Working with High-Achieving Students 

The Reality of Under-Matching

Smart students from low-income backgrounds are less likely to apply to selective schools even when their abilities and experiences make them ideal candidates for admission.

At our nation’s most selective colleges*, a mere 3 percent of incoming freshmen come from families in the bottom income quartile, while 72 percent come from families in the wealthiest quartile. 

As a result, there are 24 wealthy students for each low-income student at these elite schools. Read more about this issue here. 

We recognize that under-matching is a continued and on-going challenge for our students. We want to ensure that our high-achieving students are not only exposed to range of competitive colleges, but that they and their mentors are also aware of pre-college opportunities and specialized scholarships such as Posse and QuestBridge.

Resources to Support Pairs

Click here to access a downloadable PDF with pair support strategies for how to engage a high achieving student.