The National College Match is an admission and scholarship program that helps high-achieving students secure a place in 1 of the 52 QuestBridge college partners. The program allows students to apply early and potentially receive a full-four year scholarship which is over $200,000 each! Partner schools utilize their own funds, state, and federal aid to fund the scholarship that covers tuition and fees, housing and food, books and supplies, and travel expenses.
Four students from Banneker were successfully matched with various QuestBridge partner colleges.
Amirahimaan Kalonji is a Questbridge recipient who matched to Dartmouth. She plans to major in biological sciences with a concentration in philosophy.
Kalonji said, “Although I don’t think I’m entirely ready to move out, I think I’m ready as I’ll ever be!”
As the Banneker SGA President, Kalonji has been a member of many extracurriculars and some sports, which she said “definitely enhanced my interest in my major.”
For instance, Kalonji’s community service sites were at Howard Medical School and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She said, “these sites motivated me to want to become a medical student and further committed me to building a safe environment for all identities in whatever workplace I commit to.”
The general advice that Kalonji gives to rising seniors is to start early! “I completely underestimated the amount of time my personal statement would take me,” she said.
She also suggested “to ask for help when needed. It is crucial to get a second pair of eyes reading your essay because what makes sense to you might not make sense to others.”
Senior George Goicochea will attend Emory University and major in cybersecurity.
He says that he is not ready at all to move out of D.C. He said, “I always used to think that college was so far away, that I had so much time. Now I have less than half a school year left. I’m anxious for sure, but I know that taking that step out will serve me better for the future.”
Goicochea claims that his extracurricular activities and community service sort of helped him discover his major interest, however he is still deciding whether he truly wants to pursue computer science, or if he wants to pursue studies in the humanities.
“My community service site was something that helped me discover that I love working with people and building a community,” said Goicochea. “Other than that, it was a lot of self-exploration outside of school since I had very little extracurriculars throughout high school.”
When asked what advice he would give to rising seniors about the college application process, he said, “Don’t put too much stress on building a stacked list of extracurriculars; instead, you should find what you’re interested in doing and stick to what you like!”
Next fall, Jefferson Valladares Martinez will be heading to Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. He intends to pursue a major in Biological Chemistry. Though he admitted that he is not yet ready to step out of his comfort zone and move out of the city, he is excited to explore his future community and gain more knowledge.
“Extracurricular activities and community service definitely helped my application and did indeed help me discover what I wanted to major in,” claims Valladares Martinez. “From having participated in medical programs to continuing this interest through community service at Howard College of Medicine, it helped a lot in terms of understanding what I needed to do and what I should be expecting in the future.”
His advice to future students is to “be open minded about the opportunities that may come your way. Check your email and please DO NOT procrastinate.”
Elyana Belete will go to Colgate University in the fall of 2024, and she will major in Biochemistry.
Belete said, “I am so ready to move out. I’ve lived in D.C. since I immigrated to this country, and although my whole family lives here, I want to venture out and start fresh in a new place. I’m going to college in New York – and I’ve always dreamed of going to college in New York – so it all worked out!”
She claims that extracurricular activities have been instrumental in broadening her knowledge and helping her determine her major. “I did an internship at George Washington University that was created to give students interested in going into the medical field a chance to get some hands-on experience and meet with various doctors, nurses, and physicians from all over,” said Belete. “I also did community service at Howard University College of Medicine, where my supervisor was a medical school advisor, and she helped me discover my love for medicine and has continued to give me wonderful advice since my junior year!”
A piece of advice she gives to future seniors is to “start all of your applications EARLY. The prompts for the personal essay are generally the same every year, so write that essay at the end of junior year and edit it over the summer so that when you come into your senior year, you can ask your English teachers to review and help edit it. Also, as soon as the college board opens up, make sure you fill out all the general information. Lastly, do those scholarship applications! They may be long and tedious, but if I never did them, I would not be here with a full ride.”
QuestBridge is not like other scholarships, as it is a very selective and competitive scholarship process. This year, Questbridge only gave about 6,000 full rides out of 40,000+ applicants. However, that is not meant to discourage anyone from applying. Four students from Banneker received a full ride!
