I’m sorry, but this is ridiculous. The stats of the people who got in ED listed so far are a fraction of those who got deferred. My son was deferred, with a 1540 SAT, 4.37 GPA, incredible ECs, great recommendations, excellent essays, tons of volunteer work, a very strong spike, oh, and he’s legacy. Brown is obviously looking for certain diversity in their ED, not the top students. Everyone who got deferred should take solace in that fact. Honestly, from what I have seen so far I’m glad he didn’t get in.
^Flippengoose I am sorry for your understandable disappointment. I am sure your son was and remains an excellent candidate. Most importantly I hope he remains confident and determined to find a perfect fit other than Brown or turning his deferral into an acceptance.
You can’t however extrapolate the mix, qualifications, and goals of admissions based on the extremely small sample and unverifiable nature of CC. By doing so you are diminishing all those that got in by suggesting it was a function of “diversity” not quality. That is as you put it…ridiculous!! Your son regretably didn’t get in because within the cohort of candidates he was competing against, others prevailed.
Your “and he is a legacy” comment seems to suggest you would have readily accepted the benefit of a distinction that has no direct impact on the candidate, yet vilify “diversity” as a negative. Wow…
“Honestly from what I have seen so far I am glad he didn’t get in”. So his not being accepted makes you glad he didn’t get in…kind of circular.
Sorry to be so direct but you are the parent of a kid who deserves better then being told that they are a victim and those that were accepted deserve to be told congratulations not ridiculed.
Lastly as a father of a Brown student that sounds like a similar academic candidate to yours (no hook) but also no legacy, I have experienced first hand the academic excellence, intellectual curiosity, and uniqueness of the Brown student body. Seemingly every kid you meet was class valedictorian, Student body president, amazing athlete, founder of a charity, entrepreneur, etc. They aren’t all as you callously put it “diversity” students.
I am blessed that my son was accepted into this amazing place and as an alumnus you obviously thought enough of it to want to send your child there as well. Please don’t denigrate the school or those who attend it.
Once again I wish you well and hope your son finds his perfect school.
Wish I at least got deferred… rejected ahahaa
Not sure if you realize, but your son being a legacy gives him just as much of an advantage as a first-generation student, despite my belief that first-generation students have to struggle through much more difficult circumstances than do legacies. These students worked hard for their acceptance and success.
Brown certainly promotes diversity, and that’s great. My friend (not a URM) got into Brown and PLME with a perfect 36 on each ACT section and perfect SAT subject scores, and more than what you described. He’s perfectly qualified, so Brown took him. Please check your privilege.
^There goes the grading curve ^:)^ Congratulations to your friend.
^Thankfully with well over 35,000 applicants for 2,500 offers of admission Brown can find a diverse population of students who are prepared to thrive academically and contribute to the Brown community. But I see what you were doing there, subtle and nuanced as it was.
@flippengoose
A student with high test scores, high GPA, incredible EC’s, great recommendations, excellent essays, tons of volunteer work, a very strong spike, (and at least one Ivy League educated parent) are perhaps “top students”, because they have been fortunate enough to have multiple advantages in their lives. Sounds like your kid was lucky enough to get a stellar education and also to have the free time to choose to pursue both a spike and to volunteer a lot. Mine was really lucky in that way as well. I hope he enjoyed doing these things and wasn’t just doing them to get into a top college. I’m sure you realize that there are literally thousands and thousands of other fortunate applicants with resumes that only slightly differ in some of the details from your son’s, and that there just isn’t room for all of them in a class of around 1,600.
Not all students enjoy this same good fortune and frankly, some have to work twice as hard to end up with less on their resumes. And after all of that hard work, they might even have their test scores questioned by someone who enjoyed both an expensive private school education as well as extensive SAT tutoring. It doesn’t mean they didn’t work as much or are less deserving of a chance at a wonderful school. I’m sure you understand also, that grades and test scores are only one small metric of assessing what spectacular things a student might achieve if given the chance. I’m so glad these schools recognize that there are a lot of different types of “top students” and that there is so much value in all of them learning together and from each other.
I truly wish your son the best of luck in his college search - he sounds like a great kid. I hope that he can recognize that in many ways he already has won, no matter where he ends up in school, and that he can be grateful for all of the great things that he has and is, and not bitter because he thinks he was entitled to something he didn’t receive.
Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1460, Math: 780, English: 680
ACT (breakdown): n/a
SAT II: didn’t send lmao
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): school doesn’t do unweighted but my weighted is 4.16 (pretty low tbh)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): n/a
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP European History, AP French, AP AB Calculus, AP Art History, AP English Literature, Studio Art
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): n/a
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): National Honor Society (Member of decorative committee), Philosophy Club (vice pres), Students Concerned for the Needy (VP of Projects), Habitat for Humanity (Head of Fundraising Committee), Model UN, French Club
Job/Work Experience: Worked as file clerk for an attorney for the last 2 years
Volunteer/Community service: Youth Red Cross Council in my county (Membership Adviser),
Summer Activities:
Interned on Phil Murphy Gubernatorial Campaign 2k17
Interned on Tom Malinowski Congressional Campaign 2k18
Interned for partner of a law firm
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9.5, Ik that sounds cocky but deadass I swear my essays were the only thing pushing my application forward lmao. I actually really liked them, I tried to make them encapsulate my “personality” and kept working to make them memorable. I let myself be funny when I wanted to and talked about things I genuinely wanted to talk about. Also my essays were really personal. Each one was pretty specific to me and kind of made the reader (at least my intention anyways) sort of resonate with my “character”
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 8, I know one of my reccomendations was really good but the other one I can’t be sure because I lowkey had a breakdown in front of that teacher and idk how she interpreted that.
Teacher Rec #1: One was my ap chem teacher/philosophy club adviser and this one I think really pushed me forward. I have a really good relationship w him. He’s very eccentric and he helped me find direction when I was in a low place.
Teacher Rec #2: This one I can’t be sure about. I was a good student and nice to her but there was no real personal relationship. I broke down in front of her once and I think she maybe sympathized w me but it didn’t exactly bridge us together so who knows tbh.
Counselor Rec: No idea, my counselor barely knows me
Additional Rec: none
Interview: My interview went really well. It was over the phone and we actually had a really fun and engaging conversation. We talked for like an hour and a half. I made her laugh a few times too which raised my confidence teehee. She was really sweet By the end of it she said she hoped I got good news in December which was a little telling of how the interview went.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: lmao haven’t applied for fasfa yet … college tuition? who is she
Intended Major: Double major in international relations and literary arts
State (if domestic applicant): NJ
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 80k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM
Reflection
Strengths: My essays were very passionate, shout-out to my aries moon haha. Also my extracurriculars and classes and essays made me out to be a pretty “pointy” individual in that most of my stuff fell into the political science / law side of things. (My long term goal is law school so that’s important ). I think that helped me sell myself as an applicant.
Weaknesses:
My gpa lmao lowest out of all of my friends I’m gagging. Also no awards bc I was dumb and insecure about my writing and also deadlines and I don’t get along so …
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
Cohesive application, personality really shined through while also being pretty personal,
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
None bc ED
Congrats to all those who got accepted (I’m not one of them)! To all those who also got deferred and rejected, do not lose hope! You will still get into a fantastic school! I know of someone who got denied by Brandeis, Tufts, Cornell, Brown, and UPenn (applied ED and got immediately rejected without a deferral); waitlisted by Williams and Harvard; and accepted by Stanford, Princeton, and MIT! It truly is a crapshoot!
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Might I remind users that one of the key principles of this site is treating other users with respect. No name-calling or shade-throwing is allowed. Several posts deleted.
S denied
Unweighted GPA 95.34, weighted 99.87.
SAT I 1570, (EBRW 770/Math 800) ,
Essay score :11.
SAT II Math 2: 800, Physics 2:: 780,
AP Scholar with Distinction
5 APS: (Eng 5, Physics 5, Statistics 5, US History 4, World History 4)
Enrolled in 5 Aps Senior year and plans on taking the exam for a 6th
ECs : Junior Varsity Baseball, Varsity Baseball (Captain)
Varsity Track (Freshman year),
President of the Quiz Bowl Team
School Peer Tutoring Program
National Honor Society
Lang Honor Society
Math Honor Society
History Honor Society
Science Honor Society
Volunteered at the local library two summers.
Misc award: Finalist for” Code-A-thon” 2-day Event the Science Research Class sent them to.
Recommendations:
- Calc/PreCalc teacher/advisor/mentor/club advisor who is a Brown Alum
- history teacher
- guidance counselor.
Rank 10 of 207 (top 5%)
Advisor was reportedly in shock.
Personally, I’m a bit ticked off.
S questions a comment his interviewer made re: his giving the “Brown answers”. Common essay was very cerebral and analytical about taking months to solve a math problem on his own, (Euler’s identity) passions for math, etc. Maybe it wasn’t catchy/entertaining enough for “non math people”. Admins in his school were impressed.
I guess I’m surprised he wasn’t at least deferred.
.
Will this thread be used for RD as well?
Decision: Accepted
Hey y’all, I was over the moon about being accepted to Brown and wanted to help you guys out with some of my stats, but honestly, I think my hook was just being a genuine person and portraying that through my application.
Cumulative GPA: 4.83 (4.0 scale)
Junior Year GPA: 5.0
Rank: 2/353 (pretty crappy public high school in a small city in California; last year, the best school someone got in was only UCLA)
SAT: 1530 (Essay Score: 24)
SAT Bio: 780
SAT Math 2: 710 (not a great score at all, but it turned out not to matter)
IB Diploma Candidate (all IB classes since junior year)
ECs: Captain of Tennis Team and Badminton, pianist of 13 years, artist, founder of my school’s Junior Statesmen of America chapter, VP of Key Club, lots of community service experience
Junior Summer Experiences: Stanford Cardiological Surgical Skills Summer Internship, attended California Girls’ State, Research Internship
Recommenders: IB Bio 1 teacher, AP Chem teacher, IB English teacher
*note: did not have a college counselor; used my friends and my English teacher as editors
I see a lot of people with great stats here that were deferred/rejected, and my 2cents is that it’s not about stats, it’s about character. I think that my hook was that I focused my common app on a mission trip I did to Cambodia, during which I taught underprivileged, low-income girls English, art, and music for two weeks. But, instead of flaunting my achievements, I took a different route. I talked about what I experienced, and what I got out of the process, and it was something that I cried about while writing, which is a good sign! Passion is huge, huge, huge, and I’m betting that the admissions office has had enough experience to tell fake from real. My opinion is that SATs don’t tell people jack about who you are, and minimally shows what you are capable of.
Don’t lose hope or become too discouraged! Remind yourself that college is not EVERYTHING. Take a breath, step back, and continue on writing your supplements. AND BE GENUINE to yourself!
@thousandmoons Congrats! However, why do you think your mission trip essay stood out? I was advised not to write about a mission trip as it would seem pretentious and that it seems “fake” that an applicant would experience personal change from only a small amount of time
I think Brown is doing an amazing thing if they are basing their admissions on more than just numbers or achievements. It is crucial to have diversity in experience for a proper education; it provides a variety of opinion and beliefs and thinking processes. Brown knows and values this, and that is something I respect and everyone should. Maybe they also take into account interest, specificity, and who they think best matches their school. Nonetheless, I am sure your son will find a college he matches with and I wish you all the best!
I’m applying regular decision and Brown is my dream. when I write my numbers, you will probably laugh at the idea of me even applying but I would do anything for Brown. My SAT SS 1350, 710 E 640 M Essay 19
ACT SS 29 C 27, E 35, R 31, M 23, S 27 Writing 29
GPA 3.83 W: AP SS, English, Science- very competitive high school in NY around five kids got in to various Ivys already
AP Scholar with Honor
lots of ECs, varsity track 4 years and LOTS of volunteering
I want to study history, pre-law
am I completely rediculous for even applying?
@janeeyre1 ridiculous? not at all! my stats are lower than yours in some areas. tbh i’m just going for it and whatever happens, happens (:
Congratulations to all who got in!
@leftycurve I know it hurts, but if your S can pull himself together, I think there are some advantages to being denied rather than deferred. I’ve seen so many deferred kids put all their time and effort to changing deferred to admit. Most of the time, it doesn’t work. (Obviously, some people do get deferred and then admitted, but most don’t. ) So, let him lick his wounds for a day or two and then go do some more applications.
Did anyone do/ Is anyone planning on doing the Video Portfolio? Which is basically an interview that you record of yourself??? Please let me know