Hey community! Let me begin with a little bit of academic background of mine:
I go to the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS). I have decent grades, when I was in my old high school I made A’s and B’s, but after I transferred to TAMS (after 10th grade), I have been maintaining a 4.0. My SAT score is around 2200 I’m going to take it next week. Let me make a statement first, these numbers don’t mean much and my eyes (please don’t get mad at that statement).
I want to major in computer science, a major that both schools are renowned for. I’m debating on weather or not I should apply to Brown Early or Stanford Early. Now Brown Early is Early Decision; thus, if I make it to Brown I have to go there. My heart is at Stanford it’s a school that I have been wanting to go to for years. Brown on the other hand is up there as well. I feel like I have a better chance to get in Brown because I have a lot of ties with the computer science department there and will be doing research there as well. Since I have a higher chance of getting into Brown, it would seem logical to apply there early instead of risking the chance by applying to Stanford early. Where do you guys think I should apply?
Stanford: The school that will see me from my academic records and plethora of computer science extra curriculars. (Dream School per say)
OR
Brown: The school that will already know me and the school that I have a higher chance of getting into. And won’t risk anything
In my opinion, you should apply to Stanford. I understand your hesitation to apply to Stanford, but honestly, you should only apply Early Decision to Brown if it is your 1st choice school for sure. After all, Early Decision doesn’t even help that much for Brown. My advice is to apply Early to your dream school, or you will always be asking yourself “what if…”
Honestly, you don’t know if you’ll get into either. You could apply Brown ED and not get in, even if you have ties, and then you’ll have missed Stanford ED.
That being said, apply to where you want to go: Stanford. You can always apply to Brown RD.
ED is for the dream school, not the hedge-your-bets school!
My D this year had to decide between Brown SCEA and Stanford REA. We visited Brown on a Friday and she sat in 3 classes and then visited Stanford on Saturday. There are slight differences between these two types of EA. For a CS student in my opinion it is an easy choice. Stanford by far is the better choice. All you have to do is go on the tour and visit the Gates building and HP building. With proximity to Silicon Valley and tech startups in the Bay Area Stanford wins hands down. Getting into Stanford is not going to be easy. I would say their admissions decisions are based a lot on the applicants passion for technology or something. You had better do something meaningful in the CS field this summer. Good luck!
@Wje9164be are you sure about that? I’m pretty certain Brown does not have an SCEA option, and under Stanford’s plan applicants must agree not to apply to any other private college/university under an Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, Early Decision or Early Notification program.
Edit: I get it, if she was deciding which school to apply to early - not which offer to accept.
@aviator9997, in today’s uber-competitive environment I think you’re wise to think about what you’re thinking about.
In the last admissions cycle a mere 10% of Brown’s applicant pool claimed nearly 40% of the freshmen beds via early decision. A whopping 90% of the applicant pool competed for the remaining spots - including an influx of applicants who had competed early for (and some accepted by) HYPS and other top schools. Another poster in another thread said there is a lot of “noise” in the regular decision round. I like that description.
However, in Brown’s ED round you’d be competing against highly competitive, well-spoken applicants who have absolutely no reservations about Brown as a first choice, and I think that genuine enthusiastic sentiment comes through in an application and is difficult (if not impossible) to manufacture.
Either way, devote some of your energy to also finding safety/target schools you really like. Sadly, like most applicants, you likely won’t get in to Stanford or Brown regardless of when you apply.
