High School Plan for Brown?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

I’m a freshman who has really become interesting in applying to Brown junior year. As with many people, I love the idea of open curriculum. The setting is perfect and I’ve heard so many good things about the overall environment and the people you meet! This is definitely a dream at the moment, since it’s obvious that Ivies have insanely talented, hardworking, dedicated, and intelligent students, but I could really use some advice on how to improve my chances.

This is more of a hypothetical post; just looking on insight to see what I should pursue to help my chances.

I live in Fairfax in Virginia; I attend a public high school that offers many resources to students
I have recently gotten into fencing and have been strongly pursuing that. If I applied with an A rating in Saber with several tournaments under my belt, how much of a boost would that give?

By the end of this year, I expect to have a GPA of around 3.7-3.8, unweighted. My school gives .5 boost for honors and 1.0 boost for AP courses. In 8th grade I took Geometry Honors and Spanish 1 and 2 (together), which brought my GPA down quite a bit. In addition, I have been struggling in Algebra II this year so I will likely end with an unpleasant score.
This year I am taking all honors (Biology, Algebra two, World Civilizations) plus Spanish 2, Intro to Marketing, and P.E.
Because of my struggling with Algebra, I’d love any advice on course selection. Next year, I will be taking P.E. in the summer, self studying for AP psychology, and taking all honors, Spanish 3, AP World, AP Capstone, and AP Human geography during the school year. However, I am considering dropping to regular Precalculus with Trigonometry, especially with the frustrations that I’ve had with the class. However, would this look bad? My plan is to take AB Calculus junior year and AP Stat senior year; are those strong enough? Will I be prepared for calculus if I do regular Precalculus?
I’d like to major in political science. I’m looking into internships with local representatives as well, and I have several ideas to pursue in terms of involvement in my local government.

Definitely applying ED; I’ve already planned a summer trip and am really looking to learn more about the school.
I have two internships planned over the summer; two relatives of mine each are managers of international companies, one in Singapore and one in China.
I’m have Chinese and half Persian; would that give a significant URM boost at all? Persians are considered Caucasian, which means I would be of ‘Two or more races.’ I feel that this has definitely shaped how I have developed as a person as these two cultures are incredibly different, and am considering writing my essay on this.

(Assuming) with an excellent essay, recommendations and an above average SAT score (2200-2300), plus a smooth interview, what would my chances be? Including fencing, GPA, and internships, plus applying ED, roughly what are my chances? Will my GPA and wavering coarse load be too detrimental?

I know this is all easier said than done, and I am certainly aware at what a reach school I am pursuing. Any advice is greatly appreciated, as well as personal experiences. Thanks!

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Just going to start with a disclaimer to not get too set on one college in your freshman year. It’s funny because as a sophomore I found out about Brown and really latched onto it as the school I wanted to go to. Now, after having done a lot more research and having a little bit more experience throughout my high school career, Brown does not even make the top 5 for me. I am not trying to discouraging you from reaching for your goal of Brown, but please just keep an open mind.

With that being said, the biggest thing with GPA and college admissions is obviously to do the best that you can, but if you are to get a few unsatisfactory scores, it should be in your freshman year. They look at the pattern, the trend. If you get two B’s this year and from then on improve until you’re at all A’s, that will be a lot better than if you continually get B’s each year. Also, with class selection and Ivies, it really is taking the hardest course load that you feel you can be successful with and making sure your area of interest is reflected in your courses and ECs. If you want to become a mathematician, getting B’s in those courses will confuse the admissions officers. Taking the hardest coarse load that you can be successful in and showing an upward trend in your grades is probably the best advice I can give to you at this point.

Fencing itself probably won’t help you much, it is the commitment to fencing and how much time you spend working on fencing that will mean a lot. With EC’s, especially with sports, they want to see something you are clearly passionate about and committed to. Also they want to see your time management skills-- can you juggle commitment to sports, clubs, volunteering and also get good grades?

Test scores are important and can make up a little bit for the low(er) GPA. If you have outstanding test scores and have a 3.8 UW GPA, that will help your chances. So in addition to doing your best in your coursework, I would recommend putting a lot of time and effort into doing well on your standardized tests.

As far as the question with regular Pre-Calculus and being prepared for calculus, I believe you should be. To me, the only thing that really carried over from Pre-Calc was trig. If you are solid in Trig, you will be good for Calculus.

I think if you focus on forming a consistent message of who you are through your activities, your hard work and success in your classes, have great test scores, great recommendations, a great essay, and show extreme interest in Brown through visits, interviews, etc. and if you do decide to apply ED, you will be competitive for just about any school. The catch here is that there are so many people around the nation who will be just as qualified, so once you have the grades and test scores, it really is about how you stand out and how you would be the best fit for the school. There is no guarantee that you will get in just because of the sheer volume of competitive applicants. At some point the applicants to the Ivies look basically the same on paper, same stats, same GPA, same amount of volunteer hours. What makes you different? What makes you a good fit for a certain college? Do research on the colleges you want to apply to so that you will be able to answer that in the supplemental essays and interview portion of your application. I wish you the best of luck throughout your high school career and the college process!

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@musicbooksandtea Wow, that was really helpful, thanks for taking the time to write all that!

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Hello @Lnej375 I have a non-fencing daughter currently at Brown, but I have met Brown’s fencing coach and I have another daughter who is a youth saber fencer.

I think IF you can achieve an A rating in Saber and podium in some NAC and SYC events prior to your senior year and maintain academic stats that are at least well within Brown’s middle 50% (Google Brown’s Common Data Set for this info), you would have a decent chance of getting admissons support from Brown’s fencing coach. Brown does not have a highly ranked fencing team, but their coach does have some limited pull with admissions. You should schedule an on campus meeting with Brown’s coach your junior year and provide him with a brief resume of your academic and athletic vital statistics; then, follow up with him at Summer Nationals that July.

However, becoming a highly competitive fencer in just three years will be a challenge. Are you naturally athletic and with a coach/club that has A-rated and nationally ranked fencers? I know Capital Fencing Academy is a good club in your area. Did you compete at Capital Clash a couple of weeks ago?

I recommend you read this entire thread: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/athletic-recruits/1902048-the-only-college-fencing-recruiting-thread-you-need-to-read-p1.html

Best of luck!

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You are a freshman. I cannot stress enough how too early it is to make plans like this. Seriously – STOP!

You are going to change so much in the next 2 years. You have no idea what your grades will be, what your test scores will be. This is much much too soon to make plans, especially plans that revolve around one school.

Instead of obsessing over what to do to get into college, you need to focus on what you want to do now. Do the extracurriculars you enjoy because you want to do them and love to do them, NOT because they may lead to a college acceptance. If you love fencing, then do fencing. Do the best you can because you love it, because you want to be good at it. Do well in classes because you love to learn, because you want to challenge yourself, NOT because you want to get into a selective school.

And yes, many colleges can see the difference between a student like you, who starts freshman year planning their life with the one goal of getting into college, versus the student who loves what they do and then looks at their accomplishments and decides to apply to a selective school.

Every year we see posts from students who got rejected from their top choices lamenting that they “wasted” their high school experience working hard to just be denied admission. You will be that student if you don’t change your approach.

I will make the following two observations:

  1. Chinese-Persian is not URM.
  2. If you are struggling in algebra, that does not bode well for your future math classes. If you don't find the key to understanding algebra, you may continue to struggle in upper-level math classes. Don't push yourself to take AB-calculus as a junior -- take it as a senior. You need to take the classes that work for you. Yes you should challenge yourself, but you must be realistic. Top schools like Brown will accept students without calculus or with low calculus grades, but ONLY if they bring something to the table that they really really want.
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Thanks for your advice! I’m currently in a local fencing club, but I am considering adding on private lessons from another club as well so I can practice with different types of fencers.
@arwarw

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Thanks for replying, that’s definitely something I’ve been needing to hear. I’m already incredibly stressed over subjects that I’d otherwise easily be able to handle if it weren’t for the stress itself, and it’s starting to affect my performance in school and outside of it. I am trying to change my mindset, but I’m finding it difficult to get out of the whole college-obsessed loop.

And sorry, now I realize URM wasn’t the right word for just ‘two or more races.’

If I went down to regular Precalculus, would that make it difficult to handle AB Calculus? Especially if I take AP Stat junior year instead; would I lose the information that would otherwise be beneficial in AB?

Thanks again; that was very helpful.

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Step one – get off of College Confidential. Now. Don’t come back until at least summer after sophomore year.
Step two – tell your friends that you don’t want to talk about college planning and stick to it.

Freshman year is too early to be stressed about college.

Take the hardest curriculum you can where you can get the highest grades you can. Look, this is going to sound harsh, but if pushing yourself to take high level math is going to cause you incredible stress and low grades and affect your other classes, then maybe you just shouldn’t do it – and maybe that means you won’t go to one of the top 10 schools. There are millions of successful people out there who didn’t to an Ivy. Maybe you are one of them.

Find EC activities you love, and do them. Improve your community.

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Ignore this. A significant commitment to fencing without results means next to nothing, but if you’re good enough that Coach Tass wants you on his team, as long as you meet the base academic requirements, you’ll be admitted.

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@sherpa If the OP wants to fence for Brown that is one thing, but it didn’t mention anything about planning on fencing in college. The only other thing that fencing could do for the OP is showing commitment to something and proving time management skills.

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@musicbooksandtea - By virtue of the OP mentioning the goal of earning a USFA “A” rating I believe it’s implicit that they aspire to fence in college. As for “commitment” to fencing, mediocre but dedicated fencers are a dime a dozen, and get no special boost in admissions.

@Lnej375 - Earning an “A” in three years would be very difficult, but it’s been done. Good luck!

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@sherpa I am starting private saber lessons at a local club, and considering adding on another club later to mix up my experience with different fencers. Do you have any recommendations to help progress if I were to take the athletics route? And most importantly, do high-end schools look for only A’s or are other rankings common on teams as well?
Thanks!

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For the most part college coaches look at national rankings (cadet, junior, and senior) more than ratings. Many NCAA fencers are rated B and C and, in fact, even some of the top programs will occasionally give admissions support to B’s and C’s.

Atilio Tass, Brown’ head coach, is an approachable, friendly guy, and can often be seen reffing saber bouts at USFA national events.

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You don’t have to take calculus at all. I’ll PM you.

It’s too early, as others have said, to be thinking about this and fixating on one school isn’t healthy. If you must think about college, and I hope you don’t, then get educated on the wide range of choices.

You are much better off taking easier math classes and spending time on courses and activities that you enjoy and are good at. Even selective schools understand that students have different strengths and weaknesses, and they also appreciate dedication to things outside of school.

Remember that you do not want to try too hard to fit a college. Instead, you will want to find a college that fits you. But not for a couple of years!

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THIS!! Exactly. Very well said. Should be a CC mantra.