Here goes.. chances? PLME + Brown ED Chances? :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>Brown has been my dream school since sophomore year. I submitted on Sunday. I attend a high school program for gifted students at a state university. My curriculum is comprised of entirely college courses, so no APs for the past two years. Our college advisor/counselor told us to count all of our classes as Honors on our college applications. I went to a normal high school for my freshman and sophomore years.</p>

<p>I’m a Caucasian female; I want to major in cognitive neuroscience and will probably minor in philosophy.</p>

<p>Current GPA: 4.000/4.000
My school doesn’t weight GPAs or rank its students.</p>

<p>Old GPA: 4.628/5.000. 4.000 unweighted. Rank: 2/963</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman and sophomore core classes were all Gifted/Talented, except for regular electives (no Pre-AP/GT electives offered at my old school) and World History AP (3/5) and English Language and Composition AP (5/5). Both scores are self-reported on my resume, which I submitted.
9th grade classes: Algebra II, World Geograhy, Biology, English, and I wasted my electives on required courses like health, speech, and PE.
10th grade classes: Pre-Cal, WHAP, AP English III, Chemistry, JV A Capella, Sociology, Medical Terminology, Latin I
11th grade classes: Calculus I-II, Gen Chem 1-11 (with lab), Principles of Biology I-II (with lab), Writing about Literature I-II, and Political Science.
12th grade classes: Multivariable Calculus, Calculus-Based Physics I-II (with lab), German I-II (with lab), World Literature I-II, Neuroscience, and Science, Skepticism, and Weird Behavior </p>

<p>Research:
I’ve been researching in a neuroscience lab since I came to the university in August 2009. I worked about 40 hours a week for 10 weeks this summer. I entered Siemens but didn’t win. I’m not doing Intel.</p>

<p>ECs:
Student Council since 7th grade. President 9th-10th grades, participated enough in my new school to earn Co-President for 12th grade.
Judicial Board 11th and 12th grades, I have a spot on the exec. board this year. We decide our peers’ disciplinary sanctions when they break level 1 handbook rules.
Publicist for the Knitting Club 11th-12th grades.
President of Chinese Club 12th grade, member 11th<br>
Secretary of our Club Government Board, 12th grade–basically like an advanced Student Council but for club execs and the senior leaders at our school.
I’m a “big sister” to a junior girl in my school’s mentoring program.
Choir since 7th grade, have always been in Select/A Capella/JV. Choir at my current school doesn’t really have any divisions. I just participate in it. ~20 concerts
Piano lessons since 2nd grade, ~24 recitals
Destination Imagination 8th-10th grade
Medical Society 11th-12th grades; only sophomore officer in HOSA at my old school, participated in HOSA at my current school
Mu Alpha Theta 11th-12th grades
Black Belt in TaeKwonDo. I participated 6th-10th grades.
One of 2 sophomore officers in my Latin Club.
UIL Math/Science team 10th grade
Robotics 10th grade</p>

<p>Community Service:
~100 hours tutoring, volunteering at an animal shelter and at a nursing home, promoting my school at preview days and summer/fall orientations, participated in an AIDS benefit auction</p>

<p>ACT: 34/36
• English: 35/36
• Math: 36/36
• Reading: 33/36
• Science: 30/36
• Writing: 10/12
PSAT: 221/240
• Critical Reading: 74/80
• Math: 67/80
• Writing: 80/80</p>

<p>Awards:
National Merit Semifinalist
Summer Research Scholarship Recipient
President’s List for GPA of 4.000 for twelve or more credit hours
NHS Inductee
Principal’s and Superintendent’s Honor Rolls since middle school
Academic Excellence Award, 9th grade
Most Outstanding in Student Council Award, 9th grade
3rd place in Area, advanced to State in Human Growth and Development in HOSA
DaVinci Award for technical innovation in DI (2009)
1st place in Region, 12th Place in State for DI (2009)
UIL Division Rating of II for Choir Stage Performance and Sight-Reading (2009)
UIL Division Rating of I for Region Ensemble Competition, III for State Competition (2009)
Piano solo rated Outstanding at a State Music Festival (2007-2008)
1st place in Region, 5th Place in State for DI (2008)
1s place in Region, 4th Place in State for DI (2007)</p>

<p>Essays: Pretty good. My counselor adored my common app essay and said she had more to add to my recommendation after reading it. Some of my friends just think it’s ok/cute. My PLME essays are a little short but, IMO, convincing. </p>

<p>Recommendations: Counselor rec should be amazing. She said she was going to ask whoever reads my application to really, really give it a good look.
1st teacher rec is from my Cal I-II professor. I struggled a lot in his class to make an A but improved in Cal II. My peers have told me that my rec should be the best because I worked the hardest in that class
2nd teacher rec is from my Writing about Lit. professor. I was one of the strongest in the class and scored the highest grade on a mid-term. We’ve had long conversations about my career goals. She has family with interests similar to mine; she wants me to do well.
I have a rec from my research professor. Initially I didn’t want to bother her with it because I don’t think I’m a stand-out in the lab, but she offered to write me one twice in one day, so I went for it.
My last rec is from the director of student life at my school, who has used the words “inspiring” and “refreshing” to describe this year’s student council execs.</p>

<p>Miscellaneous other stuff you should know/may not be relevant at all- when a Brown admissions director visited my school, I was her student ambassador. We talked about the stress of college applications and the role of liberal arts at my school.</p>

<p>There you go. Tear me apart. I’ll probably remove this eventually because it’s painfully obvious who I am. :)</p>

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<p>You have a shot. But mind yourself, there are tons of similar applicants like you. Medical schools admission are sometimes crap shoot. If you really want to do medicine in the future from bottom of your heart, you may want to apply to several med schools for safety.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>you have a good shot because there will be a pool of kids just like you applying for a position at Brown. Did you really not take any Sat2s? Because I was told for the PLMe program, they expected you to at least take SAT2s in whatever subject you want to take.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your responses. :)</p>

<p>bigfire, I’m still in high school–not too worried about medical school admissions yet. x) I have a few years to think about that. the only BS/MD programs I’m applying to are HPME and PLME.</p>

<p>jenga, I don’t understand your first sentence. I have a good shot because there are others like me? I took SAT IIs but they’re awful. I didn’t sleep the night before. My only good one is Math II, a 780, but it’s not worth submitting just one and it’s not even an 800. I’m retaking in December, but by the time I get my scores, Brown will have already made its decision. </p>

<p>I’m hoping that they’ll know I’m competent because I got As in biology and gen. chem at the university I’m enrolled in for my high school program and because I’ve had a few semesters of research under my belt. Idk. :confused: The only reason I took the ACT was for ED Brown, so they wouldn’t see my SAT chem and bio scores.</p>

<p>PLME’s website says… “…an applicant may submit results of the ACT which takes the place of both the SAT Reasoning Test and the SAT Subject Tests. If choosing the ACT, you must take it with the Writing Test option.” :)</p>

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<p>I just noticed the redundancy in the title. lol.</p>

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<p>I love how this has almost 100 views but 2 chance responses–what are you all thinking and not saying? :)</p>

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<p>quite strong but a lot of people just like you. your essay would be the stand out factor. </p>

<p>just normal brown ed is prob good</p>

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<p>Thanks! I’m a little confused though. I know there are a LOT of applicants, but besides that, how am I like everyone else? My school is the most prestigious of its kind (residential, early college) and I think having such a student government focus along with research, a knitting club officer position, and being white and president of Chinese club, is quite unique.</p>

<p>Could you guys maybe elaborate more on how I’m like everyone else?</p>

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<p>"My school is the most prestigious ", well, how many students are sent to top ten schools each year from your High school? How many people are in HPME or PLME each year from your school or school district? It may be an indicator, how good your school is!!!</p>

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<p>BigFire, I can find out if you ask about specific schools. Only two people have ever applied to Brown ED from my school and 1 got in. One of the reasons people come to my school, though, is because their chances of getting into their dream schools are higher, depending on where they went for high school prior to this program. I don’t mean to sound pretentious, and I’m sorry that I do.</p>

<p>Here’s a random list of some seniors from last year off the top of my head who got into amazing schools. Not all of them had 4.0s and at least one of their SATs was below a 2100. </p>

<p>I know personally someone who got in to at least HPME, PLME, and Stanford last year. (She chose HPME.) Someone went straight to graduate studies at Oxford last year. Three got into Stanford early, and at least one more got accepted from the wait list in Spring. We had someone who was deferred and then accepted to Yale, but only after she chose to attend Harvard. That I know of, 2 more of my seniors are attending Cornell. At least 2 at MIT. One of my friends is at Georgetown (not top 10, but still up there). At least 1 that I know of is at Columbia. There’s someone at Dartmouth. There was a person who got into CalTech, a few going to JHU, CMU, Emory, and WashU.</p>

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<p>Woah thats a huge list … Even im applying … The PLME is so unpredictable … Essays should be good and Hope for the Best !!! Ur stats are really impressive !!</p>

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<p>From your school’s past record, i can say you have great chance to get into PLME and HPME, and highly probable to get into Brown and Northwestern undergraduate.</p>

<p>HPME requires interview (just like normal medical school interview, so dress, intelligence and appearance are important), PLME selects students from all over the country mostly from East and West coast. Both program admitted students are very gifted. i would say par with Harvard or Princeton undergraduate admission, or even higher. Good luck!</p>

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<p>Omg :slight_smile: I hope you guys are right. Will the fact that I’m not anywhere near either coast help? Kind of middle south.</p>

<p>Any more chances?</p>

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<p>Sorry for the confusion, i would say PLME and HPME admitted about 60-70% from East and West coast, i think it is a fair count. Hope it helps.</p>

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<p>Does region really matter, or is it just that the most qualified applicants are from the east and west coasts?</p>

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<p>They (Admission office) just try to balance the students body. And you have to admit that east and west coast high schools are more competitive. Besides, East and West coast have more people live there. After students graduate from college, they will return to where they came from. The residency match also play some weight on where your home is.</p>

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<p>Ok. Well I can’t really change where I live so I won’t worry about that…
Any more chances? Im getting my hopes up now! I want detractors.</p>

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<p>What a few posters are saying is that there are many, many applicants with records similar to yours- some from quite rigorous high schools and some who have triumphed despite family adversities and lousy high schools. Being the best- or one of them- is no guarantee at Brown. Their admit profiles on their web, eg, show 75% of valedictorians rejected. And, PLME is a much smaller admit group to begin with. Yes, your essay has to stand out- and your “Why Brown?” Don’t make these about how you are so “best.” Make yourself real. Tons of kids apply for the sciences, including neuro and the hybrids. Brown likes kids who are top-achievers- but also normal kids who will engage in campus life, maybe also n the community. ps. beyond the big sister bit, did I miss community service? Work you do just to help others? Brown’s student involvement in the community is a source of pride to them. Good Luck.</p>

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<p>I don’t think you read my posts or maybe I came across as pretentious. Sorry :/</p>

<p>My school isn’t ranked. nor did I try to imply that I am guaranteed a spot at Brown. I think you did miss my community service. I know 100 hours isn’t a lot, but it’s there. If I’m waitlisted, I’ll be sure to let them know more details and communicate my passion for tutoring.</p>

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<p>I know that my essays have to be amazing for a spot at Brown, so I worked very, very hard on them. My common app one is 100% about personality and not about being better than anyone else. My “Why Brown” is just that–me talking about what I want to do at brown. I specifically expressed my will to be around people who are passionate about learning. My supplement essay describes a humbling academic experience. My PLME essays are full of how I found medicine and the ways I want others to benefit from the amazing education I would get at Brown. </p>

<p>I just love Brown so much; I don’t want anyone to think I would discredit them with the attitude that I’m guaranteed a spot there.</p>