Hi! Some of you may have seen my “chance me post” from a while back ( Chance average GPA, strong EC’s student for dream ED school [VA Resident, 3.75 UW, 35 ACT, NMSF, need FA; public policy, international relations, economics, cognitive science] - Chance Me / Match Me! - College Confidential Forums), and I have a kinda bad gpa for Brown, which is where I’m ED’ing, though I have a very strong upward trend. Was planning to continue that upward trend this year (and still am), but due to really weird grading practices on the part of my AP Chem teacher I think I’m gonna end this quarter with like a B+. B at worst. The rest of my classes should be all A-, A, A+'s, but I’m terrified this is going to put me out of the running for Brown ED given my already delicate situation with my grade trend and GPA. For more context about my circumstances, course load, etc., that’s all in the chance me post I linked above. I’ll try my best to drag my grade up, but nothing is guaranteed. I would really like some insight about what this quarter grade would have on my chances! Thank you!
Apply and see. If you don’t get accepted to Brown, you will likely never know why.
No, I think it won’t torpedo your application. Your academic record was pretty good, and before the SC decision I think you might have gotten in. No one knows how the schools are going to handle the SC’s having left the door open with their guidance that: “nothing in [its] opinion should be construed as prohibiting
universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it
through discrimination, inspiration, or otherwise.” Id. at 39. This means that universities may
continue to embrace appropriate considerations through holistic application-review processes and
(for example) provide opportunities to assess how applicants’ individual backgrounds and
attributes—including those related to their race, experiences of racial discrimination, or the racial
composition of their neighborhoods and schools—position them to contribute to campus in unique
ways. For example, a university could consider an applicant’s explanation about what it means to
him to be the first Black violinist in his city’s youth orchestra or an applicant’s account of
overcoming prejudice when she transferred to a rural high school where she was the only student
of South Asian descent. An institution could likewise consider a guidance counselor or other
recommender’s description of how an applicant conquered her feelings of isolation as a Latina
student at an overwhelmingly white high school to join the debate team. Similarly, an institution
could consider an applicant’s discussion of how learning to cook traditional Hmong dishes from
her grandmother sparked her passion for food and nurtured her sense of self by connecting her to
past generations of her family.
I would imagine that you took this into consideration when deciding on topics for your essays for Brown (and other highly selective schools). Do your best in your classwork, as you so clearly have done all along - that string of high AP scores in both humanities and STEM APs is really quite impressive - and I’m hopeful for you. Don’t beat yourself up if you get a B in AP Chem. As a person whose clear bent is toward liberal arts, poli sci, debate, I’m pretty impressed that you’ve challenged yourself with some tough STEM APs, too.
It is what it is.
That said, It’s unlikely to change how Brown sees you and per Brown, ED isn’t necessarily a lift anyway.
If your December application is going to be stronger than your October application- why apply early?
I may be wrong, but I don’t think ED schools will see first quarter/first half grades until after decisions have been made. I know at our school that first quarter grades won’t be included on the transcripts sent to ED (and many EA) schools - first quarter won’t even be wrapped up by 11/1.
My kid had to provide 1st marking period grades. When deferred, they asked for mid-year.
Depends on the university. Here are Brown’s instructions:
Early Decision applicants are required to have their counselor submit first quarter or trimester grades as soon as they are available
In addition to what ski said, many ED schools will call the HS counselor to get the grades. Q1 grades are typically in by late Nov/early Dec.
If the school doesn’t do Q1 grades, many ED schools still want an update from the counselor as to the kid’s grades…in that case the counselor has to contact each teacher to get the grades and/or look at school links/canvas etc. IME many schools want Q1/mid term grades for many of the students who applied ED.
Good to know for S24 (fortunately, he has all As at this point).
Yeah I’ve heard this a lot (regarding aff action decision). My Brown supplements have been done for quite a while (they have 7 for some odd reason), and I took the ball and ran with it for the diversity question while also connecting it to how I’ll contribute to Brown! I think my response is strong on that one, but I’ll talk to my school counselor and see what they think. My STEM classes are actually quite important though because I’m planning to double major in STEM and humanities (and I go to a STEM magnet school), and I know I have good AP scores but a lot of people I know and people on CC have said they don’t matter? I thought AO’s used it as a benchmark to measure grade inflation and stuff like that, but maybe I’m wrong!
I really appreciate your faith in me though, and I hope it’ll work out 
thank you!!!
Well I think my application is quite strong in every other aspect. I’ve completed all my supplements and am just fine tuning them now, my commonapp essay has been reviewed by my counselor who is a reader for an ivy and he really loves it (and has given me edits), and i can’t really change my activities other than the way I word them. I’m also completely sure that Brown is my first choice, and I know that everyone says Brown doesn’t care if u apply ED (re: @tsbna44), but AO’s have actually said that schools that say they don’t consider demonstrated interest use it if it really comes down to it, and although this doesn’t really matter in ED pool (everyone is obv. interested), if I get defered to RD, that might end up being a factor that pushes me over the edge. Might be overanalyzing, but yeah.
Just to be clear - I didn’t say anything. Brown did.
Good luck
Please do not assume that your admission chances are improved by applying under the Early Decision plan. The Board of Admission makes the same decisions under Early Decision that it would under the Regular Decision plan.
Yep I know Brown put that info out, just tagged you because you mentioned it in your post! Thank you for the good luck wishes
If it makes you feel better, I found your post doomscrolling because I’m also getting my first B this quarter (excluding a dual enrollment class that my school doesn’t calculate into GPA, although I’m sure Brown will). Hopefully everyone below is right and we’ve both still got a shot at Brown ED! Best of luck!
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