Hii I’m a high school junior. I’m interested in studying in social science, ex: international relations, communication and maybe a minor in art history or fine art.
I’m aiming for top 20-35 schools with in the US. I always wanted to go to risd but I think a liberal art school will be a more realistic choice for me.
stats:
-3.9 unweighted gpa (my hs doesn’t do weighted gpa)
my hs also doesn’t do ranking but I would say top 20%
I’m taking AP studio art, AP lang and AP comparative gov this year (I wasn’t allowed to take aps my freshman year and didn’t take any my sophomore year)
I haven’t taken the SAT yet but I got a 1300 on my mock test (I’m definitely working to raise it up to around 1400 and above)
courses:
-I took graphic art, ceramics, sculpture, drawing, advanced drawing and painting, and is taking ap studio art this year. (which is almost of the visual art courses my school offers) I have gotten mostly A+ and is expecting to get a 5 for AP art next year.
I will probably take AP macro, AP lit and environmental science
I also took international relations and the study of Middle east and north Africa (I’m quite passionate about global news and politics)
demographics:
-I’m a International student studying in a private hs in MA (no green card)
-I’m female and Asian
extracurriculars:
-I’m the leader of the Asian culture club at my school
-Been on the tennis variety team since 8th grade (I’m not really good tho)
-Heavily involved in international student events (culture activities and planing at my high school)
-Peer tutor Mandarin and english
-A part of my hs’s art program since freshman year
-Won Honorable mention for Scholastic Art & Writing for sculpture
-I went to a small private art college for pre-college program this summer
Brown&risd dual program is definitely my dream program to get in, but i know the chances are pretty low for me. I’m aiming for ED or EA for Brown and would love for some suggestions.
Also I didn’t take any language till my junior year (I was in ELS). But I’m starting to take Spanish this year. I’m not sure how me taking less than 3 years of a language will look to college, especially Brown; also should I be taking Spanish my senior year since I’m already bilingual?
Am I headed in the right direction? Does anyone have any advice? How can I improve my shot either academically or in extracurriculars to get in Brown?
3.9 Unweighted GPA and yet top 20%? Are you sure thats correct? Did you mean weighted GPA of 3.9? Most students with near perfect GPA will be at the top 5%
Your chances at Brown and UChicago would be slim even as a domestic applicant. For an international applicant it’s even more of a long shot. You need some match schools that take substantial numbers of international students. Brandeis and URochester would both be good schools to look at, for your interests. Do you have cost constraints?
Not saying you shouldn’t apply to Brown, but putting your whole focus on getting in there is just a setup for disappointment. Take your shot at a super-reach school or two if you want to, but for right now, focus on finding realistic reaches, matches, and safeties that you could be happy with.
The first thing is to understand, as others have stated, is that you very likely won’t be admitted (an “occupational hazard” of applying to Brown). Prioritize accordingly, making sure to devote the time needed for solid applications to colleges which you have a decent chance of being admitted to, rather than skimp on those.
Study the particulars of Brown (or any other selective college you are seriously considering) in order to make sure you don’t hurt yourself in say an interview. You mentioned about EA for Brown. Does Brown have EA? Likewise for talking about a Communications major at Brown if it doesn’t have that major (and they call them “concentrations”). So know the particulars; avoid what are sometimes called unforced errors.
In presenting your EC’s, prioritize those of most relevance to your intended concentration. You want your application to be coherent in terms of what you’ve accomplished academically/ outside the classroom, and how that relates to your goals for a college education. Brown is particularly interested in how you would utilize the Open Curriculum in the furtherance of those goals.
Why UChicago? I can’t think how that fits in this picture for you. It’s as nearly opposite from Brown as a school can be. It’s also an exceptionally unlikely admit, unless there is something to your application that isn’t obvious from your post.*
If Brown and RSID are what you are really interested in, then keep them as your reaches and put your energy into looking into school that offer the things that you like most about those schools. You need schools that you have a very strong chance of being accepted, and some where you have a decent chance.
So: what is most important to you about Brown and RSID (besides the brand name)? Any chance that you want a design school, your parents are looking for a brand name university, and the Brown / RSID combo lets you make everybody happy? If so, would Carnegie Mellon (still a very big reach for you) or the University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning tick the box? Would they accept a design school on its own if it was a famous enough one (eg, The New School (Parsons) / The Art Institute (Chicago) / Pratt)?
Or, do you really want IR as your main focus? Guessing that budget isn’t an issue (b/c you are in BS in the US), there are a whole raft of other schools to look at.
only 12-15 of admitted applicants are international students, by your own description your GC is unlikely to tick the ‘most rigorous’ box about your coursework, and you aiming to get an SAT score that is in bottom 25% of accepted students (the middle 50% is 1510-1560).
For everyone. In particular, admit rate to the Brown-RISD program is way lower than the miserly overall undergrad rate. Lower than even the “admitted to med school from high school” PLME rate.
So what about flipping the script? The admit rate for RISD is 4-5 times higher than for Brown, and things like SAT scores for RISD admits are in line with what you may be looking at. Meanwhile, the campuses are joined at the hip (the first time I walked around Brown I didn’t realize that Brown had ended and RISD started), and any student at one can take any class they meet the prerequisites for at the other (and use the libraries, etc).
