Chance me

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

SAT I:
1410/2130
-Critical Reading: 800
-Math: 610 (working on getting it up)
-Writing: 720

SAT II:
-World History: 780
-United States History: 770
(I love, love, love history.)

Class Rank:
-25 out of 222

GPA:
-Weighted: 4.67
-Unweighted: 3.79

Extracurriculars:
-I have about 300 community service hours logged in right now.
-Beta Club (President)
-Key Club (President) (Founder)
-Dungeons and Dragons Club (President) (Founder)
-Cross-Country (Team Captain)
-Track and Field (Team Captain)
-AFJROTC (Deputy Corps Commander)
-Palmetto Boys’ State
-Interact Club (Historian)

APs:
-AP US History: 5
-AP Human Geography: 4
-AP Psychology: 5
-AP World History (self-studied): 5
-AP Art History (self-studied): 5
-AP European History (self-studied): 5

Awards:
-West Point Leadership Award.
-Academic Gold Medalist.
-Cross-Country Rookie of the Year.
-AP Scholar with distinction.
-Cross-Country all-Region athlete.
-Cross-Country County Champion
-Cross-Country Rookie of the Year.

Hooks:
-First generation college student

-Ward of the state during my middle school year due to my family neglecting me and creating an unsafe home environment (poverty, drugs etc).

-Homeless for a couple months before moving into a foster home in the summer before my ninth grade year.

-Currently in a foster home.

Income: 28,000.
State: South Carolina.
Intended major: History.
Recommendations: Probably all 8/10 or 9/10.
Financial Aid: Due to being a Foster kid, and not living with my biological mother, I qualify for full aid.

2

Seems outstanding to me.

3

@lostaccount thanks! May I ask why you think so?

4

I think your application is definitely unique. You have strong interest in history, and having an intended major of History (not too popular) can only benefit you. In addition, you are from an underrepresented state, are first generation, and have decent ECs. If you write a good strong essay why you believe Brown is the perfect place for you, I think you’ll have a great shot!

5

There are strong threads that run through your application; cross country and history are clearly passions of yours, and you demonstrate your interest in many ways. I think you’re a wonderfully qualified applicant!

6

@AnExcellentSheep thank you!

7

@Summahh thanks! I appreciate the words. I’ve just been so anxious about everything concerning college.

8

Hey, I also went to pbs… I don’t want to be the mean one here but your chances are extremely low.

You don’t rank in the top 10% of your class… Only 47 students were accepted to brown outside of the top 10% and they were likely hooked applicants or students at elite schools.

Best of luck, let me know how it goes.

9

Great to see another person from my state applying to brown, hopefully we can both get a good result :slight_smile:

10

@spauldinglegend thank you for your sobering remarks. I’ll try not to get my hopes up! What city did you come from? Did you have a position?

@mauriciog Thanks!! I’ll hope for the both of us!

11

@spauldinglegend Wouldn’t being in foster care, homeless, and a ward of the state be a hook anyway though?

12

@ASJU9511 i was in Pocotaligo and attended boys nation

I mean you have to look at it in a number of ways, I am sure your story is super compelling; however, it may come across as “what can brown do for me” instead of “what can I offer brown”

I’m not sure that constitutes a hook. Like i have a hook: my mom attended brown. You have a great topic for an essay… (Not do in any way disrespect your hardships)

Let me know if that all makes sense…

You see for people with 2400/athletes etc, they can ask brown what will you give me

For people outside the top 10% it’s a lot harder of an ask

13

@spauldinglegend Ah I see. I understand where you’re coming from. Did you happen to run for Governor? If so, I think I actually talked to you during the chick fil a thing at the end of the week!

14

Ahah, that’s me. Small world amirite

15

@spauldinglegend Well that’s really neat! I was the reporter actually. You probably don’t remember me since you pretty much got swarmed by all those PBS citizens. Thanks anyhow for your input!

16

Oh I totally remember you haha, best of luck!

17

Objective:
SAT (breakdown): 2300 superscore (800 R 800 M 700 W)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT Subject Tests: 800 MII 740 Lit
Unweighted GPA: 3.79
Weighted GPA: 3.99
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): HS doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Comp Sci (4) (school offers no APs, only “Honors”)
IB (place score in parenthesis): not offered
Senior Year Course Load: Art, Honors Senior English, Honors Senior History, Honors Calc 1, Ecology, Honors Computer Science year 3
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
National Merit Scholarship Finalist (along with 12% of my class…)

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Varsity soccer (team top 100 in nation)
Varsity track
Varsity snowboarding (I placed top 25 in competitive state, captain)
Founder/leader of service project (passion of mine–I really care about this. Fed 900 people, projected to move up to around 2000 fed this year. Relationships with local/national businesses)
Youth group (elected official)
Diversity workshops (presenter)
Rock climbing (anywhere from 6-10 hours a week)
Student-led outdoor group (80 members or so. Elected official)
Art and poetry
Chess (an hour a day)

Job/Work Experience:
nada (since sophomore year)

Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours.
Service with outdoor group and my own project (35 or so members, or 13% of my school). I also speak to people at my school about the value of service learning.

Summer Activities: CTY, calculus, reading, soccer, climbing, a little bit of travel.
Essays: Unique, I think. I feel like they were strong.
Teacher Recommendation: strong.
Counselor Rec: strong.
Additional Rec: very strong.
Interview: n/a
Supplementary Material (portfolio, etc.): n/a

Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
State (if domestic applicant): WA
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: private (11% of my class were national merit scholarship finalists)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket: $80-100,000.00
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

How do you feel my chances are? Thanks for your time–Merry Christmas, happy holidays!

18

To the OP - just to clarify – it is a little misleading to say that only 47 students ranked below the top decile were accepted. That statistic comes from here https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts; those 47 come from schools which rank, and 2031 students were accepted from schools that don’t rank – which might include students who fall lower in their class.

Being first-generation is a hook. Being in foster care and a ward of the state is not a hook – but getting those test scores (especially that 800 in CR) is very impressive given your background.

19

@fireandrain thanks for the clarification. If it helps, my GPA my Freshman year was very much hampered by my transition from a children’s home to an actual foster home. My GC explained it in her rec too. Ever since then though, my GPA has had a strong upward trend, if that helps.

20

Brown will absolutely review your transcript in context of your story. Did you write an additional essay in the Common App that explains this transition and the challenges you faced? Something to consider.

Are you good enough at cross country to contact the coach?