Chances for Brown ED??

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

**I know that admissions for Brown and other Ivies is a crapshoot - I just want to see if I’m even in the crapshoot.

I am a male living in Virginia going to a competitive high school in the extremely competitive Fairfax County. Currently, my choices are:

Applying to Brown ED, UVA EA, applied to Purdue and IU already as safeties

Intended Major: Pre-Med route w/ major in Economics (not 100% certain)
Class Rank: our school doesn’t have class ranks
UW GPA: 3.85 (this doesn’t include any senior grades)
Weighted GPA: 4.3
Courses: 9th (4 honors, A’s and A-'s) 10th: (3 Honors and 2 AP’s, All A’s, 1 B+ in Honors English),
11th : (3 AP’s, 2 Honors, All A’s, 1 B+ in Honors Precalc ) 12th: (5 AP’s )
AP classes:
10th:
AP World History(3)
AP Comp Sci (cancelled score lol)
11th:
AP Micro(3)
AP Macro(3)
AP Chemistry(3)
AP US History(4)
12th:
AP Statistics
AP Physics C
AP Gov
AP Calc BC
AP Lit

ACT: 34
SAT Subject Test: US History: 730, Math 2 score coming out in 2 days
EC’s/Awards:
Activities officer of Model UN with various awards
President of Debate Club
Chamber Orchestra Leader, played in district orchestra
Captain of Tennis Team(many awards)
Volunteer at INOVA Hospital working at Medical Library (around 45 hours)
Member of National Honor Society, and Math Honor Society
Fall Fellow Intern with Hillary Clinton Campaign - canvass, and phone bank (about 8 weeks, around 40-50 hours)
Summer Program at Johns Hopkins, studying psychology and law - summer between 9th and 10th
*Unique Internship at a telecommunications company called L3 communications. I worked with a team of adults to code and create a way to display the grants provided by the HHS to various organizations. A very cool experience and paid well. Only high school intern.
Researched throughout my 10th grade year at Northern Virginia Community College with microbiology professor researching a certain bacteria. Did science fair project with this, and got 1st place in Fairfax County Regional Fair, and Participated in Virginia State Science Fair. Won monetary award from American Microbiology Association.
Last Summer I worked at Howard Universty with a professor in Chemistry researching nanotechnology.
National Merit Commended

*I put Academic Honor Roll (9-12) on honors section – is this advisable??

Essays:
Common App essay is very unique in my opinion - others have thought the same (ALSO: if anyone would be willing to read my essay that would be much appreciated :slight_smile: )
Supplemental: UVA’s are great, Brown is a little tougher

Recs:
Chem teacher: Great relationship with her. Will be solid. 9/10
Spanish teacher: Won’t be anything special. I did well in her class but I didn’t have a special relationship with her. 5/10

Additional Recs:
Tennis Coach: He puts in so much effort in writing these. Amazing. 11/10
Employer at Software internship: Hopefully, he will be able to vouch for my contributions during the internship. 7/10.

Also applying to Duke, Emory, UCLA, UNC Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt for Regular. Thanks!

2

What is your ethnicity? Are you planning on applying to PLME or just the overall university? Subscores for ACT?

3

Ethnicity: Asian
I am applying to the overall university, Not PLME.
ACT Breakdown: English:35, Math:34, Reading:34, Science:33, 9/12 on Essay

4

You have a solid profile, but that being said, Asians are (somewhat highly) overrepresented in Brown’s applicant pool. However, being in the 75th percentile for test scores will help. GPA is a little low, but Brown truly accepts applicants through more than just numbers. Good luck!

5

I am struggling to find your interest in premed based upon what you wrote: law, psychology, software internship, volunteerism.

The most successful applicants to Ivy’s have a clear and consistent story. Your story unfortunately looks exactly like thousands of other Asians who will be applying.

6

I was afraid of that. I thought my internship was unique and my consistent EC’s of tennis and orchestra would be good. I guess the essays play a big role too

7

Your profile is pretty solid. I agree with the other poster that I don’t read “premed” in anything you’ve done. Maybe consider applying to a STEM major but then try to change to premed after your freshman year (if you get in). Also, your Spanish teach recommendation…what’s the point if you think it’s only 5/10? Don’t you have a math or another science teacher who could write one? Spanish is meaningless in a medical major. Also, the other outside recommendations aren’t necessary. Most universities allow for 2 recommendations in addition to your counselor. They get annoyed if you send any more than that.

As for your essays, the nanotech research sounds interesting, especially if you can tie it together with your desire for a science or medical degree. Lastly, have you been to Brown and can your essays tell them why you are a good fit specifically at Brown? In my essays I mentioned specific labs and professors I met with and how what they shared tied directly to my goals in the biomedical field. If you just put a generic essay out there without specifically mentioning personnel and facilities at Brown, they will see it as “copy and paste.” Your academics are competitive with anyone, it’s your essay and stellar recommendation letters that will make the difference in my opinion.

8

My tennis coach recommendation really showed who I was outside of the classroom. I suppose I don’t need another recommendation from my employer. For my common app essay, I didn’t really write about anything academic related, just something that I was passionate about and how it shaped who I am. I am visiting Brown this weekend so hopefully I can get a sense of the campus and write a good supplemental essay around it.

9

bump

10

I think you have pretty good numbers besides the AP scores :confused: As long as you’re over the 3.7 mark colleges know you’re pretty capable and you have the ACT to back you up. You have great extracurriculars even though they are slightly unfocused. Overall, I think you have a pretty good shot at Brown. Chance me back?