Among the Class of 2019, Emory welcomes its highest number of QuestBridge scholars to enroll.

“We currently have 99 students enrolling this fall who applied to Emory via the QuestBridge program, out of the more than 1,350 that will join us in the Class of 2019.  This number (99) is the highest it's ever been at Emory and the highest among all QuestBridge partner colleges and universities, of which we are one of 36,” says John Latting, assistant vice provost for undergraduate enrollment and dean of admission.

QuestBridge is a national nonprofit that specializes in linking highly talented, low-income students whose parents did not attend college with the nation’s best institutions.

“It can be challenging for Emory and like universities to attract such applicants," Latting says. "Too often the assumption is made that highly selective, private universities are either not affordable, ignoring the strength of our financial aid program, or not welcoming, ignoring the truly impressive diversity — geographic, racial, ethnic and socio-economic — that exists here."

In July, Emory hosted the QuestBridge National College Admissions Conference, the first time it was held in the Southeast. There were two other conferences, at Stanford and Yale universities, this summer.

The conference featured workshops on how high-achieving, low-income students can successfully apply to the nation’s most selective colleges and afford the cost of college attendance.

Conference participants also had the opportunity to meet college admissions officers from QuestBridge’s partner colleges, learn more about the opportunities that QuestBridge offers, and meet other students with similar backgrounds and aspirations.

Emory joined this select coalition of QuestBridge partner schools in 2008, welcoming its first group of QuestBridge Scholars in the fall of that year — 10 for Emory College of Arts and Sciences and one at Oxford College.

“We partner with QuestBridge because they are so effective at reaching high-achieving low-income, first-generation college students," Latting says. "They supplement very well our own recruitment of such students, and therefore contribute to the quality and diversity of the Emory student population.”