At Stanford, Booth & Yale, A New Path To An MBA

If you are among the thousands of alumni of a national scholarship program for undergraduates and thinking of getting an MBA, you can apply now for a chance at a full scholarship to one of three elite business schools.

QuestBridge, a platform that helps low-income undergraduate students get into elite colleges, is moving into the graduate school space with the launch of Graduate School Match: MBA. Alumni of QuestBridge’s scholarship program can apply for admission and full-tuition scholarships to the full-time MBA programs at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chicago Booth School of Business, or Yale School of Management — with more schools sure to sign up in the future.

“So excited to partner with QuestBridge on the launch of Graduate School Match!” Donna Swinford, associate dean for student recruitment and admissions for the MBA programs at Chicago Booth, posted July 13 on LinkedIn. “We are proud and honored to be among the first MBA programs accepting applications via this program, which will broaden access to graduate education for first-generation students and lower-income families and help support the next generation of future business leaders.”

OVERCOMING FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL BARRIERS

QuestBridge was founded in 2004 by the creators of the Quest Scholars Program, which began 10 years earlier as a residential summer enrichment program for high school students on Stanford University’s campus. “The Quest Scholars Program grew from a few simple ideas, and a lot of help,” writes Michael McCullough, a medical doctor who is QuestBridge’s co-founder and president. “After the summer session, Quest provided five years of academic and personal support to our students. Ten years later in 2004, Quest launched QuestBridge in an effort to expand the number of high school students it reached.”

QuestBridge scholarship recipients are granted early admission to one of QuestBridge’s 44 college partners — including Columbia University, Dartmouth College, MIT, Northwestern University, and the University of Virginia — with a full four-year scholarship, worth over $200,000. This season QuestBridge will help place about 2,000 undergraduate students in elite colleges, “and we hope to place thousands more, over time,” McCullough writes. “Eventually, Quest aims to provide a train of opportunity from high school through graduate school or a first job. In exchange for this help, we hope students will help each other, and later their communities and the larger world as a whole.”

The new MBA program will be key to that effort, he writes.

“We believe that the CEOs, entrepreneurs, and leaders of the future should represent diverse perspectives from every economic segment of society, including QuestBridge alumni,” McCullough writes. “Obtaining an MBA can give you a distinct advantage in attaining these positions, but we know that many financial and social barriers still exist. QuestBridge is excited to launch this pilot program to reduce these barriers and help you achieve your career goals.”

APPLICANTS MUST BE QUESTBRIDGE ALUMNI

Applicants to Graduate School Match: MBA must be QuestBridge alumni — National College Match finalists who graduated from a QuestBridge college partner with an undergraduate degree and a “competitive” GPA. They must have a minimum of three years of full-time work experience post-college and a competitive GMAT and/or GRE score. Successful candidates will “demonstrate high academic achievement and curiosity, leadership potential, diverse professional and personal qualities, and evidence of strong involvement in activities and/or their communities.”

Applications are open through September 15. Applicants will be notified of their status by October 1. Learn more at the Graduate School Match: MBA landing page on the QuestBridge website.

Moving into the graduate business education space is an extension of QuestBridge’s original mission, McCullough writes.

“Our hope is to help bring talented, low-income students into important decision-making roles in society,” he writes. “This is a lofty goal, and one that implies we wish to link students to opportunity from high school through college into their first job. And similar to Quest’s summer residence program which we started nearly 20 years ago now, our hope is to involve students in vibrant ways in helping each other as well. We are most interested in helping those who help themselves, and even more interested in mentoring talented low-income students who help themselves with energy left over to help others.

“America has a wealth of talent locked up in our bright low-income students, talent we hope to serve as a catalyst to unleash.”

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