The email was sitting in the inbox on Peter Idialu’s phone early in the morning on Dec. 1, 2025. The Atwater High senior wasn’t sure he was ready to open it. Idialu knew the message would tell him whether he received the QuestBridge scholarship, worth over $360 thousand, that would cover tuition, housing, food and other expenses at Yale University. 

 

“I was nervous, so many things going through my head, but I just had faith in what I put in the process,” Idialu said. “I just thought back to all the late nights, writing out the essays, making sure my application stood out, and I was just like, I'm going to open it. Whatever God's plan is for me is what I'll experience, and I opened it. I was just incredibly shocked, just amazed, and it truly was one of the best feelings in my whole 18 years.”

 

Meanwhile, Golden Valley High senior Manuel Rivera-Reyes was going through a similar experience in Merced as he opened his e-mail. However, there was no hesitation in opening the e-mail for Rivera-Reyes as he found out he received a QuestBridge scholarship to Duke University. “it was pretty exciting,” Rivera-Reyes said. “I found out, like, six in the morning. I woke up and I got an email notification. I immediately clicked it, and I found out.”

 

Out of approximately 25,000 seniors across the country who applied for the prestigious and ultra-competitive QuestBridge scholarship program, about 7,000 are named finalists in November and then 2,500 scholarship winners are matched with a university. 

 

Gena Lanz, MUHSD College and Scholarship Counselor Atwater, Buhach Colony and Livingston high schools, remembers a Buhach Colony student receiving the QuestBridge scholarship to Stanford seven or eight years ago. To have two MUHSD students receive the scholarship in the same year is incredible. “Extraordinarily rare, phenomenal to have two Questbridge matches in one year,” Lanz said. 

 

“Institutional acceptance rates through Questbridge are highly restrictive and Yale and Duke typically only match a small handful of students per year from across the world,” Lanz added.  “These students are exemplary in the classroom and beyond to be matched with Duke and Yale! Amazing!”

 

Brandee Ruiz, MUHSD College and Scholarship Counselor for El Capitan, Merced and Golden Valley high schools, says she’s had students who were finalists, but only one Golden Valleys student who earned the QuestBridge scholarship in 2022. “QuestBridge is one of the most selective college-access programs in the country,” Ruiz said. “For the District to have two students match in the same year is a remarkable achievement.”

 

 The QuestBridge scholarship program is geared toward students from low-income households, usually $65,000 or less. The scholarship winners are often first-generation college students. The application process starts early and is rigorous with essays/writing components, teacher recommendations and counselor reports. Idialu says he probably wrote seven to 10 essays during his application process. He said he would watch YouTube videos of students who were accepted to the schools he was applying to and learn how they approached their essays during their application process. 

 

“When I really look back, how did I tell my own story, and how did I make myself stand out from thousands of applicants,” Idialu said. “I read how they wrote their essays, how they structured it, what type of tone they used when they were writing, and the biggest thing I learned from that is just it's cliche, but just be yourself. You can never really have the perfect essay, but you can try as hard as possible, make it worthwhile…when everyone has the same stats, what separates you? It's how you view the world, how you think about your life experiences, and how you articulate them in those essays, and that's truly what makes you stand out.”

 

Rivera-Reyes remembers writing about his circumstances, his experiences and work responsibility while going to school. “I remember I wrote an essay about being honest with yourself or truthful, like that was my biggest value that I carried through life in school,” he said.

Here are some quick stats from the 2024 QuestBridge Finalists:

• 90% came from households earning less than $65,000 annually for a family of four.
• 87% qualified for free or reduced-price meals.
• 81% were first-generation college students.
• The average GPA was 3.92.
• 87% ranked in the top 10% of their graduating class

Advice Ruiz would give students who want to apply for the QuestBridge scholarship program:

 

1. Challenge themselves academically

2. Develop strong relationships with teachers and counselors who can write detailed recommendations

3. Keep track of leadership, service works, extracurricular activities

4. Start essays early and spend significant time telling "your story"

5. Be honest about obstacles, responsibilities and family circumstances

6. Apply even if they are unsure whether they qualify financially, each family situation is reviewed holistically. 

 

Both Idialu and Rivera-Reyes believe they would still find a way to Yale or Duke even without winning the QuestBridge scholarship through other scholarship or financial aid funding, but are grateful for this opportunity. Idialu plans to enroll as an EPE major (Ethics, Politics and Economics) at Yale and Rivera-Reyes intends to major in biochemistry and neuroscience at Duke.

 

“This opportunity means a lot for me,” Rivera-Reyes said. “I have lived in Merced my whole life, and I never really got to go on vacation or travel, because I'm low income. This is going to be the first time I've ever gone to the East Coast. I’ll be able to experience something that no one in my family really has experienced before.”

 

Idialu is also excited for this next chapter in his life. “I know there will be challenges,” he said. “I think God puts obstacles in our way on purpose. We pray to be  our ideal version, right? So you have to go through those obstacles and learn to be able to become that person that you ask God to be. So I think he's going to challenge me. He's going to make me really have to work hard, get out of my comfort zone, I'm going to be thousands of miles away from my family, so it's going to be a challenge, but I'm excited for the challenge. I can see myself definitely making a life out of this. It's going to be fun, I'm excited.”

 

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.