Brown does send likely letters out to a small portion of their admitted class earlier, but other than that there is no way to tell until decision day. Speaking of which, any word on their likely letters?
nopes! havent recieved on
Are the letters sent snail mail, email or portal?
Iām pretty sure itās on the portal, but not positive.
Recruited athletes are about the only ones who know for sure, and I believe even those can occasionally get bumped if they do something egregious enough. Since decisions are being made right up to the end, in some cases even Admissions doesnāt know ahead of time. Someone who was out two days before notification might be in at the end, and vice versa.
Hi, I donāt know if people are still sharing stats and I donāt usually post stuff but you guys seem really cool so I thought Iād share too!
Stats
Background: Iām a white, upper-middle class, female student at a pretty big high school in suburban New Jersey. Only one person from my school has been accepted to Brown since 2007, at least according to the website my school uses to track that kind of thing, but 8 from my class are applying this year (including myself).
SAT/ACT (or TO): 1570 SAT
SAT II (if applicable): None
GPA (clarify if UW or W): 4.975 W, 4.0 UW
APs: Iāve taken 7 so far, and got 4 4s and 3 5s on my exams. Iām taking 5 more this year, and Iām kind of learning the curriculum of another one as an independent study since my school doesnāt offer the class (Iām not taking the exam for that one though).
Course Rigor: Iāve pretty much taken the most rigorous course load I could. Iām in my schoolās STEM program, which is pretty selective and requires a lot of really intensive courses. Even among the students in this program, itās uncommon to take as many AP classes as I have.
Class Rank: 1 out of 440
Activites/Awards
ECs:
- Tennis - Iāve been on my schoolās tennis team for all four years, and played varsity for three. I was also the team captain this year, which was a really great leadership experience.
- Interact Club - A community service-based club at my school that Iāve been a member of since my freshman year. Iāve participated in some road cleanups, food drives, clothing drives, etc. through this club.
- Yearbook - Member in grades 10-12
- Girls Who Code Club - A computer science club for girls. My schoolās chapter was founded by a girl in my STEM Academy class during our sophomore year, so I was one of the original members. Weāve done a few cyber-security competitions, and were supposed to teach basic coding to some of the local elementary school kids, but that didnāt end up happening (thanks a lot, COVID).
- Library Volunteer - I spent a lot of time volunteering at the local library before the pandemic. I did a couple of summer programs with them, and during the school year I was there every week to organize bookshelves, set up craft activities for the little kids, and help some elementary school students develop their reading and math skills. It was super rewarding and I wish I could go back!
- National Honor Society - Iāve been a member since junior year, and now Iām the Scribe (basically a secretary, but since my school has 150+ members they had to start making up extra officer positions). I just send out probation letters to the people who donāt come to meetings or participate in the fundraisers, but itās still pretty cool to have a leadership role. And I have 50+ hours of community service documented through NHS.
- Science National Honor Society Member (grades 10-12)
- Social Studies National Honor Society Member (grades 11-12)
- Italian National Honor Society Member (grades 11-12)
- Math National Honor Society Member/Math League Competitor (grades 10-12)
- Assistant Camp Counselor - I worked at a pretty big summer camp in between my sophomore and junior years. I was one of the counselors in charge of a group of 6-year-old girls 40 hours a week for 8 weeks, which was fun but exhausting!
- Internship - I have a computer science-related internship with a local printing company. I
help them import and process the orders they get for their products, and then generate a bunch of reports on them. I also help out with their customer service department and production warehouse a little bit. Iāve been working there since June, and average about 15 hours per week. - Precollege Program - I did an amazing virtual precollege program for two weeks over the summer with Columbia University, which was on genetics and molecular biology. I really loved it, and itās the reason I became interested in the computational biology concentration at Brown.
Awards:
- Senior of the Month - chosen by a panel of teachers at my school
- Sportsmanship Award for Tennis
- AP Scholar with Distinction
Essays
CommonApp: Basically, it was about my experience as a camp counselor, and how it taught me that all of my campers had more to them than my initial perceptions and that I was capable of stepping out of my comfort zone and into a leadership position. I related the individual and complex personalities of each of my campers to those of my high school classmates, and talked about how our most prominent personality traits tend to become our āidentitiesā that sometimes seem to hide everything else about us. I like my topic, but since it was the first college essay I wrote there are definitely some things I would do differently if I could write it again now. I guess Iāll rate it 7/10.
Open-Curriculum: I talked about the curiosity Iāve had since I was a little kid, especially when it comes to science, and how I always focused on things that were unique in some way, or seemed to be different from everything around them. This led to my interest in genetics, while my interest in computer science stems from my love of creativity and problem-solving. I talked about my excitement about the computational biology program and research opportunities too. I really like this one, so 9/10.
Contributions to Brown Community: I wrote about my curiosity and eagerness to learn from the people around me. I talked about how much I love hearing other peopleās perspectives and experiences, especially when theyāre different from my own. I know itās probably not the most unique response, but it was sincere and I think it aligns well with the values of the Brown community, so 8/10.
Community/Place You Call Home: I wrote about all of my favorite places in the town I live in and how Iāve watched those places grow and change along with me. I felt like I could be a little more creative with this one, and Iām happy with how it turned out even though I wish it could have been longer. Iāll give it 8.5/10.
Activity Essay: I wrote about tennis, and how I was able to change some of the toxic team traditions when I became captain this year. Some of the upperclassmen during my freshman and sophomore years really seemed to enjoy making the underclassmen uncomfortable and excluding the junior varsity team from banquets and activities. So when I became the captain, I made a point to make friends with the freshmen, organized a socially-distanced team pizza party and picnic since we couldnāt have a banquet, and just generally tried to make everyone feel respected. I think this is probably different from what a lot of people would write for their activities essay, and it shows my developing leadership skills, so 9/10.
LoRs
Counselor: I really donāt know her well (again, Iām from a pretty large high school) but my parents and I had to fill out ābrag sheetsā where we basically listed everything I do that could possibly help her write a good recommendation. Iām not expecting it to be amazing, but at least Iām one of the students she doesnāt seem to actively dislike. 6/10.
Teacher #1: My AP English Language teacher from junior year. I was definitely one of her favorite students. She really loved the work I did in her class, and encouraged me to share my opinions more since Iām generally pretty quiet. I think she probably wrote a great letter, since she usually had more positive things to say about me than I felt I could say about myself. 9/10.
Teacher #2: My computer science teacher. Iāve been in four of her classes, including AP and my independent study. She even worked at the same summer camp as me! Sheās been really influential in expanding my interest in computer science, and I feel like she knows me really well by this point. 8.5/10.
Teacher #3: My AP Chemistry teacher from junior year. This was a class that everyone in the STEM Academy had to take, so there were about 30 students. Since it was such a big class she probably didnāt get to know me super well individually, but she always made an effort to make students feel like she cared. Sheās super sweet and says really positive things about everyone, so I think she probably wrote a really nice letter. 8/10.
Other: One of the teachers from Columbiaās precollege program. I thought it would be perfect since he could really attest to the fact that I am capable of completing college-level coursework in the field I want to study at an Ivy League school. Even though he didnāt know me well since it was a two-week virtual course, I did get to read his letter and itās really positive. He said I was one of the brightest students and that I got the highest score in my class on the final exam, which I was really happy about! 9/10.
Supplements
Video Portfolio: I have a unique name that some people find difficult to pronounce and spell, so I was able to talk about how important it is to my identity. Then I talked about the other aspects of my identity, or really what other people know me for (Iām pretty much the smart shy kid at my school, in case you couldnāt tell) and how that will change if I go to a school like Brown where being an academic overachiever wonāt make me stand out anymore. I talked about how it will be kind of intimidating but mostly exciting to figure out a new identity for myself when Iām surrounded by people who donāt know me. It felt really genuine to me so Iām hoping they like it too. 8.5/10.
So now that Iāve basically shared my life story with some random strangers on the internet, I just want to say that you all seem like really smart and amazing people, and I wish everyone good luck with your college search processes! 
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You seem like a super smart, talented, involved, and kind person! I donāt know what would make Brown not accept you, other than simply the sheer amount of competition!
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Oh! And I remember you from the Sarah Lawrence thread! Hi again!
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Thank you!! You seem like an amazing person too, and I definitely remember you from the Sarah Lawrence thread! You always seemed really nice and helpful, which made me feel more comfortable sharing all this stuff about myself. I wonder if we have any other schools in common? Anyway, I hope you get accepted to your top schools, and maybe weāll even end up at the same one!
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Thatās so sweet, thank you! I hope we end up at the same school, that would be so rad! Hereās my ridiculously long list:
Amherst
Bates
Bowdoin
Brown
Colby (likely letter!)
Conn College
Harvard
Ithaca
McGill (accepted!)
Middlebury
NYU
Oberlin
Sarah Lawrence
USM (accepted for music ed!)
Vassar
Williams
Yale (deferred 
)
Wow, you applied to even more schools than I did (and I thought 13 was a lot). The only one we have in common (besides Brown and Sarah Lawrence, obviously) is Vassar. And congrats on your two acceptances! I got accepted to Sarah Lawrence and Drew University because I applied Early Action, but Iām still waiting on the other 11 schools. Hopefully we both get into a bunch!
13 is definitely a lot, Iām just crazy and insecure! And itās interesting, everyone I have spoken to that has applied to Brown also applied to Vassar this year. Thank you for the congratulations! I am especially excited about the Colby likely letter (they donāt send out explicit likely letters but I got a rare email that basically means you are very likely to get in). While Colby isnāt super high on my list, it makes me feel better about my chances are other highly competitive schools! And congrats on your acceptances, hopefully they continue into March/April!
I am confident that we will both get into the schools we are meant to go to!
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Just out of curiosity, what other schools did you apply to?
I actually just realized we have Connecticut College in common too! I guess I must have missed that when I read your list the first time.
Hereās my full list:
Brown
Bryn Mawr
Connecticut College
Drew (accepted!)
Gettysburg
Haverford
Lafayette
Lehigh
Princeton
Sarah Lawrence (accepted!)
Stevens
Swarthmore
Vassar
I guess Iām a little (or a lot) insecure too, since there are so many really qualified people applying to all of these schools and I wanted to make sure I have enough options! Iām also ridiculously indecisive, so just narrowing it down to these schools was stressful. But I agree with you that weāll both get into the schools that are right for us, even if we donāt know which schools those are yet.
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I am really indecisive too, as you can see with my college list!! You are such a qualified candidate (I mean, come on, a 1570?!), so you are definitely going to have SO many options. And you already got Sarah Lawrence, which is a really wonderful school (imo)! We got this! Letās keep each other posted!
Still no word on likely letters huh?
Honestly, I wasnāt really expecting the 1570 myself, since I never scored that high on the practice tests I took. And I know you said you regret sending in your SAT score, but a 1440 is definitely a score to be proud of! From all the stats you posted, it seems like youāre a really qualified candidate too, especially since you obviously have so much creativity in addition to your academics. And letās definitely keep each other posted, especially since we have a few schools in common! Hopefully weāll both have more than a few admitted student events to go to this spring, and hopefully some of them will be the same ones!
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did anyone get a likely letter?
Nope! Did they send it out?
Sup with this school and absolutely no word?