Applying Early Decision to Brown

Hello all! I’m heavily considering applying ED to Brown this fall and saw as I reading through some posts that applying ED can potentially hurt a candidates chances. Brown is my dream school but I have to ask myself, would I be better off applying RD given my stats?
Bio:
-Citizenship: US Citizen
-State of residence: New York
-Race: Biracial (American and Jamaican)
-Gender: Female

School:
-Type (Public/private & size): Public, Class Size of 407 Students
-Graduates (How many go to Ivy’s/top 20): Salutatorian from last year is going to Yale
-AP’s Offered: 20

Academic Profile:
-Unweighted GPA: 94.0625
-Weighted GPA: 97.8542
-AP’s:
Sophomore Year
World History (3) probably won’t report
Junior Year
Calc AB (3) probably won’t report
Lang and Comp (4)
US History (5)
Senior Year (No Scores Yet0
US Gov and Politics
Literature and Comp
Physics C
French
Calculus BC
-ACT: 32 Composite
-Rank: 20 out of 407 (top 5 percent)
-Course Rigor: All AP/Honors/College Courses

EC (In order of importance/commitment):
-Competitive Dancer/National Grand Champion/Award Winning Soloist (Past 14 Years)

  • National Honor Society (President)
  • National Foreign Language Honor Society (Treasurer)
  • Mock Trial
    -Class of 2018 (Student Government)
    -Glamour Gals (Treasurer)
    -Leadership Intern at a local STEM Summer Camp
    -Volunteer at a local Assisted Living Home
    -School Newspaper
    -Marching Band
  • Teen Advisory Council at local library
    -Junior Docent at local Holocaust Museum

Honors:
-AP Scholar w/ Honor

Intended Major: Political Science

Applying ED does not hurt your chances. There’s a slightly more competitive playing field, but Brown recognizes that and will evaluate you on your own merits. However, you should only be applying ED if Brown is absolutely your first choice school and you will be able to attend if admitted.