Boston College has accepted an invitation to join QuestBridge, a highly respected non-profit program that helps high-achieving, low-income students gain admission and scholarships to the country’s top-ranked colleges and universities.
Colgate University and Boston College became the 41st and 42nd schools selected to join the Palo Alto-based national organization, whose college partners include Amherst, Williams, Duke, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, and Notre Dame.
Vice Provost for Enrollment Management John Mahoney
Since its founding in 2004, QuestBridge has helped thousands of talented but needy high school students apply and gain admission to its partner schools, helping to reverse the longstanding pattern of low-income students not applying to the most selective colleges and universities. More than $2 billion in scholarships and financial aid has been awarded to students from QuestBridge’s college partners.
“It’s an honor to be invited to join QuestBridge, which for 25 years has been a gold standard for identifying talented, low-income students and setting them on a path to some of the nation’s best colleges,” said Vice Provost for Enrollment Management John Mahoney.
“This invitation validates BC’s commitment to need blind admission and meeting the full demonstrated need of admitted students. It is also a recognition of our high retention and graduation rates for low-income students, as evidenced by our 91 percent graduation rate for Pell Grant recipients, which placed Boston College 18th among national universities in the most recent U.S. News survey.”
For Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin, the partnership with QuestBridge will enable BC to find talented low-income and AHANA students in areas it would not likely have found on its own.
Director of Undergraduate Admission Grant Gosselin
“This partnership will enhance BC’s ability to identify and enroll gifted students from a wide range of communities throughout the country, including rural areas that we do not have the capacity to visit,” said Gosselin. “For many low-income students, access to highly selective institutions such as Boston College has often seemed unattainable. QuestBridge has changed that.”
To be eligible, QuestBridge applicants must have SAT scores over 1310 and ACT scores over 28, and come from a family earning less than $65,000 a year. The students complete a comprehensive QuestBridge application, and the college partners access those students who express interest in their respective schools. The students can apply through the Matching Program, a binding early-decision plan in which the partner schools agree to fund the entire four-year cost of the education for those students they accept, or through Early Decision II or Regular Decision channels, in which partner schools agree to meet the full demonstrated need of admitted students in accordance with their own institutional methodology. In 2019, more than 2,000 students were admitted to elite colleges and universities through QuestBridge.
“This partnership will enhance BC’s ability to identify and enroll gifted students from a wide range of communities throughout the country, including rural areas that we do not have the capacity to visit. For many low-income students, access to highly selective institutions such as Boston College has often seemed unattainable. QuestBridge has changed that.””
“Boston College's values of educating the whole person, and creating a learning community that empowers its students to solve the world's most urgent problems, resonate strongly with us here at QuestBridge,” said Ana McCullough, CEO and co-founder of QuestBridge. “We are honored to engage in this new partnership, giving our QuestBridge Scholars an opportunity to take part in the vibrant and exciting Boston College community.”
The invitation to join QuestBridge serves as yet another indication of the University’s rising stature as one of the nation’s best academic institutions.
“The QuestBridge membership affirms both the University’s reputation for academic excellence and the work we have done in supporting low-income students to succeed,” said Provost and Dean of Faculties David Quigley. “This partnership will go a long way in enhancing the great work of our Admission staff in attracting the best and most diverse students at Boston College. We appreciate QuestBridge's recognition of our longstanding commitment to having all our students thrive, and I look forward to building a strong and lasting partnership."
Jack Dunn | University Communications