Hello. Any advice or opinions are appreciated. I was wondering what my chances of getting into Brown University undergrad are, both ED and RD. Thanks.
HS class of '21, undergrad class of '25
White male, NY suburbs
One parent is legacy- not a huge $ contributor but has stayed involved in the community (alumni interviews, dinners)
GPA 95.00 UW/100 (best GPA in junior year with the toughest classes- progressively better)
Courseload- Will end with 10 APs and around 10 honors- considered rigorous for my hs
Class rank- N/A out of about 350, but definitely top 10
ACT 35
PSAT- 1480- most likely will end up as National Merit finalist
SAT subject tests- haven’t taken them yet, (will take 3), I expect 750-800
ECs:
Varsity Ski team 4 years
Varsity golf 4 years
3-year member, 1-year Vice President of an anti-drug club (large community presence)
4-year member, 2-year officer of a community service-based club
4 years of a club involved with mentoring/tutoring elementary schoolers monthly
2 Years science olympiad- reached states first year, likely an officer second.
Not sure if anyone knows, but will my legacy status help at all RD? How much will it help ED?
Any advice or opinions are appreciated. Don’t sugar coat it Thanks!
Yes, they look at positive patterns rather than just aggregate numbers. So if you have a low grade in say math freshman year, but you did fine in even harder math courses the last two years, then who cares about that freshman math grade? Answer: Not Brown Admissions, as far as I can tell.
Context also matters. What are your grades (and the rest of your resume) like relative to your academic plans? And how does all of that match up against the use you could make of the Open Curriculum?
As best I can figure from the (confidential) admission data I’ve seen over the years, legacy of any sort is little more than a tie-breaker… if even that. Even for “well-connected” parents. So good news! You will get in (or more likely, not – just how it is for a single-digits school) based on your own merits.
As for ED vs RD matters, the college seems to use RD to grab some of the best ones early on – a good arrangement for everyone – but then most of the ED’s get deferred to RD. So I don’t see a downside “chances-wise” to going with one or the other – just whichever suits you. If you applied ED and were denied, figure that would have happened if you applied RD anyway. You just get to find out sooner with ED : )
[Note that Brown takes less applicants through ED than some others, which hurts their US News & World Report ranking compared to ones who elevate their matriculation rate by locking in large numbers of ED’s. Brown could easily do likewise, but chooses not to play that game.]
I’m an incoming First-Year at Brown who applied ED, was deferred, but accepted RD. I definitely recommend applying ED if you’re sure that Brown is the school for you, you can present an amazing application by the early decision deadline of November 1st, and you can afford Brown if admitted (run the financial aid calculators online if applicable.) Multiple people applied to Brown from my high school (4 people ED and idk how many RD,) however, the only students that got in were me and another student who was admitted ED: this year especially (from watching YouTube videos about decisions) Brown really liked admitting deferred ED students Regular Decision, potentially because we had showed that we would have definitely attend if admitted, and this likely would stay true for a lot of us (especially for those like me who sent letters of continued interest regarding application updates and reiterating that Brown was my first choice and I would definitely attend if admitted) (If you don’t know what a Letter of Continued Interest is look it up on google for examples.)
I had similar test scores to you, but throughout this admissions process, have realized that yes, test scores are a part of the admissions process (idk how much so this year.) BUT, they will only get you through the door, once Brown is certain that you’ll be able to handle the workload, they’re trying to determine how you would fit into the class as a whole (through your essays, alumni interview etc.,) and how not only how you will you take advantage of the resources that Brown has (by reading your essays but also by what you’ve done in high school to explore your interests,) but what you’ll go on from Brown to do as an alumni and representative of the school in the future.
Hope that helps! Good luck with College Admissions!
Thanks!