After a lot of discussion, D24 has decided to ED Brown. She intends to concentrate in geochemistry. She attends a private high school in Memphis, Tennessee, and is a full IB candidate. The school does not rank. Her GPA is 4.24 weighted and 3.95 unweighted (she made a B in IB Spanish and Honors Physics). She is in SL Mathematics but has taken five years of laboratory science in high school. She scored a 34 on the ACT first time. We have no plans to retake. She will be National Merit Commended.
Outside of high school, she is captain of the cross country team, founder of the Gender-Sexuality Alliance at her school, president of the VR club, a competitive rock climber, certified SCUBA diver, and Girl Scout with the Silver Award.
In high school she has won several local art competitions (sculpture, digital art, and watercolor). She is also pretty good at crocheting and baking, too when she has the time.
If it matters, we are full pay. Wife and I are aware of the financial commitment.
Apply and see. She is well qualified, but so are most who apply to Brown. If she gets accepted…or not…she will never know why.
If it’s her top choice, and affordable, go for it.
I’d have all her other RD applications either submitted or ready to go…just in case. She can submit them, and if accepted, just withdraw all pending ED applications.
Unless I’m wrong…the acceptance rate ED is 13% or so…RD is under 6%. Either way…a very competitive university.
This is so true. Our son didn’t end up applying, but we visited Brown. In 2014, the head of admissions said they’d received 35,000 applicant and 29,000 were, as she said, “fully qualified to matriculate.”
The only thing I’d add is that I’d never recommend ED a school you haven’t visited. We build up stories of the campuses and experiences in our heads, but it is a non-reversible commitment if she’s accepted. She needs to know that it’s really where she wants to go.
Those numbers don’t really tell the full story. Most Ivy League athletes apply in the ED round and those that are coach supported are usually admitted. So the unhooked candidate admittance is actually much lower than 13% for ED.
Good luck op. Not to raise further concerns but you should be aware that the admissions rates at Brown have historically been materially lower for female candidates.
Your daughter looks like a great candidate and I wish her well. My kid graduated from Brown recently, please feel free to message me if I can provide any help. It is a special place.
Interesting factoid that I would have never guessed…they get almost twice as many female applicants as male. In order to keep a class balanced, they have to make it tougher on women. It’s just the opposite at MIT.
Since she’s at a private school, they might have better guidance but the truth is for a school like Brown, no guidance can be specific.
In the CDS, state of residence helps. I imagine Brown doesn’t get too many from TN so that’s a plus.
While the ED rate is higher, if that includes athletes or others, that would stand for the deviation. But according to their website, 52% of the first year class were admitted ED. 60% had ACT scores of 35-36 (of those who submitted) and 32% 32-34 - so she “might” want to take the test again - but as you noted you likely won’t, that’s fair too. Certainly she’s in range. Full pay won’t matter - it’s not a need aware school.
In regards to ED, Brown writes this (just putting out there in case your daughter changes her mind over time or gets a bit of indecision):
Please do not assume that your admission chances are improved by applying under the Early Decision plan. The Board of Admission makes the same decisions under Early Decision that it would under the Regular Decision plan.
Best of luck to your daughter - she sounds like a top flight candidate.
That’s a given almost everywhere. Even so, the odds are still better in the ED round than the RD round. I have had. many students admitted in the early round at Ivies who are not athletes. Yes, the ED admit rate is not equal odds for all who apply, but I’d say the same in the RD round too…there are institutional priorities.
As others noted, she seems to have all the academic and activity qualifications she needs. The last bit that will likely decide whether they do or do not admit her is the personal/fit factor, and that isn’t really predictable.
I note I personally believe these schools when they say ED versus RD makes no difference to individualized chances–at least if you are unhooked.
Your private HS will know better than those of us on CC.
Even if they don’t officially rank, they almost certainly send a school profile with gpa ranges so her rough rank(decile) will be known or inferable by the colleges. Plus if she is at or near the top for rank, private school counselors usually put that type of positive information in their letter even if they are not allowed to officially reveal rank to students, ditto for if she has taken the hardest rigor courses. Course rigor compared to peers matters too, often more than rank for this level of school, yet we have no way on CC to tell how she compares to what her school offers and what previous successful applicants to ivies/etc have taken.
If the private school sends 5-10% of the class to schools of similar selectivity to Brown, and these kids are unhooked, then if yours is in that class rank range AND has taken a course rigor comparable to the top 5-10% of kids, AND is a genuinely nice and intellectually curious kid who will have great teacher recs describing her at a minimum as one of the best this year, her chances could be significantly higher than the average ED unhooked applicant. If she is not in these ranges, or if the school normally only sends 2-3 kids per year unhooked to Brown-level schools, and she is not considered to be in the most academic and all-around best 2-3, it is low likelihood of admission, but she won’t know unless she tries! Good luck to her.
Your daughter has a wonderful profile and is a strong candidate. That being said, chances at Brown (like all similarly selective schools) aren’t going to be fantastic. While they accept many students with your daughter’s profile, they reject many more. Coming from a private HS your odds may be somewhat better (your school CC will know better than us) than the norm, but considering the norm is 5% (or 13% ED), it’s still going to be a long shot. Hopefully, Brown works out, but if doesn’t she needs to have RD apps ready to go - including schools that will be more of a match.
Thank you, all for the input. It reflects my own thoughts. The rest of her choices are universities we know she likes that she will be admitted to and are financially cheaper. This is her “shot”. You never know unless you take it.
If your D is offered an interview by an alum she should 100% take it. The interview itself is only marginally considered (except if an experienced interviewer writes “the kid showed almost no interest in Brown since she’s hoping to go to culinary school if her parents can be persuaded”) but if your D is seriously interested it can only help her.
I interviewed exactly one student in my entire tenure as a volunteer who was “knock your socks off” fantastic, and because I was worried that his application would not reveal how strong he was, I bugged my regional adcom until I was told “You’ll get the same happy news that he will on decision day” (so I stopped nagging). There are kids who shine on paper and kids who shine in person, and your D should push every lever to advance her case!
Has she done a deep dive on the colleges which are somewhat easier to get into that are “Brown-like”???