2 a.m. Eastern time. Tick, tick, tick . . .
Reina Desrouleaux ’17 just wanted to sleep. No such luck. With only an hour to go until the deadline, she had yet to submit her application for QuestBridge’s National College Match scholarship program.
Desrouleaux already faced a litany of challenges upon moving from Haiti at age nine: Living in basements until her mom could afford an apartment; accepting a counselor’s offer to cover college application fees; attending one of the most competitive high schools in the Washington D.C. area yet constantly feeling inferior to students with direct family lines to the Ivy League.
Self-doubt was constant. “Why would any of these schools want me?”
She not only beat the deadline. She beat the odds to become a Quest Scholar.
Two years into its partnership with Carleton, QuestBridge has succeeded in bringing talented students with valuable new perspectives to campus, says Rod Oto, associate dean of admissions. The nonprofit program pairs low-income students with 35 of the country’s most selective colleges and universities. Roughly 12,000 apply, but competition is stiff.
“Out of 4,000 finalists, roughly 500 are matched with colleges,” Oto says. “It’s a selective process.”
Keaton Tremble ’17 didn’t figure that he stood much of a chance as a kid from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, a “dried up logging town” near the Canadian border. When the city went bankrupt and Tremble’s dad was laid off from the police force, his chances of leaving Idaho for college seemed to evaporate.
“I had to divide between hopes and reality, where you want to go and what you can afford,” Tremble says.
Reina Desrouleaux can relate. “I never realized how badly off we were until I looked at college tuition,” she says.
“It’s almost like I’m where I shouldn’t be, you know? Academically, I can and should be here. But financially?” Tremble says. “It makes me thankful. It pushes me to take advantage every day.”