Dessa O’Neal, a senior at Ooltewah High School, has received a full scholarship to the University of Chicago. Ms. O’Neal was informed that she was a recipient of a QuestBridge 2017 National College Match Scholarship that will provide her early admission into the University of Chicago with a guaranteed full, four-year scholarship, including tuition, room, board and other college expenses. The estimated value of the award over the next four years is $286,236.
Ms. O’Neal was one of 918 students selected from 15,606 applicants to the scholarship program this year.
"QuestBridge is a national program that pairs high-achieving seniors with highly selective college partners, including top liberal arts colleges such as Amherst, Colby, Hamilton, Pomona and Willams, and exceptional research universities such as Brown, Columbia, Duke, University of Chicago, Stanford and Yale. Just being accepted at the University of Chicago is a tremendous accomplishment as only 7.9 percent of applicants were accepted in 2016," officials said.
The National College Match is a highly competitive process, and according to a release from QuestBridge, these recipients have impressive achievements in high school. Academically, the 918 College Match seniors have an average unweighted GPA of 3.92, they have scored between 1350 and 1490 on the SAT and between 29 and 33 on the ACT, 95 percent rank in the top 10 percent of their class. QuestBridge also reported that 76 percent of the new QuestBridge Scholars are the first generation of their families to attend a four-year college.
“Thanks to the continued support of our generous college partners, we have been able to encourage our applicants to dream big by eliminating the worry of the cost of education,” said Ana McCullough, co-founder, and CEO of QuestBridge. “High-achieving students can reach confidently for their best college fit.”