Chances at Brown/RISD Dual Degree Program

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey! I'm a High School sophomore (junior in the fall) and I was wondering what my chances are at being accepted into the RISD/Brown dual degree program. I want to major in Painting at RISD and Physics at Brown.</p>

<p>Here's my situation.</p>

<p>From and reside in San Antonio, Texas
Race: Hispanic
Gender: Male
Current GPA (UW): 3.76
Current Rank: ~30ish out of 700ish (top 20 or 10 (haven't calculated) out of 600 without our magnet school)
PSAT scores sophomore year: Math:61 Writing: 58 Reading: 48
(I didn’t really prepare for the test, so I will probably score higher next year when I take it again)</p>

<p>Classes/grades (freshman year):
Band (freshman band) A+
English A+
Biology A
Alg 2 B+ (My teacher killed me)
Art 1 A+
World Geo A+
French 1 A+</p>

<p>Classes/grades (sophomore year):
Band (varsity) A+
English A+
Chemistry A+
Pre-Calc (Dual Credit) A
World History AP A+
Art 2 A+
French 2 A+</p>

<p>Planned Classes for Junior year:
Art 4 (my teacher let me skip 3)
English AP
Physics B AP
USH AP Dual Credit
Calculus BC AP Dual Credit (0 Hour)
French 3
Band
Independent Student Mentorship (with Art Teacher as Mentor)</p>

<p>Planned Classes for Senior Year:
Art 4 AP
English 4 AP
Physics C AP (or Chem AP)
Gov and Eco AP
French 4 (AP if my school offers it)
Band
Art History AP </p>

<p>E.C.s</p>

<p>Band:
-I got into varsity my sophomore year. (I play clarinet)
-I will probably make region band and maybe state next year.
-I’m trying out for Drum Major my Junior Year.</p>

<p>Art:
-Have won many contests and scholarships
-Was picked by art teacher for outstanding student award
-I am planning on starting an art club next year and fundraise it.
-I plan on selling prints at my local art events.
-I am going to take a mentorship period next year and have my art teacher as my mentor.</p>

<p>Languages:
-I speak fluent Spanish
-I will probably be Vice President of the Spanish club next year.
-I’ve taken French for 2 years and will continue with it through high school.</p>

<p>During the summer:
I am also going to take a chemistry internship and probably the summer after as well. I’ll be conducting actual labs at a university and will be payed minimum wage. I also plan on taking my health and speech credits in the summer so I can take extra classes in school. I plan on participating in more local art events and maybe volunteer for the library and other places as well.</p>

<p>Economic Situation
My family is very low income. Since my parents are Mexican Immigrants with no high school education, we don’t have that much money. Don’t know if that’ll make me stand out a little or help my chances, but it’s worth mentioning, I guess.</p>

<p>Let me know what my chances are. I know I'm not "perfect", but I hope I come off as a determined and passionate person.
I'm also considering Yale, Northwestern, and Rice, but I wouldn’t mind if you put some other options as well. Thank you. :)</p>

2

<p>How you do possible expect someone to chance you when we haven’t even seen your art portfolio yet?!? Have you documented your art work??? You are really young, you haven’t even started your junior year yet!!! It’s way to early to chance you, especially to such premiere institutions. Try again your senior year. So much can happen in your life from here to your last year of high school.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the response. I’m a little new to this website, and wanted to receive feedback on how I was doing in regard to extracurriculars, GPA, test scores, etc. And advice on how much more I should do or goals to set for the future. I wanted mostly for my chances at Brown at least. I’m still waiting to bulk up my portfolio a little more, though.</p>

4

<p>What you’ve accomplished so far is pretty impressive. Your ethnicity, commitment to art and band, and solid academics make you a good candidate for any university. Continue on this path, do your best, and post again later, maybe the summer before senior year. You seem like a very good candidate for very good universities so keep at it. Your plans for the future seem good, but remember also to follow your instincts at times and just do what you love. wrencher94 is right in that life can take you anyplace in no time at all.</p>

5

<p>My son attends Brown, but I don’t know a lot about the dual degree programs except that they are even harder to get into than just getting into Brown itself. PLME (Brown plus med school) has an acceptance rate of under 3%.</p>

<p>Your unweighed GPA is somewhat low and your preliminary PSAT score is far too low for you to have a decent shot of acceptance at Brown itself – study for the PSAT/SAT to improve your chances. URM low income first generation college will, however, get you some latitude if your essays and letters of recommendation are top-notch. You should also be able to show some leadership roles in your ECs and community service work to be competitive; if you’re not already doing community service work, consider starting a weekend program teaching art to kids or seniors – self-initated projects will get you a lot of respect at Brown.</p>

<p>For more details on the dual degree itself, consider also posting a thread in the Brown University forum, where current and former students are most likely to see your question.</p>

6

<p>Can we see any of your portfolio? Is it impossible to chance the RISD part without seeing a portfolio (or at least a few pieces).</p>

7

<p>If I become Drum Major my senior year, that will be a huge leadership position. Drum Major is, in my opinion, the hardest position of leadership in my school. My band is also the most successful in our district (we make state and win 1st in many competitions every year), so a lot is expected from the Drum Major. </p>

<p>Also, I’m doing the art club mostly for those people in my school who don’t have the opportunity to take an art class because of their schedule (especially people from our magnet school who can only take one elective). </p>

<p>I love your suggestion on the community service, but I’m still a little unsure of what to do. I plan on doing something over the summer, though.</p>

8

<p>I have some of my art in my deviantart account, but it’s stuff I did early freshman year and I haven’t updated it in forever. Believe me, I’ve improved so much more since then. Also, I uploaded them with my terrible camera phone.</p>

<p>Here’s my account:
[KookieKat69</a> on deviantART](<a href=“http://kookiekat69.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/]KookieKat69”>http://kookiekat69.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>