Kheshawn Wynn ’19 is in the running for a full four-year scholarship – including tuition, room and board and other expenses – as 2018 QuestBridge National College Match Finalist.
College Match is a national program that pairs high-achieving, low-income or first generation high school seniors with nearly 40 QuestBridge college partners which include most of the Ivy League schools, Stanford, MIT, and USC.
Wynn was one of 6,507 finalists chosen from 16,248 applicants, each of whom had to submit personal biographies, essays and teacher recommendations among other requirements. These finalists have an average grade point average of 3.90, and 86 percent are ranked in the top 10 percent of their class. In addition, 73 percent of them will be the first in their families to attend a 4-year college.
“I was so excited when I learned that I was a finalist. I remember my face lighting up when I checked the update on my application status. Immediately I took a screenshot and sent it to my mom and Ms. Warmerdam,” Wynn said. “Coming from a single-parent household with my mom and two younger brothers, getting matched to one of my ranked schools with a full-ride scholarship would greatly help my family.”
Now that he’s been named a finalist, Wynn ranks up to 12 of the QuestBridge College partners in order of preference and submits applications to these colleges – which have all reserved a certain number of spots for QuestBridge applicants.
The schools that he ranks can choose to accept him or not, and Wynn will be matched with the one that’s highest up on his list that wants to match with him.
Colleges at the top of Wynn’s list include University of Southern California, Stanford, Columbia, Brown and Washington University in St. Louis.
While only a portion of finalists are matched and receive full scholarships, the others can apply to the QuestBridge college partners through the regular and/or early decision or early action process and receive partial scholarships.
QuestBridge will advise finalists on December 3, 2018, whether they have been matched to a college partner.