QuestBridge
QuestBridge is a national nonprofit based in Palo Alto, California. Its goal is to connect low-income and first-gen students with partner colleges and universities. Background. In 1987, Stanford University students Marc Lawrence and Michael McCullough started the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program as an outreach program for eight low-income students from East Palo Alto who were interested in a future in medicine. This program eventually led to the launch of the Quest program in 1994, then called the Stanford Youth Environmental Science Program (SYESP), aimed specifically at Stanford. Although they initially expanded to include Harvard University , this program ended by 2002 as the focus returned to Stanford. By 2004, the program had evolved into QuestBridge. Over the next decade QuestBridge developed partnerships with a number of colleges. According to the "Columbia Daily Spectator" in 2021, QuestBridge's goal is to match "high school students with a full-ride offer of admission from one of its 45 partner universities. Targeting students based on data from admissions tests and networks of guidance counselors, QuestBridge aims to reach high-achieving students well before the typical January application deadlines, offering mentoring programs that make the admissions process—which traditionally advantages  wealthy students—more accessible for low-income applicants." Partner colleges. , the National College Match officially has 48 partner colleges, a mix of research universities and liberal arts colleges.