<p>I always thought brown would be a little bit more holistic on rank than most schools but dang:</p>
<p>According to brown admission statistics, out of 2,458 students applying, ONLY 48 got accepted. That’s literally a 2% acceptance rate.
I was going to apply to brown ED cause of my test scores and EC’s, but damn if I only have a 2% chance there doesn’t really seem to be a point to waste ED. </p>
<p>Those spots are probably taken mostly by athletes/legacies/students who go to super high ranked high schools/ so it’s probably less of a 1% chance. Not to mention I’m asian. </p>
<p>Yes, it is extremely hard to get into Brown if you are not in the top 10%. I’d argue that outside the top 5% is pretty tough, too. Exceptions are athletes, development (but not legacy), students from either prep schools or magnet schools like Stuyvesant, and students who offer something so unique/intriguing/compelling that Brown overlooks a low rank.</p>
<p>Ah, thanks all. Didn’t think I was qualified anyways. Doesn’t seem worth it to apply tbh. Brown was my dream school, but you can’t have anything in life can you :)</p>
<p>I think I’ll apply ED to either Cornell/Rice or CMU instead, which are all still reaches but are slightly more lenient when it comes to rank.</p>
<p>I kinda figure that “holistic” is more of an excuse to reject highly qualified applicants than to admit lower-stats ones (for any of the top schools). They just have too many applicants these days.</p>
<p>I am very late responding, also, but since you probably haven’t made all of your app decisions yet, I wanted to tell you that my son was outside the Top 10% (was in Top 15% W, but lower UW), not a legacy, URM, athlete, development, etc., and was accepted to Brown. Brown does, indeed, have an exceedingly holistic admissions process, in our experience. They do look at every part of your application, and seem to try to find the “balance point” of your app to determine if your balance point is in line with other applicants. </p>
<p>I think that I would look at the “why” of your lower GPA before ruling out an application to Brown. Is there a valid reason your GPA is lower than most accepted students? Do you have high test scores to balance the GPA? Brown, perhaps more than any of the other Ivy’s, is less driven by GPA/test scores and more interested in your story. If I were a “lopsided” student and was interested in Brown for reasons greater than “It’s an Ivy”, I would be more apt to apply to Brown than other schools. </p>
<p>I think you should also consider that one reason the number of students with a low GPA is so low is because not many students outside of the Top 10% apply. HS GPA is not always the best indicator of whether a student will be successful at Brown and in the future, and Brown recognizes that. If you have other outstanding qualities that balance your lower GPA, I wouldn’t rule out Brown based on the facts listed above.</p>
<p>Maybe there are others like me who do not know what a “balance point” is in connection with a Brown application. And why does Brown want to get these points in line with other applicants? Grateful for embellishment you can provide.</p>
<p>I don’t claim to have any prophetic wisdom, Fenway. I was simply trying to explain MY OPINION of how Brown MIGHT view one candidate with a low GPA more favorably than another candidate with a higher GPA–in other words, using a holistic approach that was called into question by the OP. I put “balance point” in quotations to denote the fact that I had fashioned the term myself for lack of a better way to explain how Brown might balance a candidate’s high achievements in other areas to counter a low GPA. If others are truly confused by this, I’m happy to further explain. I simply have the impression from some of your other posts that you might be one who makes a habit of being on the unnecessarily argumentative side. I could be wrong, though. So, if others agree that my explanation was lacking, they are free to ignore it, just as you are. ;)</p>
<p>Just wondering what a balance point meant. With that information I might agree or disagree with you and express that opinion on the Board. I guess balance point=holistic, if I understand your explanation correctly. If that is right, then yes, that is the approach Brown says it uses.</p>
<p>EDIT: Looking at the views/posts ratios I think there are a lot of lurkers out there who do not necessarily post comments or questions. So thanks for responding even if only one person came on the board (so far) to express interest in your thoughts</p>
<p>I agree with @happykidsmom not to let that deter you if you think otherwise you are a good candidate, especially if it is your first choice school. I don’t really recommend choosing another school for ED if you really have a different first choice. Your choice though I understand you feel you are being strategic.</p>