844-990-1056

The text stated that it wanted to know about my college search and said there was a chance at a $2,000 reward.

Was it from Johns Hopkins with a "https://ql.tc/" link? If so I got the same one.

It certainly was not from John Hopkins or any reputable establishment as it is a malicious link.

*State I live in* would like to know how you made your college choice! Click here to start. https://ql.tc/b/ac8xeTkl Text Stop to opt out.

This is what it said, is this reputable or is it just a malicious link?

It is not a malicious link, and the companies behind it are reputable.  Whether or not you want to follow the link and complete the survey is up to you.

The "ql.tc" domain is owned by the company Qualtrics which Wikipedia describes as "an American experience management company" (a fancy term for a company that provides services and software so other companies can perform surveys).  The domain has been registered since 2016.  It is used as part of a URL shortening service.

The link you posted resolves to a survey hosted on the qualtrics.com domain that is being run by Eduventures Research, a company that does research on potential students for various Universities so they can improve their recruitment efforts.

The first page of the survey starts with

Quote:

Take a survey about your college choice and the University of Kansas for a chance to win one of two $2,000.00 rewards.

and then asks the question

Quote:

What are you most likely to do in the year after you graduate from high school?

and offers just under a dozen possible responses.

According to the official rules page (linked to on the survey page) they are giving a $2,000 Visa gift card to two winners of a sweepstakes.  Based on the posted beginning and ending dates of the sweepstakes (that are both in 2025) and the fact that poster "Student" (above) mentioned it in their 2024 post, they appear to offer the sweepstakes each year.