Thanks! We’re excited and thankful. Best of luck to your son in his studies at Brown.
Yes nice and short, as the AO’s will have a mountain of paper to read (or re-read) for RD. Perhaps tie the expression of continued interest to something new/not already in the folder, e.g. how a recent accomplishment or experience relates to or strengthens their belief that they would be a good fit for Brown. But the most important attributes of the communication will be its brevity and veracity.
I interviewed ten PLME applicants in 2019 (the last year there were interviews), including several excellent candidates. None were admitted. It seems to go well beyond any definable specifics (“the pieces”) as to how the selections are made. Basically a crap shoot from the candiadate’s perspective. So one does all that one can, and for a few it happens to work out. For the rest – a rather select group relative to most Ivy applicants – on to great things in a different venue.
For those comparing stats, here are my daughter’s (who was rejected):
• 3.99 UW (weighted not calculated at her school, nor are rankings)
• took every AP available (including Calc AB and BC at the same time) and more honors than permitted (2/year allowed, took 4)
• 34 ACT (36/36/35/30) in a single test
• 5 on AP two tests, 4 on one, didn’t report the 3 she got
• top female sailor in her region (5th overall), but not national level so not recruitable
• teaches sailing in after-school sailing club she established during Covid
• member of two non-profit boards
• plays 2 string instruments (since very young)
• strong letters (she’s one of 20 students in her class and is well known and beloved in her small, private school)
• awards for PSAT scores, AP scores, and her HS (a dozen top-student-in-class awards)
• interesting personal story (lives on small island, travels internationally to unusual places)
• video was a single shot on a local beach discussing community ties
• white, did not apply for financial aid
• very rural community, western state
My take on this (but obviously I don’t really know) is that she wasn’t rejected for not being qualified, but instead for not being what Brown was looking for this year. This happens to SO MANY applicants, and failing to understand that can inappropriately hurt a kid’s sense of self. My kid seems fine – disappointed, but fine – because we’ve talked about the difference between being admittable and being admitted ad nauseam through this process.
She has been accepted to two other schools so far, neither with Brown’s prestige, but both excellent schools for her, and has a dozen others in the works, so she’ll be going to a great school in the fall. It just won’t be Brown.
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She sounds like an incredibly talented, smart and accomplished kid. It will be Brown’s loss and she will undoubtedly thrive and contribute wherever she lands.
As a parent you should (and sounds like you are) proud of not just what she has done, but her resilience and who she is.
Stay strong it’s a gut wrenching process and then they go off to school and never look back.
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Yeah, she’s my only kid, and I’m a single mother, so I’m going to be left with just the animals. I’ve offered to buy her a kitten and a baby goat if she stays, but so far she insists on going to college. Where did I go wrong??
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Congrats to those who are celebrating and good luck to those who are waiting to see where they or their student will go. It feels like such a crapshoot. We are thrilled that our daughter will be going to Brown. I won’t post all of her stats here, but I wanted to share that she took advantage of Brown’s test optional policy and did not submit ACT or SAT scores. Her initial scores were good, but would not have helped her application. Rather than do more test prep, she decided to focus on her classes, extracurriculars, and her college essays. To be honest, we (her parents) were not convinced that this was the right strategy, but it clearly worked for her.
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Congratulations! very happy for her.
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D22 - deferred. Still interested, but being forced to move on with additional apps.
FWIW- 4.0 UW, 5AP’s (3 more this year, completing all that the school offers, plus completed 7 dual-enrollment classes from local state university), 34 ACT submitted. The 4.0 was kinda special, because she never scored below an A on any 9-weeks report card, much less the class. Valedictorian, solid EC’s, recruited D3 athlete (not Brown’s level), sibling at Brown now.
Sincere congrats to all who were accepted. If you join GAMMA you’ll def meet our firstborn.
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Deferred means there is hope. Great stats. All the best!
D22 rejected. she had a lot of hope for it. She is still opening browns rejection and looking at it every day. we are trying to add more safeties now.
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Sorry for your DD. It’s tough… but, “it’s not a rejection, it’s a redirection.”
We are now looking for fits/safeties to be sure we have a few options next fall.
I know your D will find her spot.
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It was the baby goat. Those were all the rage in 2018, but…
Yes as to “she wasn’t rejected for not being qualified.” I’ve interviewed many hundreds of Brown applicants. She was/is plenty qualified.
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I’m applying RD and I’ve gotten conflicting advice about whether to submit my SAT score (1480: 770 ERW; 710 math). Any advice given how it worked out for your daughter?
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Not to step on a question directed to someone else, but I’ll just mention as general background that an applicant’s intended concentration (if any) will affect how the test scores are viewed by Admissions. A budding French concentrator with a 710 Math is in a very different situation than a would-be Math concentrator with that score.
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What even are my chances RD if I was deferred ED? There seems to be much more competition for Brown this year seeing as their ED pool increased and their ED acceptance rate decreased. I’m quite nervous. Does being deferred ED give me a bit of an edge in the RD pool?
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Brown, unlike Harvard, deferred a smaller %, right? Harvard deferred about 80%. When I see that high of a number, I would assume my kid got rejected. With Brown last year and this year, I feel like you still have a shot. It’s 3.5% in the RD round but they held on to your app for a reason. Send in a LOCI (upload to portals and email to admissions) to give them an update and share what you learned that fueled even more curiosity and passion this last semester. Tell them they are absolutely still your number one choice. Mentally move on, but know that you tried everything in your control and you do have a shot. That was the advice I gave my son. He heading back to Brown for semester 2 in a month. Good luck!!
Congratulations on your deferral and good luck. Here is your best resource for drawing your own conclusions…
Some takeaways given your question. Last year they deferred 30% of 5,540 or 1,662 students vs this years 25% of 6,146 or 1,536. In other words in spite of the higher number of applications 126 fewer applicants are in consideration having been deferred.
In terms of spots taken ED the YOY difference is a negligible increase of 11 (896 vs 885).
The unanswered question is how big is the RD applicant pool. That remains an unknown but last years 3.5% RD acceptance rate seems like a fair benchmark. Not sure how it translates RD but of all the Ivies reporting Brown saw the greatest rise in ED applications.
Here is a relevant passage…
“Another change this year, Powell said, was an increase in the number of students who were rejected as opposed to deferred. The University rejected 60% of early applicants, while 25% were deferred for review in the regular decision process. Last year, the University deferred 30% of early applicants.
“It’s hard for us to say no to so many incredible students, especially when they’ve indicated that Brown is their top choice,” Powell said. “But we want to be clear with (rejected) students that we’re making the same decision now that we would be making in March. If we don’t see that there’s a path to admission now, as difficult as it may be, we still want to give them some clarity on their college options.”
Translation is if they didn’t see something in your application that suggested you would be able to contribute to Brown’s community and thrive academically they would have dinged you already. Unfortunately however you remain in a very competitive pool with a significant portion of the class of 2026 having been selected. I would suggest moderating your hope, preparing for and pursuing other schools and hopefully being pleasantly surprised down the road.
I have also attached last years RD announcement to provide further context…
Once again good luck!
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Thank you! This is very helpful information.
Thank you! I appreciate your advice and it made me feel a lot better!
You are clearly qualified to be considered a Brown student. Do what you can to control the situation. Either way, there will be positives in wherever you end up. I promise you will thrive. It’s not easy to put together an app package for Brown and still be in the running. Feel awesome about that! If they don’t accept you, prove them wrong. It will be their loss. Good luck and be proud!! I’m cheering for you!
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