I don’t want to come off as jealous or anything: I am friends with this person and I will be happy for him if he gets in regardless of whether I get in.
One of my friends is an aspiring med student and a rising junior, and he wants to ED to Brown. His main reason for this is that he feels he has a stronger chance due to his uncle having a connection to a dean of medicine at the school (If I recall correctly). He is planning to spend time at Brown for a program over the summer, and he emailed her (him?) stating his relationship with his uncle and she said she was willing to meet with him to have a personal chat. It’s been a while since he mentioned this, but I also believed his uncle donated a rather significant sum of money to the school?
I don’t feel comfortable comparing myself to him. If it’s important, I’m going to apply for computer science.
The underlying questions I guess are: Is this considered a “hook” or “legacy” and does Brown usually look at that? Would my chance of getting in be affected by how many get into Brown from my school?
no, at least, not any more than they are affected by any other student applying to Brown.
It really depends on the exact nature of the relationship and the amount donated. Summer@Brown is not a remotely selective program so his going means nothing. Having a chat with him is a very small investment for the dean, one that I imagine he does for his friends’ kids every year. Unless the med school dean is going to pull strings for him, it will mean nothing. That is something he is definitely not doing every year. With regard to the donation everyone has different perceptions of money. I would consider donating $1,000/year to be “donating a pretty significant sum of money to the school.” From an admissions perspective, that’s peanuts. Dr. Dre donated $70,000,000 to USC. That’s a significant sum of money from the admissions office’s perspective.
Brown only considers mom & dad for legacy, not an uncle. Loads of people ask connected people for letters and in my experience they most typically have zero impact (among the students who ask for letters, the rockstars who you would expect to get in, get in, and the ones that were not necessarily expected to get in, still don’t get in despite letter). I think people have an inflated sense of these powers. Now if the uncle was Dr. Dre with the $70 million donation and Dr. Dre hadn’t asked for any other favors and Dr. Dre begged for his nephew to get in, and his nephew was a fairly reasonably strong case, that could have an impact. But I’d say you should not worry about it in your case. Also I agree with above about the summer program.
One more thing…unless you are applying to a specialized program like PLME or duo degree Brown/RISD, the major you list has almost no impact on your acceptance. The rare exceptions tend to be in areas in which Brown has strong but underutilized concentrations, e.g., Egyptology. In those case, simply saying you want to concentrate in Egptology won’t help. However, if you actually had a lot of experience or course work in that area it could help. Usually about 15% of the class is admitted as “undecided.”
The personal connection is not a hook. The donation - maybe. Summer at Brown means absolutely nothing. But look, honestly, if I were you, I’d focus on other schools. If you are unhooked, your chances of getting in to Brown are really slim. It’s just the way it is. Don’t waste an ED application on it, and really think hard if you want to spend your precious time, effort, and money on an RD application where the odds are very low. Find a place with a great CS department where you could see yourself going, that would be affordable, and apply ED there. It’s really tough out there - you have to be super smart and strategic about where you place your applications.
@iwannabe_Brown @EmptyNestSoon2 @jonri
Thank you all for the information. I shouldn’t have worried too much in the first place but this was nice to know.
@Trixy34
I’m well aware of how selective Brown is. I’m also very well aware that my rejection is going to be more likely than my acceptance. Obviously, people do get into Brown without having any hooks because they are qualified, and I feel I am qualified enough that Brown won’t just throw away my application. I actually don’t think I even mentioned ED’ing in the post, but I choose to ED to Brown because I see myself going there and fitting in. I’ve had a distant family member and some friends go there for computer science, which is one of the driving forces for why I consider it my top choice. All other choices for computer science either don’t fit my needs or don’t offer ED. However, if you really don’t think it’s a good idea to ED to Brown and have other suggestions as to where I should ED, feel free to let me know again.
OP you should ED to the school you want to attend assuming you, your guidance counselor and your parents all agree you have a shot and can afford it. Based on first hand experience I can assure you, unhooked kids get into Brown and thrive on campus.
The odds are daunting but it sounds like you are approaching this maturely and seeking fit. Brown is an amazing place…good luck and GO BRUNO!
@shinemf101 - I just mentioned ED because my S19 decided to use his ED on Brown this past year. He was also qualified. He was deferred to the regular round and then then rejected. I’m not saying you don’t have a chance, but the only kid from our public high school who was admitted to any ivy ED was a recruited athlete. All the rest of the kids (also very qualified) were either deferred or outright rejected. Having been on this site for a year, I can tell you this has been the experience as relayed by many other parents of students at competitive public high schools across the country. My son wasn’t in a position to make a different ED decision last Fall because he really didn’t know what he wanted to do and he hadn’t done enough research and visits yet to determine which other schools might be a a great fit for him. He just knew he loved Brown and it was a good fit, so he gave it a shot. Now his options are limited. He probably could have used his ED and easily gotten in to other very competitive schools that, once RD rolls around, became total crapshoots. I have no idea where you should use your ED, I’m just warning you that you might regret wasting it on an ivy this time next year.
I agree that those letters don’t mean much, but I think we are kidding ourselves if we think that if the Dean of the Med School 100% wants someone accepted that they can’t make that happen as long as the kid has acceptable stats. But this is going to be a once or twice in a career type move. I’m willing to bet that this doesn’t apply to OP’s friend just based on the odds, especially since, odds are, if it were that significant of a relationship, OP’s friend wouldn’t be running their mouth about it.