As the first semester comes to a close, many seniors have started receiving their acceptance letters from colleges all around the country. One of Chamblee’s outstanding seniors, Naa Adua Annan (‘23), recently received an incredible scholarship from one of the most prestigious colleges in the world: Brown University. With the help of QuestBridge, a nonprofit aimed to help low-income families match with certain colleges to receive financial aid, Annan will be attending Brown with a full-ride scholarship.
Annan shares her experience applying to the ivy-league school and what parts of the application were most difficult.
“It was definitely stressful. I decided to apply by November 1st, which is the early action and early decision date so I definitely felt the stress of trying to write everything and get everything submitted on time. For me, [the hardest part was] definitely the writing. Having enough time to get my thoughts down coherently, in a way that flows, makes sense, and represents me best is definitely difficult,” said Annan.
While most students apply to college through a Common App, Annan went through QuestBridge to match with universities to receive financial aid.
“QuestBridge is a program where low-income students can apply to [for] college partners. There’s about 40 colleges or so and instead of filling [out] a CommonApp application, you fill out a QuestBridge application on their platform, and you submit it by the end of September. Then, you find out if you’re a finalist or not. If you are a finalist, then you have the opportunity to match through the college partners and get a full-ride [scholarship]. You can also choose to not do the match which means if you do QuestBridge regular decisions you submit the supplements by January, the regular decision deadline. You then find out by April or March and you still get pretty good financial aid,” said Annan.
Annan never had a ‘dream school’ but always knew she wanted to attend a top university.
“I always say that I never really had a dream school because I don’t like putting all my hopes and dreams into a school just to get rejected, but I did always say if I had a top school, it’d be Brown because I really like the environment there. Especially after the college admissions officer came to our school and had the presentation. I was like, ‘Yeah, I know, I really want to go here,’” said Annan.
In her application, Annan feels her essays showcase who she is really as a person.
“I would probably say my writing stuck out most on my application. I think the way I wrote I was able to show who I am as a person, which I feel [is] really important for them to see,” said Annan
At Brown, Annan is intending to major in public health and German.
“I’m planning to double major in public health and German on a pre-med track. I’m excited to just meet new people and like, stay in a new place and just experience college,” said Annan.
Throughout high school, Annan motivated herself by remembering her end goal: getting into a top-tier college without blowing the bank.
“Honestly, I just had to remind myself of the end goal and what I wanted to achieve, because honestly, my goal was just to get into a good college and get good aid, so I wouldn’t have to pay that much,” said Annan. “[My] advice for staying motivated […] throughout high school is to just take [it] day by day and remember why you’re doing things.”