(27:34):
the match and she matched.
She matched to Pomona and sowas able to attend Pomona
College out in California on afull rights scholarship.
Jen (27:43):
Perfect, and it's not necessarily one and done Like,
just keep applying.
If it's something again thatyou think you could improve on,
go ahead and try it again.
I think that's always goodadvice.
Yeah, I like to close with someactionable items.
So, as we wrap up, what'ssomething that you think a high
(28:03):
school counselor or teacher orsomeone in a gear up or an avid
program can do to help theirstudents apply?
Christian (28:12):
Yeah, I think the number one thing that educators
can do is refer their student.
What we see is that students,when they understand that they
have been referred to apply toone of our programs from a
trusted educator, they're twiceas likely to start that
application.
Again, some students mightalready know about us, they
(28:35):
might have already heard aboutthe program, but until they see
that Mr So-and-So from myEnglish class referred me and he
really thinks I'm able to dothis, that's when it really
brings them to be able to startthe application.
Once they start thatapplication, especially if it's
an educator who is a recommenderin the application, you will
(28:57):
hear from us and we alwaysencourage educators to keep
asking the student about the app, making sure that they're
progressing.
Sometimes they might start andthey're very jazzed and as the
semester goes by, other thingsget in the way.
So just keep supporting them inall the ways that educators
already support their students,but knowing that there's someone
(29:19):
that's looking out for them isthe best thing that we can give
to students when they'rethinking about applying and or
continuing their applicationprocess.
Jen (29:28):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Some of my students who arelong graduated did something
that resonates with me.
That I love is when they saythings like you saw the
potential in me before I saw itand I think as an educator, by
referring students to say Ithink you should apply for this,
you're saying I see you and Isee your potential and I think
(29:52):
this is a good fit for you.
And, regardless of the outcome,just having someone in their
corner to say that who is sopositive about what they can do,
when just so many negativethings are really just pulling
at our students all the time, Ithink that's such a powerful
thing to do, best and mostwonderful advice, and I'm lucky
(30:14):
enough that my students havetold me that they appreciated
that, which we don't always getto hear in education but it's
nice when you do.
And then for people like me, I'mworking at Northeastern, which
is not a Questbridge school, sowe wouldn't get to meet these
amazing students.
What do you suggest or how, ifwe're interested in being more
involved in Questbridge orbecoming a partner school, what
(30:37):
can we do in the first gen spacethat would help us do that?
Christian (30:43):
Yeah, so I think for our.
We have, at this point, over 50college partners across the
country, and there's some of thetop colleges and universities
in the country their researchuniversities, liberal arts
colleges, women's colleges,religiously affiliated right and
the thing that binds them alltogether is that they are all
committed to meeting 100% ofdemonstrated financial need from
(31:06):
students, and so these areinstitutions that are actively
looking for and hoping tosupport students from low income
backgrounds, and so if thereare institutions or folks
listening at institutions whoare interested in becoming a
partner, all they have to do isreach out.
So, questions at questbridgeorg,you can send us an email.
(31:28):
We have a team that wouldcontinue that conversation.
And, again, we're reallylooking for institutions that
are willing to make thatfinancial commitment to students
in terms of making sure thatthey're able to afford to attend
the institution if they were toget in.
But we're also looking at thehistory that you might have with
(31:48):
the types of students that weserve, right, is this going to
be the first time that you havea significant amount of students
that you might be bringing infrom this background, or are
there programs and staff alreadyavailable for them when they
arrive on campus to make surethat they're not just being
admitted with great financialaid packages, but we ultimately
(32:09):
want all of our students tograduate as well.
Jen (32:12):
Yes, right, right, just getting in isn't the end of the
line, right?
Yes, that is not the goal,right?
It's about graduating and thenit's about career and preparing
for that.
So, yeah, okay, all right, soit was questions at
questbridgeorg.
Yes, okay, I'll put that in theshow notes, as well as links to
the College Prep Scholarsapplication, which, if you
(32:34):
didn't hear me say this at thebeginning, it is open right now
as of February.
Today is February 9th whenwe're recording and it will
close on March 20th, so there'slots of time to get students
interested and involved andsigned up for this.
Christian, thank you so muchfor joining me today and talking
all things QuestBridge and theCollege Prep Scholars.
(32:57):
I think I learned a lot aboutwhat's involved in it, how many
different opportunities thereare for students through
applying, who it applies to, andthen how I if I'm talking to
high school students can getthem active in doing it, and I
hope you, as a listener, did aswell.
Christian, if they want toreach out to you, where could
they find you?
Christian (33:20):
Yeah, so actually the question is at questbridgeorg.
My entire team handles thatparticular email and you can
always just add my name and itwill get to me, so that is a
great place to reach out.
We try to reply within one totwo business days, so you'll
hear from us pretty speedilythere.
But of course, if anyone wantsto learn more, questbridgeorg is
(33:41):
our website and all of ourprograms are listed there, as
well as eligibility criteria andthat referral form as well for
educators who might want torefer students Fantastic.
Jen (33:53):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you so much forspending time with me today and
for sharing all your knowledgeabout QuestBridge, and thank you
, thank you.
Thank you for listening.
If you'd like to reach out tome to be a guest or to recommend
a guest, you can email me atgen.
That's J-E-N at firstgenfmcom.
(34:13):
My website is firstgenfmcom ifyou're interested in learning
more about my speaking topics.
If you like this episode,please rate and review wherever
you listen.
It helps others to find theshow and it's a nice boost for
me to know you're listening.
Until next week, keep doing theimportant work you do, thank
(34:36):
you.
Hello, I'm Jennifer Shown, your host for the First Gen FN
podcast.
Please call me Jen.
Each week, I'll share myinsights and ideas, solo or with
a special guest, on creatingopportunities to celebrate and
support the First Gen Collegeand College Bound students we
work with.
My goal with this podcast is toconnect you with other high
(00:30):
school and college educators, toshare our successes and
challenges and create a web ofFirst Gen advocates.
Thank you for joining me today.
Now let's dive into this week'sepisode.
Welcome to the First Gen FNpodcast.
Dr Christian Martell, I'm sohappy that you're here to talk
with me.
Today we're going to have agreat conversation about
(00:53):
Questbridge and the college prepscholars and, for those of you
who may not know Dr Martell, shestarted with Questbridge back
in 2022.
She is located in Houston andshe's a native Texan, so she's
happy to be back in Houston and,like I said, we're going to
talk about the college prepscholars.
Christian, welcome to thepodcast.
(01:14):
Yeah, thank you for having mehow long has the college prep
scholars program been going on?
Christian (01:22):
Yeah, the college prep scholars program is one of
two high school programs that wehave at Questbridge, the other
being our program for highschool seniors, the national
college match, which isdefinitely our premier program.
But the college prep scholarsprogram for high school juniors
is actually sort of the firststep for students to come into
the Questbridge programming, andit's been around for quite a
(01:45):
few years, but not as long asour national college match,
which states back to 2003.
Jen (01:51):
Yeah, nice, and your application is open right now,
which is why it's the perfecttime for us to talk about.
Do you ever abbreviate collegeprep scholars, or do you always
say the full word?
Christian (02:03):
Yeah, we tend to refer to it as CPS.
Jen (02:06):
Then we're going to go with CPS.
I think that's much better.
So tell me about CPS.
If I'm working in a high schoolor I'm talking to students, how
do I know who might be eligibleand how can I get them to find
out more about it?
Christian (02:21):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Our eligibility for both thecollege prep scholars program
and the national college matchis the same, except for the
grade change.
But for juniors, we are alsolooking for high achieving, low
income students, and so highachieving for us means that you
have students who are earningprimarily A's and the most
(02:41):
rigorous courses available tothem at their school.
They are involved in eitheractivities at their school or
take active roles in theircommunity or in their households
.
A lot of our students have alot of sort of family
responsibilities, and many ofthem hold part-time jobs and
other things, and so you like tosee students that are engaged
(03:02):
outside of the classroom as wellas inside of the classroom, and
, of course, they showintellectual curiosity and great
writing ability all the thingsthat our college partners like
to look for down the road.
So that's really who we'relooking for in terms of the high
achieving part for students,and when we talk about students
coming from low incomebackgrounds, we are really
(03:22):
saying you know, many of ourstudents are coming from your
typical family of four witharound 65,000 annual income and
minimal assets.
Now, of course, there arestudents that come from
households that are smaller thanfour or larger than four that
might make less or more than65,000.
So we don't have absolutecutoffs.
(03:43):
We're really looking at thefull context of the student,
both academically andfinancially.
So if the student believes thatthey have faced significant
financial challenges, there's alot of space in our application
for them to be able to providethat situation, and so we see
many students using thoseadditional spaces in the
application to let us know.
(04:04):
Often there might be otherthings that aren't clearly
visible from.
You know income statements andthings like that that we're
asking for, including highmedical bills or job losses and
things like that.
So the minimal asset part isanother piece.
You know what is a minimalasset?
Students can own homes andtheir families can own
(04:25):
businesses.
That doesn't mean that you haveno assets to your name but, of
course, if you really need forstudents that do not have
multimillion dollar homes andyachts and things like that, no,
yeah that's what we mean by bythose minimal assets, and yeah,
and I always like I'm so gladyou clarified that because I
(04:47):
know too, when I write thingsabout this.
Jen (04:49):
You know the scholarship that I run, the torch
scholarship it's.
You say things like highachieving, but then everyone is
well, what does?
What exactly do you mean?
And you, you can say, well,there's an average GPA, or you
know, the middle 50% fall intothis GPA, but there are always
students on either end who havevarious reasons or maybe
(05:12):
something exceptional in theirbackground, either academically
or outside the classroom, thatpropel them forward to you, even
if they don't match theaverages, would you say.
That's pretty much true for youtoo.
It sounds like it.
Christian (05:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think one of the uniquethings about our QuestBridge
applications for both of ourprograms is that we do have a
lot of space for students totell us some of those things and
in some cases we anticipatesome of those things right.
So, for instance, when Imentioned, you know we like to
see students that are involvedoutside of the classroom.
(05:48):
I think traditionally, manystudents and educators even have
thought about that as yourextracurriculars and your
athletics, and you know thingsinside the school day or
traditional campus.
But for us, we know that manyof our students might be
traveling more than an hour toand from their school, that some
(06:09):
of those opportunities simplyaren't available to them either
because of things like timeconstraints and travel time or,
you know, just the cost ofparticipating in certain
programs, and so we do look forthose other ways that students
are again engaging in theircommunity or engaging in their
household responsibilities.
(06:29):
We have so many students whoare, you know, translating for
their entire family or takingcare of siblings or elderly
grandparents, and you know thattakes that takes a big sort of
maturity right that they're donein taking on some of those
tasks.
So that's just one example ofsort of the types of things that
(06:50):
we like to see in students.
Jen (06:52):
Yeah, and and I mean I always encourage students, if
they're traveling a lot, to goto school, like I have to go,
you know, take three buses toget to school or I need, you
know, I walk this way and then Ineed to do these three things
and it takes me an hour to sharethat with whoever they're
applying, whether it's for yourscholarship, cps, or for my
scholarship or just admissionsin general, because it indicates
(07:15):
that there's a big chunk ofyour time that's going towards
transportation and going backand forth and you know, maybe
they can use it to study or dosomething, but they can't
participate in a lot ofextracurriculars at their school
.
I also appreciate that you'redefining leadership very broadly
, that it's not just you knowI'm president of, you know, the
(07:35):
club or editor of the paper,it's I'm taking care of, you
know, my siblings.
I make them dinner, you know,because my parents aren't home
just yet.
And the job, the job part, likeso many of the students that we
would work with have jobs.
They're working to help supportthemselves, to help support
their family, and if you'reworking 20 hours a week or
(07:57):
sometimes I see upwards of like30 hours a week or more, it's
really hard to engage in some ofthose others because they feel
that responsibility to theirfamily and they need to put that
in any application that theysubmit.
Christian (08:11):
Absolutely yes, yes, and I think being able, as
educators, to tell students thatthat that is valuable use of
their time, to encourage them toshare that because it is a big
part of their story, is reallygreat.
We don't want someone to think,oh wait, I'm not involved, but
actually they're doing all ofthese other things.
Yes, yes.
Jen (08:32):
Yeah, yeah, I mean the thing is, when I read an
application and the studentdoesn't put anything in their
student activities list, I'mlike you are doing something,
but for whatever reason, theyjust don't think it's important.
So if you're working with thosestudents, encouraging them to
put those things in, I think isjust so important to them.
So now let me ask you a littlebit on the academic side of
(08:54):
things.
This class that's going toenter in fall 2024, this is the
class that was almost fullyremote in most places for the
2020-2021 school year.
Talk about, you know, if aschool is just giving passing
grades for those times when theywere remote, or maybe they just
(09:17):
had a really tough time whenthey were remote and their
grades are terrible, but theyshow that I have the potential
and I am now high achieving andthat grade trend is going up.
Should we encourage thosestudents to apply or is that
like?
Well, you know it's notconsistent.
No-transcript.
Christian (09:38):
Yeah, I think we're starting to see less and less of
that sort of kind of COVIDdisruption and either the way
courses were reported or some ofthe classes that were available
to students during that time.
So it's nice to see that it'sless of an issue now than, I
think, what we saw a few yearsago.
But regardless, we're sort oftreating it the same way, right.
(10:01):
We like to see, we encouragestudents to work with their
counselors to provide us withschool profiles, that they are
available, and often thoseschool profiles is where
counselors are already lettingus know what types of changes
may have happened to thecurriculum, so what courses were
available to students duringthose COVID years, or if there
(10:23):
were changes in how grades mayhave been calculated or reported
.
And so if a school profile isn'tavailable, then often we're
telling students you know, letus know in the application, or
make sure your counselor isbeing very direct in their
recommendation as part of thesenior program at least, that
they're letting us know whathappened.
(10:44):
Because if we don't have thatcontext right, every school was
functioning a little different,every district was a little
different, and so we rather knowmore information and be able to
contextualize the rest of theapplication in that way than to
kind of be left with a blankright, be left with a question
well, what happened here?
(11:05):
But we, in terms of the studentand their grades, obviously of
course, as we're not availableto them, that is a no fault
their own and we do like to seethat upward trajectory in grades
, despite what may have happenedin some of those years.
Jen (11:23):
Yeah, so it sounds like the application for the college
prep scholars is an excellentwarm-up for applying to college
later.
It's almost exactly the samethings they're going to need to
do Essays, sharing theiractivities, making sure they
include is there anything elseyou want to know about us?
And just submitting all of thatto you, and with
(11:46):
recommendations as well, so theyhave to reach out and find
people to recommend.
So, yeah, it sounds like areally excellent warm-up.
Then, what does the processlook like for you on your end?
Because, again, if I'm acounselor or a from work and I'm
working with high schoolstudents, I'm like you should do
this.
It always helps me to see whatis that going to go through when
I'm thinking about either whatto write about them or how to
(12:07):
advise the student.
Christian (12:09):
Yeah, it's absolutely true that we internally, we
like to say it's the miniversion of the National College
Match application, because itreally is.
I think for students that gothrough the College Prep
Scholars Program, even if theyare not selected as college prep
scholars, it's a wonderfullearning opportunity.
The process of going throughsubmitting the application is a
(12:33):
low stakes way of seeing whatapplying to college and applying
to selective colleges mightlook like for you in the fall.
So we have the differentapplication components, as you
mentioned.
We're asking them about theirhousehold and who they are.
We do have the added componentof the finances because of our
(12:55):
criteria, and then it's thewriting section.
There is a section for theirextracurricular activities and
other things they do outside theclassroom.
There's one teacherrecommendation for the College
Prep Scholars Program and oftenfor those students that do the
junior program and then go on todo the National College Match
senior year, they're asking thatsame teacher.
(13:16):
That teacher already has done arecommendation, so they have
the leg up there that they'reable to submit and simply add on
whatever may have changed inthat time.
And so all of that process, oh,and asking for a transcript,
that's the other big thing.
I think for students this mightbe the first time they've ever
had to ask for a transcript, andwhen you have to do that for
(13:39):
college and maybe multiplecolleges that you're applying to
in the fall, it's already astressful time.
So learning how to ask for atranscript your junior spring
again is going to just make it alot easier and a lot less
stressful, hopefully when thecollege application comes around
senior year.
So I think all of those thingsthe process of applying and
(14:00):
putting together the application, the best application that they
can is a really great learningopportunity for the student.
Jen (14:07):
Is there like a mini FAFSA that they do for you, or is it
just like some document thatthey fill out and just send in?
Christian (14:14):
Yeah, so all of the financial information that we
ask for is self-reported.
So we're not asking for copiesof W2s or anything like that,
but we do ask students to workalong with their parent or
guardian or whoever it is thatis responsible for them in their
life, and to sit down and havethose types of documents
available to them so that theyare able to fill it out to the
(14:37):
best of their ability.
The more accurate it is and themost amount of information they
could provide that we're askingfor, it's better for us in terms
of determining eligibility.
I think the other thing that Iwill say, which is a benefit as
well for the College PrepScholars Program, is that for
those students who do start thatapplication, once they have
(15:02):
that all in and they want to dothe National College Match
senior year, that informationactually carries over in
summertime.
So if they've already sat downto do all that financial
information with their family,all of it will be there right,
and it wouldn't have changedbecause we were using tax
information from a previous year.
So they're really doing a lotof that work, a lot of the work
(15:26):
that is sort of simulated withthe FAFSA or with the CSS
profile.
We kind of do that upfront inthe application.
That's great.
Jen (15:35):
Yeah, so it's a practice run, but it also it's almost
like completing two at the sametime.
If they choose to go intoCollege Match with some extra
things, they'll have to add forthe College Match.
That is such a good idea.
I love that.
I love anything that makes iteasier for the students to go
through the application processfor something like this, because
(15:56):
the harder you make it, theless likely they are to apply
and the students who are comingfrom the low income backgrounds
may have fewer resources to usewithin their schools to help
them go through this process.
So I thank you to Questbridgefor that, for making it simpler
for the students.
We had talked about this alittle bit beforehand, but I am
(16:19):
curious if the SCOTUS ruling hadany impact on you and how
you're considering race or notconsidering race as part of the
scholarship and kind of as anaddendum to that as an
undocumented student.
If I weren't undocumentedstudent, could I apply for the
scholarship?
Christian (16:35):
Yeah, so for for eligibility in terms of
citizenship, it is any studentthat is attending and living in
the US, regardless ofcitizenship status.
So you know any type ofcitizenship status if they're
international students andthey're in the US attending a
high school here they can alsoapply.
(16:57):
And just the follow up to thatis obviously their finances
might look a little different.
So we do ask for them toconvert to US dollars, but but
you know they are eligible ifthey're attending and living in
the US at the time.
So so that's one thing in thein terms of the question around
the SCOTUS decision, you know,for us we've always been an
(17:17):
organization that's reallycentered on high achieving
students from low incomebackgrounds.
You know our students do nothave to come from a first
generation.
You know college studentperspective.
They're not coming fromspecific races or ethnicities.
Of course they do because ofthe nature of high achieving,
low income students.
But for us the income part isreally been sort of the most
(17:41):
present and so you know we werelucky, I think, in terms of
being in the space of collegeaccess and not feeling the
SCOTUS decision as much asperhaps some of our you know
kind of peer organizations did.
That may have been particularlyfocused on certain groups of
students.
Jen (18:00):
Yeah, yeah, okay, great, thank you.
Why, kristen, do you think it'simportant for rising seniors to
take their summer to go to acollege campus and experience a
program there?
Christian (18:14):
Yeah, you know, I think it's.
Actually it makes me thinkabout the origins of Questbridge
.
We actually started back in1994, we started as a summer
program, the summer before thesenior year of high school,
having students come to theStanford campus and living in
the dorms and, you know,reflecting on what they had been
(18:37):
doing in high school, what theywanted to see after high school
graduation.
And these were all again highachieving students and well
positioned to go to places likeStanford and living.
For many of them living closeto Stanford but not really
thinking it was an option forthem and so wanting to introduce
them to that kind ofenvironment, the types of
(18:58):
resources that are located oncampuses like the Stanford, and
having them understand that youknow they were on the path, if
they so wanted, to go to aschool like that, to be able to
apply and to go.
So I think for us, you know, acollege prep scholars program in
a lot of ways is that we'retracing that line straight back
(19:18):
to our history and we believestrongly that for students to
have the view of thoseopportunities is really
important.
And many of these studentswould do really well I mean they
, they would be great withoutPussbridge.
I think what Pussbridgeprovides for many of our
students is the confidence andthe knowledge that these schools
are not just, you know, willingto admit them, but actively
(19:43):
looking for them, wanting themto be on their campuses and
wanting to support them whilethey're there, and that often
for many students that gothrough our programs, you know,
this is actually the mostfinancially feasible option for
college, perhaps even moreaffordable than their community
college or their state flagship.
And so I think for us havingthat time right before your
(20:06):
senior year where you're reallythinking traditionally, thinking
more specifically, aboutapplying to college, it's really
important because it helps setup students to have perhaps a
broader college choice processthan they would have would have
had otherwise.
Jen (20:22):
Yeah, do you send students to the schools that?
Do the students get to selectwhat schools they would like to
do the summer programs?
Do you try to get them to staycloser to home or can they go
anywhere they choose, they getselected.
Christian (20:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So.
So to be really clear, with theCollege Prep Scholars program,
many of our programming andresources that we share for the
students that are selected asCollege Prep Scholars is
asynchronous, it's virtual.
Everyone gets those things andeveryone gets an invitation to a
National College AdmissionsConference, which we have both a
(21:04):
virtual and an in person optionfor students, and so there is
potentially that in personopportunity for College Prep
Scholars if they get invited toone of those in person
conferences, and for those, ofcourse, that are perhaps too far
away from those campuses, theycan always do the virtual.
Otherwise, we do havespecialized awards that students
(21:26):
can apply for within theCollege Prep Scholars program
application, and one of them isa college summer program, and
those vary in length, so theyare housed at.
I think this year we have nineof our college partners with
various opportunities availablethere and in all sorts of things
(21:47):
.
I love to see the list thatthey put together.
It's like you know, if you'reinterested in STEM, there's
something for you, and codingover here, and humanities and
law.
They're really great programsthat students get really excited
for.
But that is one of the mostelective awards that we offer as
part of the College PrepScholars program.
As you can imagine, it's valuedover $20,000 because it covers
(22:08):
everything housing, food, travelto and from all of the tuition,
all of that.
So the students get to choosewhich of those programs they
want to be considered for ateither of those nine college
partners that offer the collegesummer programs, and then from
there again, everything iscovered if they are awarded that
(22:33):
particular college summerprogram.
Jen (22:35):
Nice, that's wonderful.
So can you give me notnecessarily some numbers, but
some idea of how competitive itis to get into the CPS program
and then what it looks like forsome of the other grants, like
the grant to go to the summerprogram?
Or I notice you have the Questfor Excellence awards too, so
(22:56):
talk more about that if youwould like to share everything.
Christian (22:59):
Yeah, yeah, of course I did pull some numbers so I'd
have them in front of me so Ican share a little bit about
what happened last year, forinstance.
So for our College PrepScholars from last year, we had
a little over 15,000applications for the program and
we selected 3,518 college prepscholars.
All of those again were invitedto our National College
(23:23):
Admissions conferences.
They received a specializedcurriculum in the summertime
that was asynchronous andvirtual, and all of them again
have the designation of being acollege prep scholar, which we
have found that if they continuewith us through the National
College match their senior year,they're more than they're about
six times more likely to beselected as match scholarship
(23:45):
recipients, which is a big, abig deal.
So they all get that benefit.
They all get the benefit ofhaving that CPS application roll
into the fall with them as well.
Some of those students wouldhave received a college summer
program.
Like I said, that's probably themost selective of the awards
that we offer and the otherpretty selective award but
(24:08):
there's definitely more studentsthat receive it is the quest
for excellence awards, and thoseare awards that are $1,000
educational awards.
So the student is able to usethe $1,000 for any educational
expenses to get them prepared toapply to selective colleges.
So you know, many of ourstudents tell us that they spend
(24:29):
that money on a laptop becausethey need to be able to finish
their application in the fall ofthe senior year.
Some of them will spend it onthings like SAT or ACT prep.
Others will use it to go visitcolleges that they're interested
in, and so you know they havethat flexibility to use it
however they think will bestprepare them in the fall to
(24:49):
apply to college.
And quest for excellence awardsare again embedded within the
college of scholars programapplication.
That's where a student wouldtell us they want to be
considered.
They can be considered for asmany of our words as they'd like
, as long as they're meeting thecriteria.
So, request for excellenceawards we have some for students
who are interested in thehumanities, some for if they're
(25:11):
interested in STEM or in Jewishculture and studies.
If they are from New York City,we have a NYC award and we also
have one that's called the QFEUSA award, which is basically
we're selecting kind of the topstudent from every state.
So if they believe they mightbe the top student in their
(25:33):
state, you know they can goahead and check off that box as
well.
Jen (25:37):
I love that.
So I love again one applicationmultiple opportunities for
programs, awards, funding, andit rolls over into the college
match.
When students ask me aboutapplying like should I apply for
the torch scholarship?
I'm not sure if I'm eligiblehere or there I'm like, why
don't just apply and we'll makethe decision?
(25:59):
But if you don't apply, youwill not.
I can guarantee you you won'tbe selected.
So that's the only guarantee.
I can ever make a student.
If you don't apply, you won'tget selected.
And we really should.
If we're talking to studentswho are high achieving, who you
know we might feel confident arein that low income range, we
should just we should doeverything we can to have them
(26:20):
apply if this is something thatmight be interesting to them.
Christian (26:26):
Yeah, and I think one thing, just one question that
we kind of get from students andsometimes educators as well, as
you know well, what if thestudent applies and they're not
selected?
Would that hurt their chancesfor the national college match?
You know, perhaps they heardabout the program a little late.
Their application isn't, youknow, the best they could have
produced and so it doesn't hurttheir chances, right In terms of
(26:50):
again them applying.
If they're not meeting ourcriteria for college prep
scholars, right, perhaps theyare a little bit higher income
than they thought, then you know, their results might be the
same in the national collegematch.
But if it's for another reason,right, maybe their short answers
weren't the best, or whateverit is that may have had us not
(27:13):
select MSCP scholars.
That's absolutely not the endof the road, it's not affecting
their decision in the nationalcollege match.
And in fact I like to share thestory that even on the high
school outreach team right now,one of my teammates, she,
applied for the college prepscholars and was not selected,
and then she used that asmotivation to do even better in
(27:34):
the match and she matched.
She matched to Pomona and sowas able to attend Pomona
College out in California on afull rights scholarship.
Jen (27:43):
Perfect, and it's not necessarily one and done Like,
just keep applying.
If it's something again thatyou think you could improve on,
go ahead and try it again.
I think that's always goodadvice.
Yeah, I like to close with someactionable items.
So, as we wrap up, what'ssomething that you think a high
(28:03):
school counselor or teacher orsomeone in a gear up or an avid
program can do to help theirstudents apply?
Christian (28:12):
Yeah, I think the number one thing that educators
can do is refer their student.
What we see is that students,when they understand that they
have been referred to apply toone of our programs from a
trusted educator, they're twiceas likely to start that
application.
Again, some students mightalready know about us, they
(28:35):
might have already heard aboutthe program, but until they see
that Mr So-and-So from myEnglish class referred me and he
really thinks I'm able to dothis, that's when it really
brings them to be able to startthe application.
Once they start thatapplication, especially if it's
an educator who is a recommenderin the application, you will
(28:57):
hear from us and we alwaysencourage educators to keep
asking the student about the app, making sure that they're
progressing.
Sometimes they might start andthey're very jazzed and as the
semester goes by, other thingsget in the way.
So just keep supporting them inall the ways that educators
already support their students,but knowing that there's someone
(29:19):
that's looking out for them isthe best thing that we can give
to students when they'rethinking about applying and or
continuing their applicationprocess.
Jen (29:28):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Some of my students who arelong graduated did something
that resonates with me.
That I love is when they saythings like you saw the
potential in me before I saw itand I think as an educator, by
referring students to say Ithink you should apply for this,
you're saying I see you and Isee your potential and I think
(29:52):
this is a good fit for you.
And, regardless of the outcome,just having someone in their
corner to say that who is sopositive about what they can do,
when just so many negativethings are really just pulling
at our students all the time, Ithink that's such a powerful
thing to do, best and mostwonderful advice, and I'm lucky
(30:14):
enough that my students havetold me that they appreciated
that, which we don't always getto hear in education but it's
nice when you do.
And then for people like me, I'mworking at Northeastern, which
is not a Questbridge school, sowe wouldn't get to meet these
amazing students.
What do you suggest or how, ifwe're interested in being more
involved in Questbridge orbecoming a partner school, what
(30:37):
can we do in the first gen spacethat would help us do that?
Christian (30:43):
Yeah, so I think for our.
We have, at this point, over 50college partners across the
country, and there's some of thetop colleges and universities
in the country their researchuniversities, liberal arts
colleges, women's colleges,religiously affiliated right and
the thing that binds them alltogether is that they are all
committed to meeting 100% ofdemonstrated financial need from
(31:06):
students, and so these areinstitutions that are actively
looking for and hoping tosupport students from low income
backgrounds, and so if thereare institutions or folks
listening at institutions whoare interested in becoming a
partner, all they have to do isreach out.
So, questions at questbridgeorg,you can send us an email.
(31:28):
We have a team that wouldcontinue that conversation.
And, again, we're reallylooking for institutions that
are willing to make thatfinancial commitment to students
in terms of making sure thatthey're able to afford to attend
the institution if they were toget in.
But we're also looking at thehistory that you might have with
(31:48):
the types of students that weserve, right, is this going to
be the first time that you havea significant amount of students
that you might be bringing infrom this background, or are
there programs and staff alreadyavailable for them when they
arrive on campus to make surethat they're not just being
admitted with great financialaid packages, but we ultimately
(32:09):
want all of our students tograduate as well.
Jen (32:12):
Yes, right, right, just getting in isn't the end of the
line, right?
Yes, that is not the goal,right?
It's about graduating and thenit's about career and preparing
for that.
So, yeah, okay, all right, soit was questions at
questbridgeorg.
Yes, okay, I'll put that in theshow notes, as well as links to
the College Prep Scholarsapplication, which, if you
(32:34):
didn't hear me say this at thebeginning, it is open right now
as of February.
Today is February 9th whenwe're recording and it will
close on March 20th, so there'slots of time to get students
interested and involved andsigned up for this.
Christian, thank you so muchfor joining me today and talking
all things QuestBridge and theCollege Prep Scholars.
(32:57):
I think I learned a lot aboutwhat's involved in it, how many
different opportunities thereare for students through
applying, who it applies to, andthen how I if I'm talking to
high school students can getthem active in doing it, and I
hope you, as a listener, did aswell.
Christian, if they want toreach out to you, where could
they find you?
Christian (33:20):
Yeah, so actually the question is at questbridgeorg.
My entire team handles thatparticular email and you can
always just add my name and itwill get to me, so that is a
great place to reach out.
We try to reply within one totwo business days, so you'll
hear from us pretty speedilythere.
But of course, if anyone wantsto learn more, questbridgeorg is
(33:41):
our website and all of ourprograms are listed there, as
well as eligibility criteria andthat referral form as well for
educators who might want torefer students Fantastic.
Jen (33:53):
Fantastic.
Well, thank you so much forspending time with me today and
for sharing all your knowledgeabout QuestBridge, and thank you
, thank you.
Thank you for listening.
If you'd like to reach out tome to be a guest or to recommend
a guest, you can email me atgen.
That's J-E-N at firstgenfmcom.
(34:13):
My website is firstgenfmcom ifyou're interested in learning
more about my speaking topics.
If you like this episode,please rate and review wherever
you listen.
It helps others to find theshow and it's a nice boost for
me to know you're listening.
Until next week, keep doing theimportant work you do, thank
(34:36):
you.
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