Hi. Im really interested in applying to Brown (its my dream school). My scores are ok… 2010 SAT, 32 ACT. Sophomore year was my first year at a competitive boarding school. I got mixture of As and Bs. I am taking AP Gov and AP Bio as a junior and have As and A-s in all of my courses. Will they forget the few Bs I got sophomore year? Especially since i had a 97 avg. freshman year (sorry, new school doesn’t have GPAS). I run Cross Country, play lacrosse, started a book club at my old school, and co head of a tutoring program, started a political science club, write for the newspaper, work on the yearbook, am part of RoundSquare.
I have a brother in Columbia Medical College, not that that would help for Brown.
Do I have a shot?
High reach. Somewhat lower reach if you can hand them about $50K per year.
is there anything i can do to improve my chances? ED? or are my scores just overall too low?
You can look at the class profile yourself and decide. If your school has Naviaince look at that as well. Brown is a reach for everyone and your stats may make it a high reach. If you love the school put in an application and see what happens. I’d caution you against falling in love with one school, especially one as hyper-competitive as Brown. There are tons of great colleges and universities out there.
http://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts
The median SAT is around 2150 for Brown, and they accept around 10% of applicants. It is a high reach. If it is your #1 choice, apply ED… the acceptance rate is around 20%.
But be realistic… 90% of all applicants are rejected from Brown. No point falling in love with any institution. There are many, many institutions at which you can thrive, be challenged academically, and enjoy the experience.
You need to make a list of match and safeties (and make sure you can afford your safeties).
Im thinking about NYU, McGill, George Washington, Georgetown, Barnard and Wellesley as well.
but I know I need to think of more safeties
–What is your SAT and ACT breakdown?
–Current unweighted and weighted average/GPA?
–Class rank?
–What do you want to major in, political science?
–How much can you afford per year? What is your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)?
My D and I attended an information session and afterward she went up to the Brown admission counselor to ask her some questions. My D asked if there was any acceptance advantage to applying ED and the the admissions counselor said “no”. She told my D that most of the ED applicants were recruited athletes. It sounded like she was discouraging her to apply ED. My D doesn’t have a clear favorite at this point and was more curious than anything else. I actually looked through the ED threads for Brown and there doesn’t seem to be a clear rhyme or reason for picking one candidate over another applicant. But we don’t see the entire application either.
Here’s an article discussing last year’s ED acceptances at Brown. According to this, 26% of ED acceptances were recruited athletes. http://www.browndailyherald.com/2014/12/11/20-percent-early-decision-applicants-offered-admission/
As always, the Common Data Set (Section c) is your friend for chancing yourself (along with Naviance if your school subscribes.)
Nephew who is URM, with a 4.0 and a 2300 did not get into Brown this year (although he got into several comparable schools, leading me to believe there was no obvious ‘flaw’ in his application.) I would say you are a high reach. No reason not to apply, but ‘dream’ is the operative word here.
^ Did your nephew apply ED?
Also fall in love with a Brown-like school that is a little less selective. Consider Union, for example. Gorgeous campus, impressive academics, but a better chance of getting in.
I think many applicants make the mistake of visiting their high reaches first, and then everything else seems a disappointment.
^this!
Some schools that are relatively easier to get into and are similar to Brown are:
-Wesleyan
-Vassar
-Grinnell
-Oberlin
-University of Rochester
Take a look at some of these schools, OP.
@Qwerty568, I knew that Wesleyan and Vassar have some similarities to Brown (though smaller) but didn’t think about Grinnell or University of Rochester. Of the two, University of Rochester is in the size range that my daughter is looking at so I’d like to know more about the ways you think it is similar to Brown (which my daughter also liked on her visit but which is a reach).
Both Brown and U Rochester are located in the Northeast. They both offer studies in liberal arts subjects and engineering. IIRC they both have relatively flexible (or no) gen ed requirements. They are both universities, with graduate programs, but not huge universities. They both have an associated medical school. They are both located in cities, but not huge mega-cities. And they are essentially the same distance from Amsterdam, NY.
Hope that helps.
If you are at a competitive boarding school then your GC will have a good idea of your chances. Even if he thinks it is a reach you can still apply. Take the time to make a very personal and unique set of essay answers. Yes if you had an adjustment to the more rigorous program at a boarding school that can be understood, especially if you did very well Jr year.