Brown Class of 2025 RD
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Any communication from Brown?
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Ivy Day is April 6th at 7 pm Eastern. Total applications increased by 26%: University sees record-high number of applicants for Class of 2025 - The Brown Daily Herald
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I figured this could be a place for us to share our stats and ECs! Idk if that’s what you guys want to do but I am happy to start it!
Here’s a template if that’s helpful:
Stats
Background:
SAT/ACT (or TO):
SAT II (if applicable):
GPA (clarify if UW or W):
APs:
Course Rigor:
Class Rank:
Activites/Awards
ECs:
Awards:
Essays
CommonApp:
Open-Curriculum:
Contributions to Brown Community:
Community/Place You Call Home:
Activity Essay:
LoRs
Counselor:
Teacher #1:
Teacher #2:
Teacher #3:
Other:
Supplements
Video Portfolio:
Arts Supplement:
Here’s my stuff:
Stats
Background: White, Upper-Middle Class, Gay Student at pretty small school in Maine. I can’t recall a single person who got into Brown from my school (1-2 students a year max. get into an Ivy League or a similarly competitive school). Can’t tell if that will act in my favor or not.
SAT/ACT (or TO): 1440 SAT (I kinda regret sending this in because everyone in ED sent a 1500+ but oh well).
SAT II (if applicable): None
GPA (clarify if UW or W): ~98 UW (straight A’s, so 4.0)
APs: 6 Total, considered a bunch for my school. Took honors alternatives for all my classes when AP wasn’t available (except regular physics).
Course Rigor: Very rigorous for my school.
Class Rank (if applicable): Not officially reported in my school, but we do informal deciles ranking and I am in top 10%.
Activites/Awards
ECs:
- Performing Arts (dance, choir, and theater), with state-international distinctions in each of them.
- Heavily involved in educational policy and politics, worked with Maine DoE and school district leadership to combat systemic inequities and create innovative policies. Also advocated for and promoted student access to performing arts through another state leadership position.
- Certified Reiki master. Wrote a 40-ish page book about its principles ad practice for midcoast Maine community.
- NHS (Member 11-12, President 12). 80+ hours of community service.
- Started poetry project in response to COVID-19 (still in progress).
- Part-time job at supermarket, assistant for my dad’s unique instrument design business.
Awards: Nothing spectacular. Mostly for performing arts. State and school recognition for performing arts and academic performance.
Essays
CommonApp: Talked about my experience growing up in a very open and liberal household, and the impact of matriculating into a less tolerant community. Used performance as a continual analogy. I would give it a 8/10. Positive reviews from all readers, some more passionate than others. Felt resonant to Brown’s extremely liberating academic and social culture.
Open-Curriculum: I expressed my extreme interest and dedication to combining performing arts and politics, explained how I was excited to pursue this at Brown, referencing specific classes. I would say 8.5-9/10.
Contributions to Brown Community: I provided an anecdote about my experience auditioning as a Freshman in my high school, exemplifying my tendencies to turn tense environments into relaxed ones through initiative. My brother, a Harvard Law Review editor, thought this was my best essay I have ever written. I really liked it when I sent it, though a little less now. 9/10.
Community/Place You Call Home: I talked about the summer camp I always go to (I know, I know, very cliché). But this place is such intrinsic part of my identity so I felt the need to share it. 8/10.
Activity Essay: I talked about my experience with Reiki (a Japanese energy-healing practice) and how I learned about it. I explained how its principles shape my view on education. I think it is pretty interesting. 8.5/10.
LoRs
Counselor: Do not know her that well, but I got to have a nice and deep talk with her about my high school experience before she wrote it. I am expecting a generic but positive one. 7/10.
Teacher #1: 11th Grade APUSH teacher. She’s honestly my favorite teacher of all time and we got to have a close connection. She promised she would make it scream “ACCEPT ME”. 9/10.
Teacher #2: 9-10th Grade English teacher. She is a very dramatic writer and got to see how I budded from an inexperienced writer and reader into a leader in the classroom. She is also an NHS advisor. 8/10.
Teacher #3: My 9-12th Grade Chorus teacher. We got to know each other very well and she let me read her LoR. It was pretty short, but very positive. 8/10.
Other: I had my dance teacher who knew me since I was like 6 write me an additional one. She shared it to me and omg it is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever seen. It is 5 pages long and is extremely powerful, though some of it might be considered philosophical fluff. The admissions officer will likely not read the whole thing but even the intro paragraph says a ton. 10/10.
Supplements
Video Portfolio: I did an extemporaneous response to the storming of the U.S. capitol for my video, talking about the importance of radical empathy. I wanted this to seem “me” so I decided not to overproduce it. It isn’t super eloquent but hopefully it brings out another “real” side of me. 7.5/10.
Arts Supplement: I did a voice supplement since they only do music and visual arts. I felt particularly artsy before applying to the first song is me covering a new alternative pop song with self-harmonization and kitchen appliances. Hope the arts people appreciate the creativity lol. I also got to elaborate on my choral accomplishments. 8-8.5/10.
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Stats
Background: asian, enby, middle class, from a small suburb wedged in rural CA
SAT/ACT (or TO): 1520 (800 Math, 720 EBRW)
SAT II (if applicable): 780 Math Lvl 2
GPA (clarify if UW or W): 3.92 UW/4.61 W
APs: 6 scores (3 5s, 2 4s, 1 3 (did not submit). Am taking AP Physics C (both Mech and E&M), AP Chem, APCSP, and AP LIt This year. Also did 11 DE courses.
Course Rigor: very high, most rigorous curriculum
Class Rank: not ranked but I know I am ELC for UCs (tho they used different calc)
Activites/Awards
ECs: Nothing spectacular
- Science Fair Research Project
- Acadec VP
- campaign jobs
- election forecasting model
- orchestra
Awards: - National Rural Recognition for PSAT
- Regional Winner in Science Fair
Essays (rated out of 10)
CommonApp: 9
Open-Curriculum: 8
Contributions to Brown Community: 8
Community/Place You Call Home: 8
Activity Essay: 10
LoRs (also rated out of 10 and these are guesses lol)
Counselor: 5
Teacher #1: 10 (my english teacher and I have amazing relationship)
Teacher #2: 9 (chem teacher and I are in good standing as well and I’m her TA)
Supplements
Video Portfolio: I think I did alright and emphasized my main points as well as stuff not covered in the essays.
Arts Supplement: DId Not Submit
Research: Submitted Research Abstract
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have absolutely no clue of your chances as a high school junior but you seem like a really cool person. I hope you get in!!
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Hello everyone. I saw in my brown’s application portal that my mid year transcript submission has got waived. Did this happen with anyone else?
Are you at a school that only releases final year grades (instead of per semester/quarter/trimester?) If so, that may be why.
Yea. My school has no concept of mid year report. And my counselor also mentioned it in my school report. So myb they reviewed my application and waived it.
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Hey I appreciate it! Wishing you all the best with your apps! Lmk (DM) if you want any help! 
Do y’all think that submitting a research paper I’ve written as a supplementary material to Brown adds more to my application or is admission unlikely to even look at it? I never published the paper, it was for AP research so is it unlikely to make me seem more competitive 
You kind of answer your own question here. IMO, only submit supplementary material if it shows that you spent time and effort on it and it adds to your application. Personally, I didn’t submit a music supplement last year since I definitely wasn’t competition-level and did it more for fun than anything else. However, I did submit a different supplementary material recording since it was related to one of my concentration interests, I had spent time and energy on the EC, and I thought it would support my interest in that field.
The final choice is yours, however. Good luck!
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my daughter emailed them two days ago to let them know that one of her AP classes is not on the mid year transcript sent to them as it is being taken via a virtual platform and not through her school since they didn’t offer the course this year. she told admissions that she the status of that class would be sent to them soon and their response was “please have your counselors send this ASAP- they can email directly - and we will put a copy of this email from you in the file”.
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My son applied ED (deferred) and in late Nov, he received an email requesting mid year report and requested it submitted around Feb, if not earlier. This week all of our midyear was squared away and the counselor uploaded to common app. Looks like all the colleges downloaded it, including Brown. Do you think we need to have the counselor send to the AO separately (in the email in Nov, they provided an email) or are we good to go because Brown downloaded it in the portal? Just didn’t want to overwhelming the AO with unneeded emails. Thx!
If it’s listed as received on the applicant portal checklist, then Brown’s received it.
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Our public HS had Term 2 complete on Monday and started sending scores out yesterday. I’m pretty sure they have some tool to handle all the transmissions of scores and that the AO is not needed. Give it a week and see what the portal says. “Trust but verify”
If submitted via the Common App, I believe those documents are automatically downloaded every night and marked as received by Slate, which Brown uses as its application portal management system.
If submitted by email, the documents will need to be entered in manually, as with supplemental letters of recommendation.
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yall know of any indicators that shows you got in before the decision date? or at least some theories? When I was looking for NYU there were some indicators that worked for me. If anyone has such knowledge please share.
Just gotta wait it out man. It’ll be here before your know it.