<p>All I have to say is AHHHHH</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/news/2005/01/27/CampusNews/Applications.To.College.Up.10-842979.shtml[/url]”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/news/2005/01/27/CampusNews/Applications.To.College.Up.10-842979.shtml</a></p>
<p>"The University's higher placement in U.S. News and World Report's 2005 America's Best Colleges rankings - 13th in the nation this year, up from 17th in 2004 - caught the attention of potential applicants, Goldberger said.</p>
<p>"You'd like to say, 'Oh, that doesn't mean anything, and how can you quantify these things,' but people pay a lot of attention to (national rankings)," he said. "I think that for some kids or families, it gets them up on the radar screen. It gets them paying attention."</p>
<p>Yeah, how annoying is that?? If people only apply to Brown because of it's "ranking" then obviously they do not TRULY love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>Well also that huge donation probably got it a lot of press. People will only apply to colleges they've heard of. There's really nothing about the name "brown university" that would catch an average person's attention, is there?</p>
<p>it's highly unlikely that the USNWR rankings boost is the sole or even principle reason for the increase--particularly since brown's volatile position in past years has had no discernible relationship to the applicant numbers before. </p>
<p>much more likely, is that brown gained more attention from the general sense of momentum at the university, garnered by high profile news in the past year:</p>
<p>$120 million in gifts from a single donor within a few months, as part of a $1.3 billion capital campaign</p>
<p>faculty appointments of John Edgar Wideman and the former president of Brazil (Fernando Cardoso)</p>
<p>the selection of Brown by the most recent winner of the Intel Prize</p>
<p>Brown faculty members taking leadership of the world trade center site (Josef Mittleman) and the New York Public Theater (Oscar Eustis)</p>
<p>braingate getting FDA approval resulting in the first human to control a computer with his thoughts</p>
<p>etc.</p>
<p>while those things you listed are fantastic, to the applicants in high school and families of these applicants, it's doubtful that they'd hear about most of those. </p>
<p>Not that it's a good thing, but my dad uses the USNWR rankings as his college bible for where I "should" go. Actually, it's definitely not a good thing, but I can say first hand that there are certainly parents like my dad who pay great attention to the USNWR rankings.</p>
<p>this makes a deferred applicant like myself feel just dandy!!</p>
<p>Damn! Brown up 10%, Dartmouth up 8%... I don't stand a chance anymore... :(</p>
<p>i feel that, luckycharms</p>
<p>I know, it stinks!! :( </p>
<p>But, yeah, even the dude in the article said that it probably had something to do with the rankings. I'm sure that there are LOTS of people who don't know half of those things about Brown, or any for that matter, but applied because it's ranked high.</p>
<p>In other words, they do not truly love it as some of us do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hopefully that will show on the apps tho guys! :D LOL</p>
<p>Yea, I hate how it will be much harder for the people who really love the school because others are applying for the wrong reasons :-(</p>
<p>Check this site out!</p>
<p>It's mentioned in the Brown Daily Herald article, a guy's blog devoted to his dream of getting into Brown.</p>
<p>Haha--aren't ALL of our blogs devoted to our Brown dreams????????</p>
<p>dcircle as nice as those thoughts are, they are far from true. USNEWS means alot more to the average person than faculty appointments and the intel prize. Brown has luckily held stable as it has gone down in the rankings, but an increase will be worthy of an apps surge.</p>
<p>Look at Penn and WUSTL as examples. Both have done very well with apps as they have climbed in the rankings. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is up 8% too!! The two best schools in the ivy league (in my humble opinion) are up big, wonder how the rest will do!</p>
<p>Take anything "dcircle' says with a grain of salt; he is even more likely to hew to the party line on these things than Brown admissions officials themselves! I mean, can't you just see some highschooler saying: "Wow! I'm applying to Brown this year! They just hired John Edgar Wideman and the former president of Brazil (Fernando Cardoso)!"</p>
<p>That said, Brown may be at the upper end of Ivy increases - along with Princeton and Dartmouth, since all three took a bit of a hit last year in the wake of early admissions rules changes at HYS. (ie, they are working off 2008 base numbers that were depressed somewhat.) </p>
<p>Princeton, in particular, should theoretically see an increase, as its numbers fell dramatically last year, and it has, in partial consequence, moved to accept the Common App - something it had previously resisted.</p>
<p>just recently brown wasn't even need blind. this year, brown will be not only be need blind but affordable to anyone who applies. brown is now a reasonable option for a whole new population of people. this is the true reason for the majority of the increase. </p>
<p>i have no doubt that USNWR influenced some people's decisions. it's just highly unlikely it substantially contributed to the increase seeing as how previous fluctuations did not produce this effect. </p>
<p>FYI, there are people on these boards who have cited specific faculty members as their reason for applying. if i was a high schooler interested in race relations or literature these faculty appointments would definitely get my attention.</p>
<p>Ah. So you disagree with the Brown Admission office as to what motivates most high school applicants when they decice where to apply? </p>
<p>Do you think changes of the magnitude you describe will result in a higher proportional increase in applications at Brown this year than at Harvard, Yale and Princeton?</p>
<p>the herald quote is is no way official, it was just an off-the-cuff remark from an adcom, and an isolated one at that. as a result, there is no disagreement with the "Brown Admissions Office".</p>
<p>i don't think it will necessarily result in a higher proportional increase than harvard or princeton, both off whom offer great financial aid as well, and were already targeting this same population.
after last year's remarkable increase, i think yale's increase will most likely be more modest this time around. but you really never know.</p>
<p>oh wow. i stayed overnight the same night that blogger did. hmm.</p>
<p>Sigh it just gets harder and harder to get a good shot. I feel like I only have one dart and I'm trying to nail a bullseye blindfolded while it's moving back and forth.</p>