In an effort to bring low-income students to selective universities like Penn, the QuestBridge National College Match program is helping 260 of the nation's brightest high school seniors pay for their college education.
QuestBridge awards match scholars a full, four-year scholarship to any of their 26 partner schools.
Seven colleges are new to the partner process this year, including Penn, the California Institute of Technology, Haverford College, Northwestern University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Parsons School of Design and Wesleyan University.
According to Penn's Admissions Office, 26 match scholars will attend Penn next fall, but the QuestBridge Web site lists 25 of those scholars.
QuestBridge President Michael McCullough said the new partnership with Penn is "off to an excellent start, even from the first year."
He cited Penn's established reputation and unique opportunities as reasons for the partnership.
"When we pick new schools, we don't want them to duplicate what other schools already have," he said. "Penn provides a well-rounded education but also specific offerings that are interesting to different people."
Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said he is equally pleased to work with QuestBridge.
"These students are disciplined and committed, which is clear in their willingness to go through the intense application process," he said.
The 260 match scholars were selected from a pool of 2,470 finalists, a significant increase from last year's 204 match scholars nationwide.
Of those selected, 28 percent ranked first in their graduating class, and 98 percent are in the top decile.
Despite their excellent grades, however, most are unable to pay the more than $50,000 tuition that many colleges require.
95 percent of QuestBridge match scholars this year came from families with household incomes of less than $60,000.
Christian Hung, a match scholar from California who is coming to Penn next fall, heard about the program through a family friend.
He described the application process as "taking a lot of time to complete," but he found it worthwhile because he is "so excited to come to Penn."
Other universities partnering with QuestBridge say the program has been a success on their campuses as well.
Mary Hetlage, associate director of admissions at the University of Chicago - which is in its second year with QuestBridge - said they admitted more students from the program this year than in the previous year.
"If these were students who were unable to afford a top college before and have now found us through this process, that's great," she said.
Jean Jordan, dean of admission at Emory University, said QuestBridge students are also "thriving" on campus.
"It's brought students to Emory who may not have looked at us before," she said, "especially because we're the only southern partner school right now."
