My daughter wants to go to Brown, as the rest of the world does. She is going into jr. year so it is helping to motivate her. Other than get amazing grades and score will on standardized test, what else should she be doing?
Any extracurriculars that interest her she should get extremely immersed in. Try making good bonds with teachers and guidance to get good letters.
Have her read [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]this[/url] and [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/there_is_no_formula]this[/url] first.
For all the top schools, the expectation is really strong grades, really strong test scores, AND…it is the AND that separates the pack. For most high school kids the AND is ECs- what they spend time doing. Some people will say that ECs should include a varsity sport + a competitive level of art / music + leadership positions, as if it is a magic formula. I disagree with most of that, except the leadership roles- and that’s b/c I have seen the maturation that can come with growing into those positions. Those don’t have to be student government, or even head of a club (obviously they can be), but they can also be something like heading up the volunteer squad in an outside group that the student is very involved in. Imo, the key is depth of involvement over time, with objectively demonstrable responsibilities.
Brown seems to like their reputation for having very individualistic students. Look at the other students around your daughter (especially if she is white + middle class + eastern seaboard) who are looking at similarly competitive colleges. If you took the names off their student profiles and tossed them onto a table could you match them up to the person they belong to? So many applicants are- on paper!- nearly interchangeable. That’s why the MIT articles are so great: they encourage students to find their own path- which will be truer to them, and therefore more reflective of them as an individual, and get them going in a direction that is good for them, whether or not they are admitted to their first choice college.
Came in here to post the applying sideways MIT blog post. Thanks for beating me to the punch @collegemom3717
Sorry 'bout that @iwannabe_Brown 
She should: know what she wants to do; pursue that objective; state the previous two items in the essay and explain how Brown will uniquely enable her to develop her talents to continue doing whatever it is.