<p>We recently visited Brown. My daughter thought it was great. It is the college she is most interested in currently. The website collegedata says that the level of the student’s interest is regarded as “very important.” Can anyone clarify what that means? How does a high schooler go about showing the college that she is interested? She is also interested in the summer program they offer, for next year. Would that be considered? Forgive my ignorance, we are just beginning this process. </p>
<p>The official visit is the most important. If you signed up for a tour and got your name in the system, you’re fine as far as the visit goes. Other ways you can demonstrate interest would be attending information sessions in your area if a Brown representative ever comes to it. At my high school, they send representatives from tons of colleges throughout the year, so you can see if there’s something like that near you. The summer program is a great way to show interest if you go through with that as well, as they can see that you genuinely enjoyed living on campus. Lastly, Brown offers Early Decision for admissions, so if you apply under that, it tells them that Brown is your first choice and you’re extremely interested in attending.</p>
<p>Thank you, useful info, we visited Brown on a weekend and there are no tours. We will plan to go back though. She did sign up for information. Is it advisable to contact them directly to ask questions? I imagine they get many emails, but maybe it can’t hurt.</p>
<p>When we visited Brown they did not have a sign-in sheet and indicated that they don’t track visits. You can reserve a tour spot online, that would at least get your name in the system.</p>
<p>The most recent Common Data Set indicates Level of Interest is “Not Considered”:</p>
<p><a href=“Office of Institutional Research | Brown University”>Office of Institutional Research | Brown University;
<p>(collegedata is probably out of date)</p>
<p>I don’t think that email correspondence will really factor in. A well crafted “Why Brown” supplemental essay is probably the best option if she is not applying early.</p>
<p>Ormdad, I have to say, I was quite surprised that collegedata listed that. Surely everyone who applies to Brown has a high level of interest. Thank you for the link, very useful.</p>
<p>A couple of random observations:</p>
<ol>
<li>The Brown Common Data Sets in recent years through 2012-2013 indicated that Level of Applicant’s Interest was Very Important. This changed in the 2013-2014 data set. Don’t know the reason for the change. Here is a link to recent Data Sets:</li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“Common Data Set | Office of Institutional Research | Brown University”>Office of Institutional Research | Brown University;
<ol>
<li><p>In any case, I believe that visits to Brown were never recorded and considered in evaluating an applicant’s interest. That would surely disadvantage west coast applicants compared to New Englanders. That being said, if a New Englander never visited, that might seem incompatible with the expression of great interest.</p></li>
<li><p>The summer program, I believe, does not have much impact on admissions. How much does it cost? $3,000-$4,000? Clearly this opportunity is skewed toward the well-to-do. I think a killer volunteer activity in the summer would make a larger impression.</p></li>
<li><p>Why is the applicant so interested in Brown? Open curriculum? Specific major or program? Something else? Just state the reason in compelling fashion. Remember, Brown knows full well about its open curriculum and other attributes, so there is no need to tell Brown about this stuff. The applicant should talk about him/herself and draw the conclusion…with the hope that the Admissions Committee would agree… that there is a match made in heaven about to happen upon acceptance.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Fenwaypark, great insight, thanks. What she liked was the surroundings, atmosphere, walkability, etc…as well as the students we encountered, though they were mostly summer program students.
At any rate, the common data sets are interesting. Why are men favored so strongly over women?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How did your daughter…or maybe you…arrive at this conclusion?</p>
<p>According to the 2013-2014 CDS, the undergraduate enrollment totaled 3170 women and 2998 men as of October 2013.</p>
<p>What do you think the ratio should be to indicate parity or fairness? </p>
<p>Women are admitted at a lower rate than men, but that’s because there are more female applicants than males (17,255 women over 11,665 men last year), but a similar amount of acceptances for both (roughly 1,300). I wonder why there are so many more female applications</p>
<p>There are many more female than male applicants. I don’t think it would be presumptuous to assume that probably a significant proportion of the applicants meet the CDS dats that Brown publishes, and presumably representive of the ratio of female to male applicants. Mathisamazing, I don’t understand the logic of your phrase stating that fewer women are admitted because there are many more of them applying. That doesn’t make sense to me. I am rubbish at percentages, but roughly speaking, there are about 35% more women than men applying, yet admitted numbers according to the CDS for,the past year are virtually the same for both sexes. Given that it is pretty well established that women tend to do better at school than men, etc…I,should think women would be admitted at a rate more representative of the rate at which they apply. </p>
<p>@Lindagaf I think @MathisAmazing just meant the admit rate (percentage) is lower, not the absolute number.</p>
<p>This is just the way it is and goes both ways- at many engineering oriented schools (Mudd, Olin) girls are admitted at much higher rates than the guys.</p>
<p><a href=“Female applicants face lower acceptance rates - The Brown Daily Herald”>Female applicants face lower acceptance rates - The Brown Daily Herald;
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-gender-factor-in-college-admissions/2014/03/26/4996e988-b4e6-11e3-8020-b2d790b3c9e1_story.html”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/the-gender-factor-in-college-admissions/2014/03/26/4996e988-b4e6-11e3-8020-b2d790b3c9e1_story.html</a></p>
<p>@Lindagaf, I was just referring to the fact that the admit rate is lower for women (based on that data, about a 4% difference). And I was asking about why more women apply to Brown, not about the admit rates.</p>
<p>Edit: What ormdad said basically</p>
<p>Ormdad, I am just wondering WHY that is the way it is. I was curious, so I have looked at several years worth of CDS data. Brown consistently admits nearly equal numbers of men and women, despite always having more female applicants. I guess they want equal representation of the sexes to ensure balance. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is true of many universities. I am off topic now, but I can’t help but feel that my daughter is disadvantaged merely by the fact of her birth. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Based on your brief description, your daughter needs to dig deeper. Our regional Brown rep told us if he can substitute the word ‘Cheesecake Factory’ for Brown in the applicant essays he knows the applicant has not done their homework.</p>
<p>Lindagaf, I would challenge your daughter to learn as much as possible about Brown before writing her application. Live on the Brown website for a while - think and read about what 32 classes she might like to take while at Brown. Talk to alumni in your area. Meet and talk to your Brown regional rep., who will be traveling to your state this fall. If practical, visit again, attend classes, talk to professors and meet students </p>
<p>Surf the web for stuff like this: <a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aNp6bJCAhU”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aNp6bJCAhU</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As a female? Because there are a few more women than men at Brown, but the acceptance rate is a few percentage points lower for women?</p>
<p>What about all the kids born in Wyoming? Or the obvious racial comparisons? Maybe the point is that Brown should admit by quota for gender, geography, race and other factors related to the fact of birth.</p>
<p>On second thought…</p>
<p>Bottom line, if you or your daughter think she is disadvantaged by Brown admissions due to the fact of her birth, maybe there should be reconsideration about the level of interest in her applying there?</p>
<p>She is a rising junior, and she is just beginnng to figure out what she wants. She liked many other things as well, but I don’t want to bore people. She may not even end up deciding to try for Brown. However, she is 100% aware of the fact that if she wants to give it a shot at Brown she will need to be an extremely strong candidate.
Also, Fenwaypark, this is just me speaking, not my daughter. If she wants to go for Brown, I am behind her all the way, if she doesn’t, that is good too. My very brief description in the OP is not indicative of anything other than she is interested at this point. She needs to do well for herself, not just to get into a particular college. </p>
<p>That’s excellent that she is only a junior. I would meet the Brown rep this fall and again in the spring and again in the fall of her senior year. This is the person who will be reviewing her application. Try to get a feel for who that person is and what he or she is looking for in an applicant. Also, I think it helps the College reps when they can actually match a real live person who they have met with the application file. I would also not be afraid to ask direct questions like what are you looking for in an applicant? How do applicants from your state, city or school typically stand out from the general applicant pool? etc… You’ll also learn a lot from other people’s questions.</p>
<p><a href=“Undergraduate Admission | Brown University”>Undergraduate Admission | Brown University;
<p>Linda: Welcome to the college application process and to College Confidential! I strongly suggest that you also check out the Parents Forum, which is populated by a group of highly knowledgable parents, many who have already navigated the application process at least once.</p>
<p>The issue of gender bias is one that has been raised several times on CC. It really is a dilemma for the colleges. The admissions director at Kenyon College wrote an interesting op ed piece for the NY Times about this several years ago; I suggest you search for it and read it. The problem is that there are so many more qualified women than men applying to college, particularly to selective colleges. The exceptions are tech schools like MIT, or sports oriented schools. Colleges really want to keep the ratio of men to women as close to 50/50 as possible – they are concerned about there being a “tipping point” – that if a school becomes, say, 70% female, many women won’t apply because they want to go to a school with guys. </p>
<p>So yes, it does make it more difficult for qualified women to get accepted into some selective schools. For some reason, Brown is particularly plagued with this problem – significantly more women than men apply. Why? I don’t really know. </p>
<p>Brown does not track visits, or visits to the website. You’ve already gotten some good advice – your daughter should explore the website (especially the pages devoted to her academic areas of interest and her extracurriculars), subscribe to the school newspaper (she can get email updates), talk to other students who go to Brown. The more specific her application, the better. She has plenty of time to figure this out – and these suggestions apply to most all selective schools. I’ve given very specific suggestions in the past on this forum on how to tailor an application for Brown.</p>
<p>One suggestion for you – have you looked into finances yet? Have you run the net price calculator for Brown, or other colleges you’ve visited? Before your daughter falls in love with Brown, make sure you can afford it.</p>
<p>@fireandrain , I really appreciate your thoughtful comment. I will check out the article by the director at Kenyon. I think I can tell you why Brown is appealing to women. It feels unpretentious, safe, walkable. It isn’t an overwhelming campus. It is in a lovely small city. My daughter, who is quiet and intellectual, liked the people she saw when we visited. It isn’t quite like an old slipper, but for a girl who currently lives in a semi-rural area, who has dual citizenship, and has travelled all over the world, I think to her it felt like a great mix of everything she enjoys. No doubt many other applicants feel the same. Regarding academics, it almost goes without saying that she will get a top notch education.
Re finances, we are lucky in that respect. Generous relatives will help out.
You bring up a very important point. I don’t want her to fall in love with the school, when the reality is that the odds are against her. On paper, she has some good credentials, but we know an amazing National Merit Scholar, top grades in everything, great test scores, fluent in three languages, and she didn’t get in to Brown. I feel that if she decides to go for it, I should support her totally, but at the same time, I don’t want her to knock herself out for something that is far from certain. Therein lies a dilemma, as I am fairly sure that most kids who do apply to Brown quite probably do knock themselves out for their chance. So what is a parent to do? More importantly, what is a kid to do?</p>