ED Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

Heavily considering EDing to Brown

Indian Male high income dude from west coast state (not California) that is kind of underrepresented but not really. Elite private school, second in state, 67th in the nation (or around there). Classes are difficult af,

GPA: 95/100 UW & 3.9 UW. No weighted gpa and no rank. However, the highest GPA in the graduating class above me was 97/100, so I am definitely up there. Class of 70 or so students.

APs: Freshman year - none (school doesnt allow)
Sophomore - Comp Sci A (5) (only 1 allowed sophomore year)
Junior - Spanish Lang and English Lang (both pending) (opted to take two instead of three, which is the max anyone can take in a given year
Senior - Chem, Spanish Lit, Calc AB, Micro (taking 4 to make up for junior year)
Overall a very rigorous curriculum for my school.

SAT: 1530 22 essay retaking in October

ACT: 34 9 essay retaking in September

SAT 2: math 2 770, lit pending. Retaking both plus physics in August.

I know I’m taking a crapton of tests.

Intended major (concentration): unsure, English or something of that nature

ECs:

Editor in chief of schools Yearbook committee (4 yrs)

President of admissions student ambassador program (4 yrs)

President of social justice Club at school that has received citywide recgnition for a few productions. Annual assemblies, workshops and the like. Service projects (4 yrs)

President of Aerospace Engineering club (2 yrs)

Founded an online magazine that takes submissions from students near the end of junior year. Decent amount of viewers (2 yrs)

Played badminton for 10 years, nationally ranked, gold player, play in tournaments across the nation, invitationals although my ranking isn’t high enough to be that impressive, coach young players at a local clinic.

I serve on my city’s government as a member of its youth council (4 yrs)

Played piano for 15 years, lessons, play in churches, school performances, and the like. Basic stuff.

Volunteer at local nonprofit twice a week. Tutoring Low income children. Have over a 100 hours while my school only requires 50 to graduate (2 yrs)

Summer: Oxford tradition program at Oxford university, studying journalism and psychology (10th)

internship for the largest circulated English newspaper in India (11th). Published plenty of articles and blog posts under their banner. The paper is a big deal over in India

Internship for congresswoman from my state starting junior year and into senior year. She has recently been getting a lot of national and international attention and has been making alot of waves. (2 yrs)

Awards (lol): AP Scholar, National Merit Commended, Oxford Tradition Journalism Award. pretty laughable

Recs: English and calc teachers plus the editor of the newspaper I am interning at who used to be a Harvard professor.

2

21%

3

Why bother retaking the SAT or ACT? That’s incremental difference is probably not going to be as impactful as EC’s or a well written essay, extra time spent on your application, etc. (IMO)

4

I’m not particularly good at chancing people, because so much of the time, admission can boil down to luck of the draw. (This is NOT meant to sound pessimistic at all!) I agree with the above comment that I’m not sure if you need to retake the tests, I think having a really well-developed essay is super important because Brown likes to see a student’s voice and unique identity. There will be lots of applicants with tons of tests and ECs, so make sure you really show them who you are through an essay with a memorable “hook”!

(Source: I’m a Brown student.)

5

Retaking a 770 SATII? waste of time Retake both SAT & ACT? I wouldn’t retake either, but retaking both is def a waste of time.

Spend the time learning more about Brown, what they are looking for and how you fit what they are looking for.

6

Well, I’m signed up for all of them. I need to take another test anyway (physics) so I just decided that there was no harm in retaking math 2 because I am fairly confident I can get an 800 with a little studying (didn’t study one bit for my 770). If I do worse, I can just send the 770 right?

7

Possible English major and no English AP in senior year? No history or sociall sci AP, except Micro? Only will have scores for CS, Engl lang and Spanish? Really retaking a1530, what are the individual scores?

Why do you think you match what Brown looks for? How will you answer any Why Us?

"a Really well-developed essay is super important because Brown likes to see a student’s voice and unique identity. There will be lots of applicants with tons of tests and ECs, so make sure you really show them who you are through an essay with a memorable “hook”!

First, you have to know what makes a solid essay. And no tippy top is looking for a completely unique identity. They want fit. Does OP know what that is?

8

School only offers micro and gov as history APs and both are only takeable senior year so idk what they expect

9

If I switch spanish lit for english lit would that help? I didnt see this as an issue so I am very worried now :frowning: @lookingforward

10

Also my SAT Breakdown was 740 EBRW, 790 Math. (the 740 EBRW was composed of 40 in writing and 34 in reading.) ACT Breakdown is 36 english, 35 math, 33 science, 31 reading. I am an incredibly slow reader.

11

Worth thinking about, yes. A lot of kids don’t love AP lit, but if you’re genuinely interested in English, put the work in for an A. You want your record to make sense and said maybe an Engl major, you want a top college to believe this. And you already have the Span lang AP, right? Talk to the GC. And you have other history, right?

Also, yes, you seem to be test nutty, lol. This is holistic, you have got to try to understand what that means and how to make the right decisions. Do you know what Brown is looking for, how you would answer a Why Us?

You don’t need to retake a 770 in math2. A 780+ is no special anything over a 770.
The SAT 1530 is fine- unless the CR is 730. Unlike CC, top colleges look at the sub scores on the ACT, those matter.

How’s the stem interest come in?

12

I listed my subsscores above. And no, my school doesn’t offer APUSH or AP World, but I have taken an honors us history class and world history class. My school is light on humanities APs and doesn’t offer too many

13

Sorry I missed the sub scores. But it’s hard to get a fuller pic here. Make sure your full courseload will meet the target colleges’ recommendations. Not all hs offer a range of AP. Fine. But for “English or something like that,” at a hs “light on humanities” (meaning stem focus?,) a kid needs to show this is an authentic interest. And “Why Brown?”

The ECs are good, but you’ll still need your presentation to make sense.

14

My son just finished 1st year at Brown. In HS took the most challenging classes available, but also the ones he wanted he wanted to gain knowledge from. ‘A’ levels, AP and honors his GPA was 5.2, But when it came to SAT he scored a 1440 and subject scores of 740 and 760 he refused to take the tests again as he said it’s just a test. His EC’s were not spectacular basically school involvement, government, a few clubs and boy scouts. But in his application (which he did himself) he showed a passion for learning, knowledge about the school and a great personal essay that if dropped on the floor everyone in his school would know it was his paper. He was deferred from ED then accepted.

15

If you project an image that you are obsessed with test scores, the chance you would be admitted could be lower. Spend more time finding out why you want to study at Brown and have a consistent story will help your chance. BTW, Brown has less than 14% Asian students and close to 24% of applicants are Asian.

16

“BTW, Brown has less than 14% Asian students and close to 24% of applicants are Asian.”

I know what you are driving at but perhaps the yield among Asian students is lower at Brown? Any statistic out of context is worthless.

OP best shot ED and you have great credentials.

17

Do you mean you have been editor-in-chief or president since freshman year?

This won’t help your story of why you are interested in majoring in English or something of that nature.

The only reason I brought up the Asian statistics is to put your file in perspective. You got a lot of competitors.

18

No it means that I have been participating in the activity for the number of years in parenthesis. I was assistant editor for yearbook in 11th grade and am Editor in chief for 12th. I was president of student ambassadors 11th grade and will be again for 12th. For the social justice club, I will be president only during senior year, same for aerodynamic Engineering club

19

@lookingforward it’s nkt even a stem focused school lol. There’s just more stem APs offered. It’s nkt like a science and technology school though. Overall my school is just not very focused on anything

20

Read http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21175078/#Comment_21175078 before writing your why Brown essay. Good luck.