<p>if these kids had s"tats i didn't hear about" and "ECs i just ignored for my own peace of mind," why did they get rejected by places like berkeley, ucla, and jhu and got accepted to brown? it simply doesn't add up. i know it's bad to compare where people got in and where they didn't, but i believe that the uc system is very fair and objective and that it's relatively safe to compare admissions results to these schools. and if people are bitter about being rejected from brown, i think it's perfectly acceptable. we worked hard during high school and it is very frustrating to see pretty average students get into my dream school.</p>
<p>a lot of it is about fitting. i was rejected by yale, princeton. waitlisted at JHU, harvard, columbia. in at brown and duke. i don't think it's fair to say I'm an average student. i've got great scores and a great rank (see the RD decision thread or whatever). but the real reason I think I got in is because I fit well with brown. my entire life has been about learning things on my own. it's almost like it's part of my personality, and i think that's what brown is all about, and that's why they established the new curriculum. and the more i think about it, i don't think i would be a fit at yale at all even though it was my top choice.</p>
<p>I got rejected from Berkeley out-of-state. I don't think that means that I don't belong at Brown. My so called 'stats' are much higher than the average in-state student accepted/enrolling at Berkeley.</p>
<p>You have to ask yourself, do these numbers really mean what they say they mean? And is it possible to compare SAT scores and GPAs from people who live halfway across the country from each other with 100% objectivity?</p>
<p>Agree! S with solid stats all aspects is on waited list.</p>
<p>brown adcoms aren't idiots.</p>
<p>plenty of colleges reject kids with perfect SAT scores, self-studied AP tests, and multiple presidencies... it's no guarantee of admission. In my case, 6 colleges did that to me.</p>
<p>yeah, so get your head out of the sand and check out reality. Plenty of bright kids to go around.</p>
<p>i agree brown adcoms arent idiots but...i know a girl who got rejected from boston college and waitlisted at NYU...and she just got accepted into brown..so its definetly more random than some ppl are admitting</p>
<p>Different adcoms are looking for different things. Brown is, most people would agree, a better school than BC, but they're different schools looking for different things. MIT and Williams are both fine schools, but what each school is looking for is very different. While the differences between Brown and other schools are less exaggerated, they're still there. I sincerely doubt that the acceptances they made were not without reason. Like they say, there's tons of qualified students, and as a result the person who sticks out is going to beat a "solid all around student" sometimes.</p>
<p>Brown looks for self-motivators and intellectually entrepreneurial type of students, i.e. those not afraid to try out untested territories. It also looks for a well rounded class of students rather than a class of well rounded students, which is why it appears to be random to the outside but they do have their reasons behind whom they admit and who they don't.</p>
<p>college admissions has never exactly been predictable, particularly among the ivies and PARTICULARLY THIS YEAR. numbers were outrageous.</p>
<p>that being said though, while i wouldnt exactly go as far as calling the brown adcoms "idiots", i would acknowledge a bit of truth in some of the things posted on this thread so far.</p>
<p><a href="http://princetonreview.com/college/apply/eyeonapply/2006/charanya_apr.asp%5B/url%5D">http://princetonreview.com/college/apply/eyeonapply/2006/charanya_apr.asp</a>
One of the princetonreview's "eye on apply" kids has a very similar story. She got rejected/waitlisted almost everywhere, yet accepted to brown? And from my own experiences, I have talked to many a high school senior who find their results to be the same. </p>
<p>What does this mean exactly? Sure, could be that brown takes a "holistic" approach. But then again, I think it's unfair to say that its fellow ivies don't. Brown has received considerable media attention in the past few years, and it's safe to say their applicant pool has grown substantially. I mean, maybe they ARE trying to compete. Maybe they ARE looking to increase yield. We have no way of knowing.</p>
<p>But when all is said and done, one of my best friends (wonderfully creative, talented artist, incredibly easy-going, etc etc) was deferred then rejected from Brown. All along I thought she epitomized the "ideal Brown student", and so when her results came back, I'll admit that I was shockingly turned off.</p>
<p>She ended up picking yale, and getting into a couple others. It seemed like the ones Brown choose were denied from the other ivies, and those that were admitted to other ivies, denied at Brown. And to that I must say... </p>
<p>"hmmmm...."
(chin stroking ensues)</p>
<p>If I understand the complaint correctly:</p>
<p>There is only one set of valid criteria for evaluating college applications. All colleges must consider the same set of qualifications, and apply the same weights to each criterion. Any college that deviates from that in any way must have idiots in the admissions office.</p>
<p>As a corollary: </p>
<p>After compiling its admissions decisions, each college should check with the other colleges to make sure it did not "miss" anything. For example, if Yale were to discover it admitted someone whom Brown denied, then Yale should reverse its decision and reject that student.</p>
<p>And a final corollary:</p>
<p>Colleges should save money and pool their admissions offices. One single admissions system could serve the entire country. It would rank each student from top to bottom, rank the colleges (perhaps using the Revealed Preferences data) and distribute the admissions by matching students to colleges working from top down. ANY other system is "idiotic".</p>
<p>I personally attended multiple sessions for IVY admits, including Brown. Guess what, many that were accepted by Brown are also admitted by other Ivys such as admitted by both Brown and Columbia. Don't believe you can use "one" example to generalize the whole.</p>
<p>Yes, and many weren't. You can argue from both sides, but either way will you will ultimately be "generalizing the whole". No where did I say that this one cited example was the norm. or the majority. or "the whole". I simply noted that IN MY OWN EXPERIENCES (!), this student's story paralled many of the Brown applicants I, myself, know.</p>
<p>Intentions were not to prompt defensive replies, nor to deter the quality of Brown's applicant pool. It is a very good school, and I am not attacking it by communicating the stories/anecdotes of those around me. I am regretful that I have perhaps been perceived otherwise.</p>
<p>But it is equally unfair to call someone out for generalizing, when really.. that's all this board is.
(seek no further than the title...)</p>
<p>wait so does that mean.... if you have like semi good stats like SAT 2140 and 4.0 gpa and a few ec's you have a better chance??? cause now applying to brown is sounding good to me lol!</p>
<p>cassadie hk , I was simply responding to your posting:</p>
<p>"She ended up picking yale, and getting into a couple others. It seemed like the ones Brown choose were denied from the other ivies, and those that were admitted to other ivies, denied at Brown. And to that I must say..."</p>
<p>and pointed out that it is not accurate.</p>
<p>aseemo , the following is the official stats from Brown, which should be helpful in understanding their admission stats:</p>