Chance Me for Brown ED1

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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Hi all, I fell in love with Brown after a summer program, so pretty certain in going to ED. I go to a school where it’s common to compare within ourselves, but I have almost no peers trending towards the humanities and my school has only sent a handful of kids to Brown in the last 10 years.
I am planning to apply for double major in Art History and Chinese

Hispanic Male at very competitive Catholic all-boys prep school, would pay full amount
Fluent in Spanish

4.143/4.250 uw (straight A+s yields the highest gpa, so I had a few more A+ than As)
5.333/~5.5 w (valedictorian is typically around 5.5, so that’s why i put that)

ACT 34 (36 Reading, 35 English, 33 Science, 30 Math, 11/12 writing)
SAT II: Spanish: 730, World History 720, US History 710

Took hardest possible course load at my school except a regular credit, dual enrollment Chinese course instead of an unrelated Stem AP.
Will have 13 APs:
Taken:World History(4) Spanish lang (4), US History (5), English Lang (4), Spanish Lit (4),
Current: Art History, Capstone Seminar, Physics 1, and US Gov.
Planning on: English Lit, Capstone Research, Calc BC, Stats

Between Dual Enrollment and a summer class at my local Uni, I’ll have 26 college credits

ECs:

  1. Part of local art museum’s Teen Arts Council- 3 years, paid, almost 300 hours total, hook because related to my major
  2. 4 years on cross country team- best team in the state, will have won team state championship all 4 years. Hook because 18-20 hours per week
  3. Track and Field- Consistently contribute points in field events, also big time commitment
  4. History Club (Secretary then President)- 3x qualifier both individually and as a team for National History Bee in D.C.
  5. NAtional English Honor Society (hopefully president)- Only junior contributor to school newspaper, will be editor if elected
  6. NHS- only mentioning because of leadership conference I attended, it’s not unique otherwise
  7. Summer programs: both art history related, at Brown and Notre Dame
  8. 2 Overseas Study programs to China and SE Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand)
  9. Independent Digital Artist- May or may not submit portfolio, I’m very much an amateur, but I’ve made some $
  10. Run Independent Art History blog for fun.

Awards include UChicago Neubauer Scholar, National AP Scholar, and 195/200 on HSK2 Chinese proficiency test

My Common App is about my passion Museums and the change they can bring about at a communal and individual level.

Please be brutally honest, I won’t get my feelings hurt.
Also applying to LACs (my #2 is Wesleyan), and a few t20s like WashU, Dartmouth, Tufts, UCB, UCLA, Fordham, UF, and a few others

Sorry this is so long, any replies would be appreciated :slight_smile:

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Passion for museums** Also applying to Rice and Notre Dame :slight_smile: Thanks again

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You are a URM with great stats and good ECs. You are a strong applicant for any of those colleges.

I couldn’t say how much higher they are than those for non-hooked ED applicants, though.

UCLA and UCB would be pretty expensive, though. Also, what is your UC GPA (they calculate it slightly differently, using their list of courses, they don’t include 9th grade, and they do not consider OOS honors courses for weighting, just AP and IB)?

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You’re a competitive URM with great stats and and great ECs. I think your tipping point will be your essays; make sure to write with passion about yourself and your growth. You got this! Good luck

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Thank you! I calculated it recently and I would be 4.0 uw and 4…5w. Does being URM really carry that much weight? I know it helps, but didn’t think by much.

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“It helps” is about as precise as one can get – a very holistic selection process at Brown. You have enough depth in the things you’ve accomplished that I would suggest a focused “quality over quantity” approach. List perhaps, but don’t emphasize things like NHS/leadership conference. As Brown applications go, that is both generic plus off-topic to the focus of your collegiate academic goals. Yes you’ve been quite busy, same as most applicants, but not all of it matters equally in the business at hand.

If you submit a (digital art) portfolio, it will be sent directly to the relevant department. What Admissions will see is a score back from there. So if it’s just a sideline thing, and not especially impressive, probably best to not have it being compared against budding Art concentrators.

Think things out very clearly as to the reasons/synergies related to your dual concentration. Effectively stating those, in the context of Brown’s Open Curriculum, would go a long way towards demonstrating how you would fit in as they go about assembling the Class of 2025.

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Thank you for your comment @brown79. That was especially helpful advice regarding a potential portfolio. I forgot to mention a couple ECs, so NHS very well may not be mentioned, but your advice solidifies that decision, so thanks again for that.

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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

Im glad I didn’t apply ED to brown because I got accepted to both harvard and stanford when i thought i wouldnt.

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If I were you, I would drop WashU and the UCs. Perhaps toss in UChicago.

@Brown79 is giving good advice.

Good Luck!

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You have an excellent record. You are strong candidate for Brown (especially if you apply ED). Your ACT score and your SAT II scores are a tad low, compared to the applicant pool (this is a minor point).

I like the advice of adding UChicago and dropping WashU. In addition to UChicago (among the very best places for Art History and languages), might want to look at Northwestern. I would keep Berkeley and UCLA on the list. I don’t know a lot about UCLA’s Art History/Languages, but Berkeley’s Art History department is fantastic and I think their East Asian languages department is excellent as well. Berkeley and UCLA will be as expensive as some of the top private colleges on your list, and hard to justify if you have private options.

Given that Art History is a potential major/interest. Have you considered other LACs that have strong Art History programs ? Williams (very strong) or Vassar ?

Admissions at Brown, Dartmouth, Tufts, Chicago, Northwestern etc are a roll of the dice (even with strong records like yours), so make sure you have some good backups.

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Admissions at Brown, Dartmouth, Tufts, Chicago, Northwestern etc are a roll of the dice < My “track record” this year was 19 Brown applicants interviewed (ED + RD) / 0 admitted. Not at all surprising statistically, though it’s the first year not even one of them was admitted.

[/QUOTE]

I once interviewed about 40 during RD to yield 1 admit: A guy who had been taking college math courses since a freshman in HS, and by his senior year was doing grad student-level engineering research. So yes, good backups! ← though these “backups” are also superb educational institutions, where you may thrive as much or even more than you would at whatever Ivy you have your heart set on.

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I’m an incoming First-Year at Brown who applied ED, was deferred, but ultimately accepted RD. I highly recommend applying ED to Brown IF AND ONLY IF the following are true:

  1. You LOVE BROWN and would 110% attend if admitted.
  2. You're certain you could present a well-thought out and crafted application by the ED deadline, which is November 1st.
  3. You and your family can afford Brown (run the financial aid calculators if applicable.)

At my school, multiple students applied ED & RD, however, the only students admitted were me and another student admitted ED. This year in particular (from watching YouTube Decision videos,) I’ve noticed that Brown admitted quite a few deferred ED applicants, likely because we showed by applying ED that we LOVE Brown and would probably attend if admitted RD (look up what a letter of continued interest is for deferrals/wait lists.)

I had similar grades and a ACT score, but at Brown (like many other colleges,) grades OPEN THE DOOR, but it’s the REST of your application that gets you through it. After Admissions is certain that you can handle the coursework at Brown, it’s up to you to show (through your essays, so make sure that every word counts; alumni interview; letters of recommendation etc.) that you would thrive at Brown and utilize the Open Curriculum to its fullest, have thrived using the resources at your school, and would make Brown be proud to call you its alumni.

Hope that helps! Good luck with the admissions process!

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Please help me understand my daughter`s chances ed to Brown:
Planning to apply Math major.

GPA: 4.42/3.9
class rank 25/553
Aps: 14 aps (Math calc ap-5, Ap bio:3, AP lang-4, Ap compsci-4, Ap physics(didnt take it), Ap euro-5, Ap art hist-5, ap stat-5)
1530 SAT super score(800 math 730 lang)

Extracurricular
250 hours volunteer hours with Np org
Awards many regional awards, state and national finalist in speech and debate, 4th rank in state speech.
Youth ambassador
cosmos
Published two papers in jsr.org
Involved in Research under professor- 2 years(UCLA)
President for one school club.
coached 30 middle school students - speech and debate

Thanks
mom.

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According to the common data set, Brown’s ED acceptance rate is 17.6%, significantly higher than the 7.7% overall acceptance rate.

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Here’s last year’s rate, lower for ED and RD.

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I think she has a great shot at Brown. My son is in his first year and I’m pretty sure her GPA and ranking stats are better than his, although his ACT equivalent was higher? If it’s her absolute #1 school is Brown and you guys have ran your net price calculator and financials not an issue, I would apply ED. She really needs to have a holistic application with strong essays and strong LORs

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  1. Does her HS use Naviance or SCOIR?
    How many kids from her HS have been accepted to Brown (ED or RD)?

Only about 4 students from my son’s HS has been accepted in the last 20 years, so even if you’re stellar applicant, the chance is rather slim.

My friend’s daughter’s HS:
Brown accepts about 1-3 a year, so these applicants have a higher chance (than our HS).

So we’re going to buy a “lottery ticket” (applying RD).
You can’t get accepted if you don’t apply.

  1. Brown’s ED 17.6% rate includes:
  • recruited athletes
  • 1st generation
  • international students
    (I don’t think they have legacy anymore),
    so after you remove these factors, what is the actually ED rate that applies to your daughter?

I don’t have Brown stats,
but for Dartmouth, their 25% ED drops down to 8.4% after removing those 4 factors.

Good luck.

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I get your point.
The school doesn’t use Naviance.
How many kids accepted to brown also I don’t have data for that.
Fingers crossed. To be the safe side we submitted application to 8 EA schools

19

very strong chance!

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