<p>I am a high school junior and Brown is my first choice even though it is a bit of a reach. I was hoping that you could give me some advise on whether or not I should even apply to Brown and if you think that I may be accepted.</p>
<p>Here are my stats:</p>
<p>Grades: B+
SAT: Low 700 on each section, I plan on retaking them
SAT 2: Have not taken them yet
AP:This year: U.S. History & Micro
Next year: English Literature & Macro & Bio
Other: 100+ hours of volunteer work at local hospital
part time job at library
an editor on my school’s literary magazine
a member of a couple of other school groups
I am also planning on taking college level classes during the summer</p>
<p>Also, I am Indian (Asian/From India) Female</p>
<p>Do you think I have a chance of being accepted? Any advice?</p>
<p>You won't get in if you don't apply, so you should if you like Brown. You also have another year + to improve your profile and your scores. On your ECs, see if you can focus on something you like and take it beyond the high school/local level.</p>
<p>If your B+ means you are ranked near the tippy top of your school (top 5%), then yes, you have a shot.</p>
<p>If you are ranked in the middle, and don't have a strong hook like athletics to draw you in, then frankly, your chances will be very low. Last year, the acceptance rate for students ranked below the top tenth was 4%.</p>
<p>It also depends on how competitive your hs is; you can't look at class rank in isolation. I think you need to get your grades up though, and fortunately, you have time!</p>
<p>daveb, it is not false. I know such a kid. </p>
<p>Blunt? Yes. Scathing? If you consider it "scathing," that means you have an argument with Brown's admissions policies. (And those of many other elite schools.)</p>
<p>That doesn't mean that the OP shouldn't apply, if it's her dream school. But she, like any student, should have some solid matches on her list.</p>
<p>I wasn't saying that it never happens, but that your statement, which generalized all B+ students as being recruited athletes. I highly doubt that. And it was scathing because you essentially degraded student athletes (and students with B+ averages looking at Brown).</p>
<p>You made a boatload of assumptions. The question was, "Can a student with a b+ average get into Brown?" As it happens, I know of a number of kids who have applied to Brown. The only one with a B+ average who got in was a recruited athlete. Therefore I replied that yes, it was possible--if you were a recruited athlete. Moreover, that student's SATs were in the 600s. Therefore I added that not only could your average be a B+, but your SATs could be in the 600s and you could still get in. </p>
<p>Now, not to be disingenuous, you did detect a note of cynicism on my part.</p>
<p>Why?</p>
<p>I would certainly feel comfortable saying that, based on the CDS and the kids I know who are currently at Brown, that your chances of getting in with a B+ average are, to put it delicately, greatly increased if you are a recruited athlete. </p>
<p>If you are an unhooked middle class white kid from a public school with a B+ average and SATs in the 600s, your chances of getting in are very, very small. If you think otherwise, then you need to spend some serious time reading the Common Data Sets of Brown and other such schools.</p>
<p>In what way does this degrade student athletes? There are tons of "student athletes" with A averages and SATs in the 700s. Of course, the reality is that Brown and similar schools do not care much about "student athletes" unless the emphasis is on the "athlete." They routine reject hundreds if not thousands of "student athletes" who are excellent students but merely competent, albeit devoted, athletes. At the same time, they routinely recruit and accept a certain number of merely adequate--according to their standards--students who are outstanding athletes. It's a simple fact.</p>
<p>Fine, but the OP is not a middle class white kid from a public school with a B+ average. Nor does she have SATs in the 600s. So your entire comment was unnecessary and didn't apply in the least to the question on hand. There were no assumptions made. Your statement, whether intentional or not, was a generalization. If you didn't mean that, then maybe you should phrase things more precisely in the future.</p>
<p>Just think this way. IF you can get into REC or IIT, then you should be able to make it to Ivy League. That's how it works for India. Very very large population = very very tough competition.</p>
<p>I think Consolation is just being realistic. Recruited athletes of course do not need the highest gpas and SAT's. Neither do URMs, legacies, and people whose mom and dad can donate a new engineering building. But if you look at self reported stats on line, click on the candidates with low SAT's and you will usually see they have something extra to offer the college beyond gpa and SAT.</p>
<p>Yes i agree with Muffy333. For example if you check the lower stats and gpas of admitted students they might be excellent piano or cello players...and the school needs new recruits for their band or something like that. Your chances of going to Brown at this stage are extremely low because you will be competing with thousands of applicants who have A grades and great SATs. So your goal is not "could a B+ student get in" but more of "what do i have to do to make myself stand out enough to be able to get in"...in other words you need a hook. A very good hook and a very good essay.</p>
<p>An Adcom wrote once that
"The objective for the student is to create an essay that I will want to read. I am a busy guy. When I pick up an application, I have to get through it quickly, so I can go to the next application. If you can get me to get past the first paragraph to the second, third, and fourth, now you are making a difference in how your application will be perceived. If you take time to develop the idea so that I will want to read more, so I will want to share it with colleagues, then you win."</p>
<p>I never said a B+ student wouldn't have trouble, and I agree entirely that they probably need something unique to offer. But there are PLENTY of ways of showing that, aside from being a recruited athlete. Aside from being a legacy, even. The B+ average could be the result of poor grades earlier on in high school and then show an incredible upward trend later on, resulting from any of numerous reasons (some of which could be explained in a killer essay, or just by the guidance counselor). Just saying, it's short sighted to write off all B+ students as needing the athlete's hook.</p>
<p>A B+ student needs some hook to get into Brown. The only exception that I can think of (and I already said this) is if in your HS, a B+ puts you very high in the ranking. </p>
<p>And it has to be a strong hook. Because a B+ average and SATs in the 600s won't get a legacy in. I agree that athlete is not the only hook, but it is the most obvious one. Because frankly, chances are if you are an amazing cellist, they can find one just as amazing with higher grades.</p>
<p>I've been doing Brown admission work for a long time. I've interviewed some wonderful B+ students. Not a single one got in. And scores of A students didn't get in either.</p>
<p>"Fine, but the OP is not a middle class white kid from a public school with a B+ average. Nor does she have SATs in the 600s." It sounds like the OP is a middle class kid from a public school, since she didn't say it was private, who is NOT an URM (being some other variety of "minority" doesn't count). She has a B+ average. Yes, her SATs are in the low 700s. That gives her a better chance--but not as good a chance as that recruited athlete with lesser stats. </p>
<p>Another factor we haven't mentioned is that she is a she. I don't know about Brown, but at Amherst, for example, there is an 11% difference in acceptance rates between males and females, and it is NOT in the favor of females. Something similar is true at many of the most selective schools. </p>
<p>"I agree entirely that they probably need something unique to offer. But there are PLENTY of ways of showing that, aside from being a recruited athlete. Aside from being a legacy, even."</p>
<p>The mere fact that you think that being a legacy is a strong hook shows that you don't have a good grasp of what a hook is. Daveb, I can understand that you don't like to hear it, but as far as I can tell, what sly_vt describes is the reality: unless you have a really major hook, you have to have superb stats to get into the game. Only after that do the great essays and ECS and so on make a difference. And even most of the kids with superb stats are rejected from the most selective schools. </p>
<p>Perhaps you have been misled by the marketing schools do to get more kids to apply. Admissions people are very reluctant to tell kids the real story. Except perhaps, when asked to answer the classic hypothetical: Q.Which is better, an A in a regular course or a B in an AP course? A. An A in an AP course. Some admissions officers will tell you that if their entire admitted class vanished overnight, they could go out and admit another entire class just as strong. In fact, at some places, they could go through this process several times. And yet they continue to send out unsolicited marketing pieces to kids whom they know they will most likely be rejecting. It's sad, IMHO.</p>
<p>What a misnomer of a username you have. I wasn't denying that her chances were low. But who knows how the admissions officer is feeling when she reads her application? The chance is there, so to answer her question, yes, but you need a lot of chance working in your favor.</p>