Senior Mason O’Dell recently learned that he has received a four-year scholarship of more than $350,000 to Brown University. Brown, located in Providence, Rhode Island, is one of America’s Ivy League colleges. The scholarship came through the QuestBridge National Scholarship Program.
O’Dell explained how he came to be among those whom the program matched with the university from which he received the scholarship. As a sophomore, he received an email from QuestBridge which invited him to apply to the program. Students may apply during their junior or senior years, and O’Dell applied during both.
The application he completed in his junior year basically led him to providing information about his educational background including test scores, his classes, and grades. O’Dell explained that he felt that process led into the basic application he completed his senior year.
Initially, more than 25,000 students apply to this program yearly. Early on, O’Dell submitted an 800-word personal statement, which turned into, he said, “probably 50 essays” before he was finally matched to Brown University. In October 2000 finalists were chosen and were asked to rank the top 15 universities in which they were interested from the 52 American universities which participate in the QuestBridge program. O’Dell was one of those. Most finalists, O’Dell noted, “would be first-generation college students, have a 1260 or better SAT score or a 33 or better ACT score.”
In the final step. O’Dell had his choice among 11 schools. “I chose Brown because I really like the idea of Brown,” he explained. “One of the reasons I chose that school is that the university is famous for its open curriculum. There is no core curriculum.”
As to his reaction to being accepted at this prestigious institution, he said, “I definitely wasn’t expecting to get into Brown.” He added. “I wasn’t expecting Ivy League.”
At Brown University, this young man plans to major in biology as the first step toward medical school and a career in some field of medicine. Asked where he plans to attend medical school, he noted, “I’ll probably apply there, but if I’m not accepted, I’ll figure it out when I get to that point.”
Asked whether he feels prepared for an Ivy League school, the son of Misty O’Dell and Jacob O’Dell responded, “Absolutely. I took nine AP classes and several dual credit courses. Taking both boosted my GPA to what is typically expected for Ivy League schools and [certainly] helped me learn a lot.” He added, “BCHS was definitely able to help me in this process. You just have to maximize its potential.” Obviously, Mason O’Dell has done just that.