<p>I heard that Brown is the most holistic of all of the Ivy Leagues. Specifically, I was told that the character of the individual is most important and holistic review is the criteria.</p>
<p>Furthermore, is it true they disregard GPA for the SAT.</p>
<p>they definitely do not disregard your GPA. The “holistic” approach does not mean that GPA and SAT are not important. What it means is that other things are simply MORE important than those two.</p>
<p>^ I think you’ll hear just about any admissions officer say that one’s grades (in the context of one’s curriculum) are the most important aspect of the application. Holistic evaluation isn’t meant to imply emphasis on the non-numeric, merely the attempt to look at an applicant as widely and contextually as possible, which will include careful consideration of extracurricular activities and essays. By all accounts, Brown is like its highly selective peers in these respects.</p>
<p>^this is better worded. What I was trying to convey is that they don’t put everyone into an excel file and sort by GPA/SAT score and accept the top whatever. They will choose the person with a lower (but still very high) SAT score who is more interesting over the 4.0/2400 without much else to offer.</p>
<p>Brown cares about GPA more than SAT scores, at least compared to the other Ivies.</p>
<p>I can’t think of a single Ivy League or other “top” school that simply sorts applicants by SAT scores/GPAs and takes the ones with the highest numbers. Every year, PLENTY of valedictorians and kids with 2350+ SAT scores are rejected b/c of their sheer lack of depth – be it personal (essays/recs) or in terms of involvement (extra curriculars)</p>
<p>All of the selective schools are “holistic,” and you may be right when you say Brown is more holistic than others. At least from what I’ve seen (my personal experience and from meeting students), Brown does seem to take into account essays/personality/ecs a bit more. However, I think a lot of that may stem from the intensive supplemental application which allows admission officers to get a much better feel for the person than other supplements allow for.</p>