Despite recent growth in size and visibility of organizations geared toward matching low-income students with top-tiered universities, Penn this year expects to scale back its partnership with QuestBridge, an organization that links low-income students with colleges and full scholarship.
Confident that it can reach the same groups of low-income students through regular applicant pools, the Admissions Office plans to accept fewer students through QuestBridge's matching program.
Admissions Dean Eric Furda explained that after one year of involvement - the first students to apply to Penn through the program set foot on campus this fall - Penn found that it does not need to rely so much on QuestBridge to reach low-income students interested in the school because the same students ended up applying through early and regular decision processes.
"Now having a year's worth of experience with the program, I don't think we'll go out with as many matches," Furda said. "But we'll see what the pool is like."
While admitting fewer QuestBridge students accompanied by full scholarships, Penn will aim to accept low-income students through regular admissions and provide them financial aid.
Last year, Penn accepted 26 QuestBridge students for the academic year 2009-10. Penn was one of in the top three schools to take the most students from the program, along with Princeton University and University of Chicago. In total, 206 QuestBridge students were accepted to their associated partner schools and received full scholarships, including room and board, tuition, books, fees, incidental expenses, personal expenses and travel expenses.
QuestBridge applicants apply through a third application process that involves an earlier deadline than other applicants. Applicants fill out an extensive application for QuestBridge by September 30th, and if they are accepted as finalists, they pick their top eight choices of 27 partner schools. The partner schools then pick students from the pool of applicants who selected them.
Penn's plan to roll back its QuestBridge admissions runs contrary to the University of Chicago. In its second year with QuestBridge, the University of Chicago accepted more students from the program than it had the previous year.
Desmond Zeng, a College freshman and QuestBridge participant, spoke favorably about the program. "I think Questbridge is an excellent non-profit organization that offers lower income high-school students the opportunity to get in touch with and apply to excellent colleges and universities like Penn," he said in an online message.
"I would definitely recommend it to anyone. It allows kids who are intellectually bright and capable of attending colleges that they might not necessarily be able to afford to apply to those schools and get offered excellent financial aid packages, things that might not happen without QuestBridge."
Another QuestBridge alumnus, College freshman Daniel Torrington, said he understood the impetus behind Penn's plans to reel back on its relationship with QuestBridge.
"I would hope that as [Penn] takes fewer students from QuestBridge, that it will open the way for low-income students from other avenues," he said.
