^The second part was addressed at mana1997 ^^
@kayture I am full pay though, so hopefully it balances out.
Brown does NOT hate international students. It does NOT hate Asian students. Let’s end this rumor right here, right now.
Brown has increased its overseas recruiting significantly in the last few years and is committed to increasing diversity, which includes international students. Read this: http://www.brown.edu/web/pae/undergrad/diversity.html
Last year 20% of admits identified as Asians. 394 admits were international.
http://www.browndailyherald.com/2014/03/31/brown-admits-record-low-8-6-percent/.
@fireandrain Asians, on average, have the best test scores and GPAs among all of the admitted applicants. The argument is not that Brown hates Asians, but rather that Asians need to be more competitive than students of other races because of the high-achieving standard of their race, thus making it harder for them to be admitted. Do you REALLY think that the admissions officers admit on a COMPLETELY race-blind basis? Of course not. If so, the student makeup of Brown and other top universities would more resemble that of UC Berkeley, which practices a race-blind policy and where 42.3% of students identify as “Asian” and 28.4% “white” (2014).
I am speaking strictly generally. I trust and respect the “holistic” viewing practiced by Brown and many other universities. For Asians, however, the revealing of their race in their application seems to worsen their chances. To say that Brown “hates” Asians is false. And of course they wouldn’t – they have some of the best scores around. But consider this scenario: two kids, one black and one Asian, have identical test scores and GPAs, and both seem like very promising candidates based on their ECs and essays. You are an admissions officer and can admit only one. Which one do you pick?
@kayture the asian, because that candidate might be me 
I applied ED to Columbia University and so did my friend who I helped tutor on his SAT. I had a 35 ACT (2280 SAT but did not submit), 4.0 GPA and he had a 2150 SAT (~33 ACT) and a 3.7. We both had similar ECs (academic team, piano players, etc) but I did research while he was on the debate team. His dad is a doctor and his mom is a nurse while my dad is an engineer and my mom is a biologist. He’s black and I’m Asian. He got in and I got deferred.
I’m not complaining. Colleges need racial diversity which I obviously could not offer Columbia and I just hope I can join him once decisions for RD comes out.
Well, you also have to consider essays and letters of recommendation…
There are plenty of places on CC where the issue of Asian discrimination can be discussed. Let’s not derail this thread. I just want to make sure that anyone thinking of applying to Brown will not start repeating the idea that Brown hates internationals and Asians.
@fireandrain I agree
I’ll just add one thing: I’m Asian but I received a likely letter as I posted before, so I certainly don’t think they “hate” us. There might be a slightly higher competition rate, perhaps, but that isn’t a problem restricted to Brown.
When we went to visit the music department, at least three quarters of the students were Asian and seemed quite happy at Brown. I think it’s a wonderfully diverse school that looks at the whole student, first and foremost.
@manas1997 “Brown hates internationals”
I’ll be more blunt. Brown probably doesn’t want entitled students like you. Sorry you feel Brown “hates” you and you’ll tolerate Brown if it accepts you anyway. Brown doesn’t OWE you anything. Brown sets what it feels is an appropriate number of slots set aside for internationals. The fact that Brown has such a sterling reputation and 1000s of internationals vie for those seats is beyond their control.
Save your “X hates Y” language for something genuine. This isn’t one of them.
@T26E4 I wasn’t being serious bruh. Calm down.
The problem, manas, is that the teenagers who come on this site who know nothing about college admissions may not be able to discriminate between a joke and truth. Numerous times a student will start a thread in this forum saying, “I heard that Brown does such and such” and the source is “what I read on the Internet.” A definitive comment like you made could easily be interpreted as the truth, which I why I immediately refuted it.
@fireandrain I see wat you mean. However, I was forming my comment similar to the one above mine. The reason I joked about Brown hating internationals was because it is well known that international admissions is very difficult.
For those who took my comment seriously, I am sorry if I caused any extra stress during this time.
Kinda out of the blue and I have posting similar (same?) things on the threads I follow, but here we go…
I remember reading this one article on Washington Post (“Higher education isn’t in crisis” by Janet Napolitano) that quoted someone in the education sector “that American universities have too many non-education-related expenses bundled into their cost models [which he described as] 4 R’s: rankings, which force all universities into “pernicious isomorphism” (i.e. unnecessary duplication); real estate, or absurdly expensive campus buildings, especially dorms and dining halls; rah, an awkward alliteration that refers to intercollegiate athletics, especially Division I football and basketball; and research, which he asserts subordinates teaching and is mostly superfluous.” The article itself is about the unnecessary expenses, but you can kinda see why colleges may favor one applicant over another for ridiculous reasons/ reject qualified applicants for the sole purpose of raising its ranking.
TL;DR - College admissions are getting ridiculous each year and let’s all admit it. I remember my Brown interviewer saying something similar (& he gave me an example-- “If Brown had 4 Oboe players and if they were all graduating this year, they would try to look for the replacements in the applicant pool, thus favoring oboe players slightly more that specific year of applicants.”) So people can get accepted or rejected for some weird, wonky reasons. Stay positive guys. College decisions don’t decide how much you’re worth 
Has anyone got so called likely letter or some good news phone call from Brown yet?
I just got the likely letter today!!!
Congrats @Enburgia. Would you mind sharing your stats?
thanks @bluemeringue I’ve never done it before so PM if you want an abbreviated version
@enburgia Could you PM me too, please? I’m international, so I’d like to see what kinda stats are required. Great job!