<p>I'm an old timer, so forgive my ignorance about Brown's current status. Although Brown used to be relatively easy to get into among the Ivies, it looks now like it's the hardest after Princeton based on the NBER study, which is otherwise consistent with what I would have thought with respect to other schools. Yet, Brown's SATs seem a bit lower than most of the Ivies and top LACs. Can anyone explain this apparent inconsistency. I have heard that its open curric gives it a lot of cachet. But is it really harder to get into than Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia for the typical applicant? The gap between it and the next highest looks bigger than could be explained by a statistical anomaly. Just looking for an informed opinion or two.</p>
<p>I find it strange that Brown would be more difficult to get into than Yale or Harvard, but I haven't done a study. :)</p>
<p>Do you have a link to the NBER study? It sounds like an interesting read.</p>
<p>Sorry about my confusing post. It's the hardest Ivy after HYP according to the NBER study.</p>
<p>that's pretty much been the case for some time now</p>
<p>there are many explanations, but cornell, penn, and columbia have relatively higher total undergraduate enrollments</p>
<p>dartmouth suffers from a lower total volume of apps</p>
<p>brown has been very popular, particularly in the last 15 years or so, and it is not as large in enrollment as some other schools. taken together, it is very difficult to get in from a purely probabilistic point of view.</p>