<p>im applying early decision and while i have EC’s i certainly haven’t cured cancer, won and international contest, performed my musical talents in the presence of royalty anything of that caliber. do most kids attending Brown accomplish something extraordinary like that? or are most of them really intelligent and capable of articulating their passions etc?</p>
<p>I think that while there are students who have done really incredible things, the majority of Brown students are just people who are interesting and intelligent and eager to learn.</p>
<p>I’d like to hear some answers, too. Do you really need to have an amazing hook to get in? It seems almost everyone has one. I haven’t really done anything extraordinary, but I’m extremely passionate about what I do, I just hope it shines through my application!</p>
<p>I am a (1) white (2) female from a (3) private school in (4) California. I am the LEAST desirable type of applicant.</p>
<p>Yet I still got in without major awards and discoveries to my name. I just demonstrated that I like to learn a lot. I spent the summer before my senior year writing a long research paper on a topic I cared about at the urging of my teacher. It became part of my application.</p>
<p>I don’t know if that alone got me in, but I demonstrated that I can independently learn stuff-- a very Brown thing.</p>
<p>So you just need to demonstrate your learning or creative initiative in whatever way suits you. I just wrote because I’m a good writer.</p>
<p>Like hollyert, I am also a white female from a part of the US that produces a lot of high-achieving, well-rounded students. Although I had a very good transcript from a competitive school, I wasn’t the best student in my class. My scores were high, but not stellar. I put effort into my ECs, but I did not have any truly impressive to my creditnamely, I had won no national awards, cured any diseases, or invented revolutionary technology. What I did have in my favor were some esoteric academic interests and a passion for math and physics, and the fact that my ECs supported my story (I did math-related community service, for example, and I read a lot of books on my fields of interest). Both these “minor hooks” were fodder for my essays and interview.</p>
<p>I’ve met other kids at Brown with similar experiences, people who boosted good credentials but hadn’t done anything that you’d find on the front page of the New York Times. They are, however, excited about and heavily invested in what they love, attitudes that carry through when they talk about their work. If you really care about what you do, I’m sure that it will come through in your application. Good luck!</p>
<p>D is white, from NYC and also, not an inventor and no newspaper articles were written about her. She had terrific grades and scores, and is an artist. She submitted an art portfolio with her app (don’t know if that helped, but it did qualify her to submit her work to be accepted into an advanced studio class). She did a lot of independent art work and other stuff, and I think her independence and interests were what put her over the top of the application process and helped to get her admitted. She is about to start her third year.</p>
<p>Curiously enough, while most of the kids attending Brown aren’t that extraordinary, we tend to hear about them all the time. I guess it’s all about the way people build hype and acclaim around a college’s name. </p>
<p>It’s far more interesting to promote a school by saying something like, “Brown’s Class of 2013 consists of published novelists, musicians who’ve performed at Carnegie Hall, winners of international olympiads and superstar actresses (Emma Watson if you haven’t already heard)” than something like “Brown’s Class of 2013 consists of a bunch of committed, intelligent high school grads who’ve put in effort into their studies and extracurriculars and have written good essays.”</p>
<p>Both are true, it’s just that we tend to get obsessed about belonging to the very small minority that makes its way into the first description.</p>