Chance Me for Brown ED 2025 (IB Student)

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1

Hi! I am a female student studying in India at an IB school. I am ethnically Indian, and I am not a US citizen or permanent resident. I am looking for honest feedback on my chances of getting into Brown for Early Decision, class of 2025. My intended major is International Relations or International and Public Affairs.

I am in the IB Diploma Program, and my IB predicted scores are 40/45. I have no idea how to convert this to GPA, but I would roughly say it is 3.7 - 4.0 on a UW scale.

I have mostly gotten 6s (out of 7) and few 7s, with one 5 in grade 11.

My classes are:

Higher Level
Biology HL
History HL
English Literature HL

Standard Level
Chemistry SL
French SL
Maths Applications and Interpretations SL

STANDARDISED TESTS : Haven’t taken any yet, though I will take the SAT in September.

EXTRACURRICULARS

Head of Writers for Resistance of our Generation, an online intersectional voices magazine (2 years)

Personal Blog (4 years): I have been working on my personal website for a long time. I write op-eds on politics, religion, current global affairs etc… I also publish short stories or poetry that I write. I offer mentoring, editing and consultation services. Recently, I did a large project involving many Indian teenagers to do a piece on intersectional feminism in a conservative India.

Editor for Detester Magazine, a teen journal based on social justice (1 year)

Secretary-General for Model UN Club (4 years): I have served in my school’s Secretariat for almost 4 years now, and have participated as an Executive Board Member and Secretariat member for international conferences like NBMUN

Two publications: Phantasma and The Phoniex, two juvenile fiction books with themes of mental health and chronic depression (I wrote these in my freshman and sophomore year).

Sanctuary: Founded a mental health initiative on social media, which is a platform we use to provide accurate and credible resources and information about mental health conditions. Recently, we have been working with the Youth United Project to present stories of individuals talking about their mental health journeys.

Splattered Paint (Portfolio): An art portfolio I created in my sophomore year, to complement my creative writing process. I tried to showcase my interpretation of mental health struggles in a visual format. I still update this occasionally to add any new pieces that complement this theme.

Student Body President (3 years): My campaign and goals were based around mental health advocacy and reducing the stigma of emotional health on our campus. We did this through awareness rallies, therapists who came in for special talks and instilled a mental health unit in our Core curriculum.

Leader of Health and Nutrition Club (2 years): A weekly club where we teach under-resourced kids simple, healthy recipes that can be made with ingredients that are cheap and feasible to obtain. I make lesson plans, organise the materials before these lessons.

S&S Podcast: My friend and I started a podcast focused on sustainability and creative ways to start with zero-waste policies at home (this is very recent, we started a month ago).

Assuming my essays are of great quality, what do you think? :slight_smile:

2

You sound like an interesting candidate! Will you go test-optional?

3

Hi! Possibly, depending on if I can actually take it (since COVID-19 cases are still rising in India, it might be cancelled). If I don’t do you think it will affect my chances?

4

I think you have as good a chance as anyone, if not better. Of course ivies are a crapshoot, but I can’t imagine many people being much more qualified than you are. Especially as an experienced writer, your essays should further cement your place.

5

Extremely unlikely you will get in. Do not apply ED to Brown because brown EXPLICITLY STATES that applying ED DOES NOT increase your chances. They would admit you ED if you would be admitted during regular decision. So there is NO point applying ED just to be in a binding contract.

Apply ED to a school that actually helps like Duke, Dartmouth, and Upenn

6

Disclaimer: I’m an incoming First-Year at Brown who applied ED, was deferred, but admitted RD; however, I am a US Citizen. I highly recommend applying ED if all of the following are true:

  1. You LOVE Brown and would 110% attend if admitted.
  2. You're confident that you can present a well thought out application by the ED deadline of November 1st.
  3. You and your family can afford Brown if admitted (run the financial aid calculators if applicable, but do note that Brown, while meeting 100% of financial need for all admitted students, is NEED AWARE for international applicants and will take your level of financial need into consideration: to what extent, I do not know, unfortunately, as I am not an international applicant/involved with admissions.)

Your grades/test scores are definitely strong, but at Brown and other similar schools, after Admissions is confident that you can handle the coursework, they look to the other parts of your application (essays, interview, letters of recommendation etc.) to get a feel for who you are as a person and how you would fit into their freshmen class. At Brown particularly, they want to know how you will take advantage of Brown and the Open Curriculum (through essays but also through how you’ve taken advantage of your school’s resources,) but also what you’ll go on from Brown to do and that they would be proud of you as a future graduate.

Hope that helps! Good luck with admissions!

7

Hi! I am also an international student attending the IB and was predicted a 40/45! hahaha… I applied to Upenn ED and get the results in two weeks. I did not submit the SAT i took since the scores were lower than their average. Di you finally submit sat scores or not?