Jiya Janowitz has known since the sixth grade where he wanted to attend college — Stanford University. Attending the prestigious West Coast school wasn’t, however, a dream that the senior from Jasper thought could come true.
In December, that dream became a reality. Janowitz was accepted into Stanford as a QuestBridge College Match Scholarship recipient. QuestBridge is a nonprofit program that matches high school seniors who have shown outstanding academic ability despite facing economic challenges with opportunities for admission and full scholarships to 35 top colleges and universities.
“It was the absolute last place I expected to get into,” Janowitz said. “It has the lowest acceptance rate in the country and one of the lowest of major universities in the world.”
Janowitz is interested in studying particle physics, and Stanford has two-mile linear particle accelerator, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center National Accelerator Laboratory. It is one of the reasons why he wanted to attend Stanford.
QuestBridge applicants may list up to eight of the partner schools at which they would like to be considered for admission. Janowitz said he was so convinced that he wouldn’t be accepted to Stanford that he actually listed MIT as his first choice, moving Stanford to second on his list. The other six schools he listed are located in the northeastern United States.
“I was like (MIT acceptance) is more reasonable than Stanford,” he said. “You know how you think how your life might be? Well, I had never came up with a scenario for Stanford because I didn’t believe it would happen. I was definitely taken by surprise.”
Janowitz found out that he had been offered admission and the scholarship from Stanford in early December. QuestBridge finalists were told to watch for an email letting them know whether they had an offer. Janowitz was logging into his email to open a document for a presentation in his Spanish class when he saw an email from QuestBridge in his inbox alerting him to check the organization’s website for an update.
He said he made it through the presentation, although he was distracted throughout it wondering what news awaited him. Once he finished his presentation, he checked his email and the site on his phone. He found an offer from Stanford.
He asked to be excused so that he could let family members know. The first person he told was his father, Randy, a Newton County farmer who is a California native.
“He has been the most supportive person I could have asked for through this whole thing. He’s personally been rooting for Stanford. It was his first choice for sure. He didn’t influence my decision, but he backed me up. He never lost faith in me. He was always sure I was going to get a match, which I guess is a typical parent, but he’s definitely not the typical parent. He’s definitely the best I could ask for,” Janowitz said.
Janowitz said that the scholarship will amount to about $250,000 for four years at Stanford. Without the scholarship, it wouldn’t be possible financially for him to attend the school. He also thinks that without his involvement in QuestBridge, he may not have been considered for Stanford. Because of QuestBridge’s reputation, matching colleges and universities know they are receiving applications from good students who are willing to put in the work necessary to earn the scholarship.
Since Janowitz listed the maximum of eight schools on his QuestBridge application, he had to fill out eight separate applications. While each school used the Common Application, each one had different writing supplements. On the writing section for his Stanford application, Janowitz said he decided to “be a little bit more me-ish” on it than the others.
“I was honest on the whole application, but I had a little more fun with it,” he said, thinking that the likelihood of being selected for admission to his true first choice wasn’t likely.
Besides his applications and academics, Janowitz said he believes that the recommendations he received from two of his instructors — chemistry instructor Dr. Fred Buzen and humanities instructor Dr. Dan Kostopulos — factored greatly into the university’s decision to accept him.
“I’m sure they absolutely saved me. You have to have really, really good recommendations from teachers,” Janowitz said in regards to both the QuestBridge program and Stanford admissions.
Janowitz also credited QuestBridge’s College Prep Scholarship program in preparing him for the College Match Scholarship program and the ensuing college admissions process. With the College Prep Scholarship program, Janowitz attended the QuestBridge National College Admissions Conference in Chicago in Summer 2014.
At the conference he learned tips for college essay writing, how to be a successful applicant for top colleges and how to engage with admissions officers from some of the nation’s best schools. He also attended a session where the guest speaker was Michael McCullough, the cofounder of Quest Scholars Program and QuestBridge.
Janowitz can’t sing the praises of the QuestBridge program enough.
“I don’t know if I would have made it into Stanford without it,” he said. “It absolutely gave me more hope to get into a good school. It also gave me the opportunity to stand out. It gave me an opportunity I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.
“But it’s more than that. I’m also part of a group that will support you through college. It’s an amazing organization. Now that (ASMSA) has received a match, hopefully we will emphasize it more.”