Do I have a decent chance at Brown?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>I am applying ED to Brown for the class of 2015.</p>

<ul>
<li>I am a white male from Connecticut.</li>
<li>I attend a strong private school (no class rankings).</li>
<li>My weighted GPA is about 100 (out of 100).</li>
<li>This year I am taking three AP classes and one regular class.</li>
<li>Over the summer I took a philosophy course at Yale and earned an A-. This was a legit college credit course, not just one of those immersion programs.</li>
<li>Last year I took AP US and earned an A but received a 3 on the exam. (I was sick). However, I took the SAT II US and scored a 740, which somewhat erases that AP blemish.</li>
<li>My other SAT II is Literature, on which I scored a 640, but I am retaking it in November.</li>
<li>My SAT score is 2220 (800 CR, 700 M, and 720 W).</li>
<li>I have great extracurriculars and have several leadership positions. I have even started two clubs at my school. In sum, I definitely stand out with my extracurriculars.</li>
<li>My personal statement is really outstanding.</li>
<li>My teacher recs are fantastic.</li>
<li>I am hoping to major in philosophy.</li>
</ul>

<p>Please help me out with this!
Thanks.</p>

<p>P.S. If there are other top tier schools at which you think I would have a good chance of gaining admission, please let me know.</p>

2

<p>Please, I would appreciate any input.</p>

3

<p>If you go to a “strong private school in Connecticut,” why aren’t you asking your guidance counselor? She or he can give you a much better idea what your chances are than a bunch of strangers on the internet who know next to nothing about you. Guidance counselors at strong private schools are hired to do exactly that. That’s what you’re paying the tuition for.</p>

4

<p>haha, starting two clubs at your school doesn’t mean anything. Extracurricular means things OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL. clubs in school are so commonplace nowadays that they barely represent any real work. If two clubs are the centerpiece of your EC’s, then you have some serious problems.</p>

5

<p>It is very hard to predict admissions at a school like Brown. What does your guidance counselor think?</p>

6

<p>@chemwz, I’d have to respectfully disagree. I’m not really sure what you’re using as your definition of “extracurricular,” but clubs are considered as extracurricular activities as far as I’m concerned, as much as athletics and student government are. Being “out of school” isn’t literal, as in they have to take place outside of the school building.</p>

<p>And to that point, starting two clubs does mean something, especially if you put time and effort into the clubs. Putting it together, getting advisors, advertising for members, and keeping it going… I dunno if it’s different at private schools, but at my school, starting a successful club is pretty awe-inspiring.</p>

7

<p>Spazzy, I agree with you on some points. Sure, I guess it could be “awe-inspiring” to start a club (although it’s not that way at my school). Let me just offer my insight:</p>

<p>Think about it like this. I think of a club much differently than I do an organization that you apply to that is outside of school, research, or practically anything outside of school. Why? A few reasons. First, when you do any of the latter three things mentioned, you are doing something unique. if you start a successful club with, let’s say, 50 people, then you have…49 other people who have it on their resumes. Next, you can’t say to a college “I want to continue NHS in college!” It just doesn’t work that way. Also, clubs have no competitive aspect (besides elections). The one exception would be Forensics, Debate, or something like DECA where you compete at a national level.</p>

<p>Next, students often end up laundry listing clubs. There’s the kid with the never ending list of “fabulous extracurriculars”: NHS, Cooking Club, Key Club, Break Dancing Club, French Club, Spanish Club, Spanish NHS, etc. And the list goes on and on. Sure, that’s all fine and dandy…but do they really mean anything? How much can a student gain when all they do are things with the people they interact with on a daily basis at school? And how often do those students really get into the top schools? Never.</p>

<p>Let’s face it: unless the clubs you have joined are stellar or you have done some amazing stuff with them, you are just like the kid from the high school down the road who is part of the same exact club there, too. How often do kids on CC that pride themselves on band, key club, and spanish get into top schools? Rarely. Sure there are the exceptions - but they probably did something else amazing.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that the OP follows these trends, but I think that for ANY two activities, it’s hard to say that they make you “definitely stand out with [your] extracurriculars.” And the OP is claiming the founding of two clubs did this for him.</p>

<p>(BTW, I go to a public school. I really don’t know what it’s like at private school.)</p>

8

<p>Extracurricular means beyond the curriculum. That means it doesn’t necessarily have to be outside of school. But even if you interpret it that way, I have done a decent amount of volunteer work outside of school. Here are all my ECs for clarification:</p>

<ul>
<li>Founder and Head of Ethics Bowl</li>
<li>Co-Founder and Co-Head of (School) Political Round Table</li>
<li>Co-Editor for the Student Newspaper</li>
<li>Co-Captain of the School Debate Team</li>
<li>Co-Editor of the School Yearbook</li>
<li>(I’ve done a decent amount of volunteer work outside of school, such as leading a book club for young kids at the local Boys and Girls Club.)</li>
</ul>

<p>Clearly, I devote a lot of time to ECs and I believe the colleges to which I apply will see that.</p>

9

<p>You are right that my college counselor is supposed to help, but I go to a smaller school from which not enough students have gone to Brown for him to give me a clear idea. I thought that people on this forum would give me some insight based on their own experiences.</p>

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<p>what is a 100 out of 100 gpa?</p>

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<p>The issue is not how many clubs you belong to or what leadership positions you have. What is important is what you’ve done. How did you improve/affect/change the club, your school, your community? As leader, what issues did you face and how did you handle them? (Please don’t answer those here – that’s for your application.)</p>

<p>chemwz, plenty of students get into selective colleges by doing some amazing stuff just with ECs in their school. Outside activities are not the magic key to admission.</p>

<p>Philo, people on CC are typically of two types: HS students like yourself who know as much about admission as you do, and parents who know enough to know that we can’t predict or even guess about how admissions makes its decisions.</p>

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<p>The GPA is on a 100 point scale at my school. So I guess you could just say I have a 4.0 GPA.</p>

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<p>chemwz, I agree with most of what you’ve written. Merely joining clubs (especially just to pad your app) isn’t anything special. But if you have a leadership position in it or have done some amazing things through it, I think it’s pretty special. And joining clubs is a lot different than starting clubs. And while we’re on the topic of including them on college apps, while the joiners can only really put “member of ___ club,” you can put “founder, president, etc of ____ club.” Sure, it may not be up to par to an extracurricular for which you have to go through an application process, but I think it still counts for something. But yeah, it depends on the club and how you play a role in it, definitely.</p>

<p>And Philo, I think you have as much of a chance as the next person. There’s only so much you can do; everything else is thrust into the adcom’s hands.</p>

14

<p>Spazzy:</p>

<p>Thanks for actually responding to my question. I’m reassured by the fact that I’m at least a solid Brown candidate. Hopefully, my essays and recommendations will set me apart from others who have similar grades and scores.</p>

15

<p>Anyone else have an opinion on my chances?</p>

16

<p>You’ve got a good chance. The essays are a HUGE part of the Brown application, so we really can’t say - admissions are a crapshoot these days. Good luck!</p>