I would say I’m an average student attending public school in RI I’m not one of those students who’s taking all AP Class the only AP I’m taking is Art.
Right now I’m really interested in Brown because of and intend in majoring in Comp Sci also interested in the RISD|Brown Dual Degree.
I also thought about attending my local community college since it’s free tution and (try to) transfer to brown or other colleges
Stuff About Me:
Quarter GPA: 3.433 Career GPA:2.669
Minority Female: Cambodian & Dominican
Founded A Code Club In My High School
During the summer of my freshmen year going into sophomore I got a chance to intern at my local city hall
Part of the LGBTQ+ Community
Currently Have A+'s & A-'s
Taken a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) - Microsoft’s Introduction to Python
It’s impossible for you to get into Brown with this record. They expect 3.7+ unweighted GPA, 6-8 Ap’s, high SAT/ACT scores, and some remarkable achievement such as being in the Olympics or having published a novel or being nationally ranked for debate…
However, you could either look for a community college near Brown that has an official agreement with them or try for a 4-year college such as URI with a bridge program.
If you live in Providence, are you in GAP?
For CompSci, make sure you take Calculus (honors or AP), AP CS Principles, and AP CS A.
There are several colleges that are somewhere between community college and Brown in terms of selectivity. Think URI, Bryant, Providence, Johnson Whales, and Roger Williams if you are determined to stay in RI.
Honestly… Unless you or your parents come into an extreme amount of money very quickly and make some hefty donations (even then, it can’t help a <3.0 gpa) or you (or your parents) have something extraordinary to offer Brown, there’s little hope. Ordinary students are ordinary students and there is absolutely no shame in that. Your self worth is not the college you attend.
If Brown is really what you want, then the first thing you need to do is accept you won’t be going in as a freshman. You might be able to get in as a transfer, but you’ll need some force behind your name. The way to get into brown is to be more than ordinary. That’s just how ivies work.
Is this your high school GPA? Your GPA prior to high school will not matter for university admissions.
With a GPA below 3.0, Brown (or any Ivy League university) is not going to happen. You should be working hard to pull your GPA up as much as you can. My impression from your post is that you are now doing exactly that. A good GPA from now on will help you a lot in applying to schools.
Some of you guys are incorrect when you say its “impossible” to get into Brown with that GPA. Maybe you guys don’t know of a special talent she has or maybe her writing skills are really good. You guys shouldn’t discourage her from applying just by taking a look at her GPA. Some of you are not considering other factors as well, including standardized test scores (maybe she’s a good test taker or a student with a lack of motivation that is keeping her from getting really high grades), extracurriculars, personality, writing ability, personal narrative, level of academic rigor, relationships with teachers, etc. No admissions officer has EVER rejected a student based on GPA and other basic information and you guys shouldn’t make confident judgments based on those stats either.
Also, this is to the OP: If I were you and I wanted to get into Brown, I would mostly focus on studying REALLY hard for the SAT/ACT and getting a high score, trying to get all As in this year, and expanding my extracurricular activities (this doesn’t have to mean joining more clubs or something, it could mean studying for a competition and winning a medal or something). If you really want to get into Brown, you need to understand that it takes a lot of effort to be admitted into one of these colleges and you need to be able to put forth that effort. If you can do all of that (which may seem daunting but stay motivated by remembering your goal to get into Brown), then I would say you have a shot.
@skompella9892 actually you are wrong. I will give you a pass based on your self description “Hi guys, I’m a high school freshman”.
Brown typically receives applications from 2,000 to 3,000 class valedictorians of whom they reject 80+%. They acceptance rate for students outside of the top 10% of their graduating class is 1.9%.
A 2.669 cumulative GPA is just well beyond the expectation to pass the first cut for ability to thrive academically.
Your comment…“maybe she’s a good test taker or a student with a lack of motivation that is keeping her from getting really high grades”, displays tremendous naïveté. Brown would in fact view it exactly as you say, but auto reject based on what you correctly describe as poor motivation.
You go on to say…“No admissions officer has ever rejected a student just by taking a look at a GPA and some other basic info”. Once again wrong. Most schools do exactly that. Look up the YouTube video interview with Dean Gutentag at Duke where he describes first cut is based entirely on stats, scores and rigor. He describes roughly 50% of the pool is eliminated on that basis without further review.
People who come to CC and ask “what are the chances…”, are entitled to an honest and informed response. Regrettably yours appear to be those of a wishful 16 year old rather than those of someone that has actually experienced college admissions in a real life manner.
Impossible no but extremely unlikely…talking 5 kids a year maybe with special circumstances or hooks out of approximately 2,500.
Also please see my earlier post where I suggest more attainable schools to focus on.
OP I encourage you to keep working hard and your ambition is admirable. Please consider what you love about Brown and I am sure some other schools will share those characteristics. You will find a good fit as our by as you are realistic in your expectations and put in the work.
Admissions is one issue (and in this case virtually impossible). However, the other issue is academic ability once admitted. Even in the remotest of chances of admission, how would OP likely be able to handle the rigor of Brown? Seems to me a better environment would be one that shares “fit” variables of Brown but has the cohort that more closely resembles OP’s academic ability.
A 3.6 would be low for Brown but exceptional ability in something else might tip the student into an admit.
A 2.6 just won’t make it past first cut. Course rigor, top grades, high scores are all pre-reqs at this level of competition, not items offsetting one another as they would for a state university.
However there ARE colleges OP could get into if she/he works hard and keeps that current GPA junior/senior year in the B+ range: beside those already cited, Keystone, Elizabethtown, Lycoming, St Bonaventure, Plymouth State, Mansfield, Millersville, Southern Connecticut State, St Michael’s, Stevenson university, Mount St Mary’s MD, SUNY Alfred, SUNY Morris, might be possible. Some in the list above would be reaches. Some CCs in NYS have dorms (like TC3) and good transfer agreements to excellent colleges.
@Nocreativity1 OK, so it’s extremely unlikely that she gets in with her current stats. But that doesn’t mean after doing everything possible to bring up her grades/GPA/test scores (which I would do in her situation) she shouldn’t apply. By telling her that it’s impossible it likely keeps her from working hard to try and get into Brown, which can affect her ability to get into other, less prestigious schools. I still think it’s very unlikely she gets in but even a small chance is worth working towards. Also, one more thing that I should have made a bit clearer in my post: I meant that Brown doesn’t reject students just by taking a look at GPA (although you can correct me if I’m wrong). I should have made some of the things I said in my post more clear and I don’t blame you for thinking I am naive when it comes to college admissions. I do still think she should apply if she works hard and improves her stats (also sry for the lack of sentence structure–I wasn’t too focused on grammar while writing this. I kinda just threw out random thoughts without any specific order.)
Here’s the other issue. Even if by a 1% chance you get accepted to Brown you probably would struggle academically as the curriculum and your fellow students will be some of the top college students and test takers in the US and world. Why set yourself up for failure? Go to a college that is a good fit for you academically and make the most of it. No shame in that and in fact is the best option for you. You can be a success in like without going to Brown.
@skompella9892 : yes, Brown (and all top 50 universities/LACs) rejects students just by looking at GPA and/or rank. There’s a minimum threshold. If you’re not top 10% in your class you better have a very very good reason (not excuse) for it, as explained by your counselor. but a sub 3.0 is not going to cut it no matter what.
Yes, OP should work hard to keep getting A’s and prep for the SAT, but all that work should serve aiming for reachable reaches as were listed previously, not for a school that is impossible.