Brown Class of 2023 Applicants Discussion

does being a legacy increase my changes significantly or no?

Being a legacy is a “hook,” so, yes, it increases your chances.

@EdulsTheMove it clearly helps. However, if you’re only applying because you’re a legacy, AOs can see through that. Being a legacy doesn’t guarantee admissions at all

@fireandrain Would you happen to know whether if a request for first quarter grades from Brown mean anything? I heard of a fair number of people getting one, and as my GC hasn’t heard anything so far I’m getting kind of worried haha.
Also how much harder is it for internationals requiring aid to get in ED? :’

And thank you for all your helpful posts! <3

Hi y’all! Chance me please!

Stats and Hooks:
Multiracial (Indian, French, Arab) female from the Bay Area
SAT (Superscore): 730 RW, 780 Math
SAT II: Math 2 - 800, Chem - 760
PSAT: 1460 (PSAT Commended)
GPA: 4.2 W, 3.9 UW
AP’s: AP Euro - 5, APUSH (self-studied) - 4
ACS Gen Chem Exam: Top 6th percentile
Former Biomed Student until Junior year when I entered Middle College
Dual-enrolled in community college as Middle College Student as it was way more affordable than taking AP exams and I wasn’t exactly happy w/ the way my high school ran things (very competitive, hard to stand out, couldn’t exactly explore what it was that I wanted to do because of how linear my school ran things)
Took Calc I and II (equivalent to Calc BC), Gen Chem I and II (equivalent to AP Chem)
Currently taking in Fall Sem. O Chem I, Gen Phys 1 and Tutoring Theory and Practice 1
Signed up for O Chem II, Gen Psych 1, and Tutoring Theory and Practice 2
Classes have been significantly increasing in rigor
AVID student for two years because I want to go college really badly (even though my peers look down on AVID)
Financial situation is so bad that I’ve been forced to rely on my salary and fee waivers to compete and complete SATs and College Apps; FAFSA estimated to be at max grant money
first female in family to get a college education

ECs and outside activities:
Volunteered/Shadowed 179 hours at Hospital in underserved Indian seaport
Volunteered/Shadowed/Did admin work at 51 hours at a clinic for the underserved in Vallejo County
Shadowed 5 hours with my pediatrician
Volunteer at local Kaiser (80 hours)
Created program to mentor medically-inclined middle school students that received great attention from doctors and local community, all of my 8th graders in the program got into very tough Biomed Academy at High School
Intern at Big Data AI Company
Volunteered as peer tutor at my high school in Math, Science, French
Work as a paid tutor in all Math up to Calc 2 and all Chemistry up to Gen Chem 2 at my community college; I tutor in two ways: tutor CC students in tutorial and work as an AVID tutor for Middle College students since I’m the only tutor who’s from Middle College/knows AVID tutorial method and has the patience to do personalized tutoring if needed since I’ve gotten the necessary training
Co-president of CC Mu Alpha Theta (Math) Honors Society
VP of Education of Gavel Club (means that I serve as president if the president isn’t present for meetings and am second in order, since first is president and there are several VPs in Gavel Club)
HOSA project manager
CJSF/CSF member who will earn lifetime membership upon graduation

Awards/Honors:
4th Place & Silver Medalist at CBS Bay Area Spelling Bee - Mar 2015
3rd Place in Human & Animal Behavioral Sciences (HABS) Category at Synopsys Alameda County Science and Engineering Fair (ACSEF) - Mar 2016
CalHOSA State Finalist for Prepared Speaking - Apr 2016
CalHOSA State Finalist for Medical Spelling - Apr 2016
CalHOSA State Bronze Medalist and International Contingent for Medical Spelling - Mar 2017
HOSA International Top 18 for Medical Spelling - Jun 2017
Mu Alpha Theta Academic Honors - Jan 2018
CalHOSA State Finalist for Medical Spelling - Mar 2018
Mu Alpha Theta Academic Honors - May 2018
Dublin High Academic Block D and Honor Pin - Apr 2018
PSAT/NMSQT Commended Scholar - Sep 2018

Other facts:
Memorized two medical dictionaries (Mosby’s and Taber’s) for Medical Spelling Competitions and to combine loves of spelling and medicine
Competitive Speller since 4th Grade
Competitive Public Speaker (I primarily compete in Toastmasters/Gavel Club and HOSA events)
Watches content in different languages (Korean, Mandarin, Japanese, French, Tamil)
Runs a tea account (like actual drinking tea)
Several instances of DI: (attended Brown near You two times and met with AO on PLME committee, direct email contact with AOs, online campus tour, direct contact w/ Ask a Brown Student)
Submitted two minute video, my resume, polio project (100%) and op-ed for teacher pay (99.2%) to Brown

So people have told me that I’ll be outright rejected from Brown because I’m not an ISEF or Siemens finalist and didn’t do any research (it’s super competitive to even perform research and much less land your name on a paper) and I focused more on leadership initiatives and doing the best with what I can do on hand. The most research I’ve done is get 3rd place at a county science fair and get a 100% on an interdisciplinary research project about polio and WWII. And while it would be awesome to hang out and do research, I do need that humanistic aspect and want an MPH, JD, MBA or teaching credential after pursuing my MD. Plus the # of people applying ED has risen (even though I’m the only one from my high school applying ED to Brown).

I really want to go to Brown, even if I get rejected from PLME. What I want for my college experience is basically what Brown offers and have attempted to give myself that experience of taking what I want while at Middle College. Am prepared for deferral/rejection but still nervous.

Does anyone have an update on ED decision release date for Brown? I see from comments above that some think its going to be 12/13, another guesses 12/10…

“Would you happen to know whether if a request for first quarter grades from Brown mean anything? I heard of a fair number of people getting one, and as my GC hasn’t heard anything so far I’m getting kind of worried haha.”

According to Brown posts from previous years, Brown’s asking your GC for first quarter grades is meaningless as far as admission chances go. Whether that’s true or not, who knows.

“The numbers are grim. I just wish that Brown (and many other schools) did less deferring and wait-listing if they don’t intend to accept them. I’m not trying to be doom and gloom here, but the numbers don’t lie and stringing the kids along when it’s their first choice is brutal.”

Although there are some deferred kids who do eventually get in, the odds are very much against it. If you get deferred from Brown and have a second choice that does ED 2, the smart play is probably going ED 2 with that second choice school.

Quick question about Brown ED for my S19. He has a portal that shows receipt of application materials (e.g., Common App, writing supplement, test scores, school transcripts, letters, etc). He uploaded a graded paper and completed his in-person interview. What I don’t see is anything that refers to financial aid, other than a message about FA beneath the applicant checklist. Others have mentioned being able to see if their FA materials have been submitted and/or uploaded. It also seems that there should be a tab/link regarding application status. None of this appears on S19’s Applicant Portal. He has a 9-digit reference number, but not a banner number. We have not called the admissions office to inquire, as I can imagine they are very busy. I am wondering from other applicants/families on this thread whether S19’s portal currently looks like others or whether we should contact the admissions office. Any informed thoughts about this would be much appreciated…

@openmom2019 - I don’t have access to my son’s portal, but we submitted the FAFSA and CSS profile and then Brown requested that we upload documents to IDOC. I have confirmation that all our documents have been reviewed and processed by IDOC. Have you not done that?

Thanks @trixy34 - we submitted FAFSA and CSS profile materials ages ago. Ditto for IDOC. All was done through the FAFSA and College Board websites, including the link to IDOC materials. But I don’t see any confirmation from Brown that these have been received.

Oh, I gotcha. I’m sure everything’s fine. If not, you would have heard.

@bigchef (or anyone)- Kind of a long shot but any idea what the numbers were last year regarding deferred ED applicants who were accepted? Not to be negative, but in the event of unhappy news next week (or so), it might be sobering for my son to have this fact. Thanks and best of luck to all.

foozball - last year, 21% of the ED applicants were accepted. But keep in mind, that number includes a lot of kids with hooks (recruited athletes, development admits etc …) - so the ED admit rate for unhooked applicants is much lower. I couldn’t find any numbers on the deferral rate for last year, but in years past, it has been around 60% - which is very high compared to most schools. Using that 60% number, you can expect something along the lines of 21% accepted, 60% deferred, and 19% rejected in the ED round. As far as how many of the deferred applicants were eventually accepted, I couldn’t find any numbers. However I suspect it would be something pretty close the the regular decision admission rate - approximately 7%, maybe a little higher since the deferred kids have presumably already met some minimum threshold as far as qualifications go.

To anyone who opted for the video instead of the interview: how’d it go? Did you guys get creative with it or was it you sitting in front of the camera just talking?

@thebigchef- Thank you!

I wonder is there a different in submitting video or opting for interview? who will be reviewing the video?

Hey, does anyone know why the Brown application portal isn’t loading this morning? I know it’s a bit earlier than expected but by any chance could they be updating applications?

Just checked my S19’s portal. It opens and does not appear any different than yesterday.

Thank you for checking Openmom2019. Strangely, it does load on the phone as you observed but not on the desktop computer at work. Maybe some filter or port blocking is effecting it. It always loaded on that computer before.