<p>How can I beat a classmate whose GPA is higher than mine? And what does Brown really look for? Can anyone elaborate on the “uniqueness” Brown always talks about?</p>
<p>They look for real people, not just statistics.</p>
<p>why do you need to "beat" them? it is common for more than one person from a high school to get into the same school....</p>
<p>Brown has never admitted more than one person from my school, and the one who usually gets admitted is either valedictorian or salutatorian of the class. That's why I am worried.</p>
<p>I had a higher GPA than a classmate of mine, but he was admitted to Brown because he was state champion football player and was recruited by Brown's football coach. I even applied ED, and I was eventually deferred and rejected. In college admissions, you can never be sure of anything. Try to look for a hook and exploit it and do everything you can, work on SATs, ECs, and write an extraordinary essay. Then you have that shot over the other kid that you are looking for.</p>
<p>Those things won't gaurentee you admission, but will give you a good chance.</p>
<p>Easy...take a bat and beat them.</p>
<p>But in all seriousness, I'm wondering that too. I guess bullseye11 is correct; you really need to find something that makes you you.</p>
<p>Be yourself -- come across as a vivid human being in your application. That's probably the only part, at this point, that you have any control over. Brown is not a competitive place; try to retire that attitude if you go.</p>
<p>i am in the 100% same situation and the other girl applying ED from my school one-ups me in everything. she has a way better GPA, probably better SATs, and is asking one of the same teachers as i am for a rec....but she is really generic and bland. i don't know what to do...</p>
<p>There's absolutely nothing you can do at this point, except work harder on your own app. If she's generic, that will usually come out (although generic people get into college all the time). You really just have to highlight your own achievements. There is nothing that says you both can't get in. My friend has 5 people from her school here, from a class of 50. It happens.</p>
<p>with a lead pipe</p>
<p>No no no....with a wrench.....in the ballroom</p>
<p>:p</p>
<p>with a weeks' worth of Washington University St. Louis junk mail.</p>
<p>make it look like an accident..</p>
<p>=P</p>
<p>LOL, nice. Very nice.</p>
<p>If your attitude toward school is about "beating" somebody with a higher GPA, maybe Brown is not the place for you. Think about that for a little while.</p>
<p>That said, any good school does not just look at GPA. If somebody has a 3.9 and you have a 3.85, there's no reason to try to compete with them, grade-wise. Just present your "whole self" in your application. The fact that you did 3958 hours of community service, started an ultimate frisbee team, or studied in Peru for a semester don't affect your GPA, but are worth bringing out.</p>
<p>Also, Brown has been known to take more than one student from the same school, even ED, if they both have extremely strong applications.</p>
<p>Apart from that, if anything, you are competing against people from your region, not your school. You are just preoccupied because you can attatch a name and face to one of your competetors. I know it's hard (I go to a competetive school too) but just put it out of your mind. You are not being compared against people from your own school.<br>
If you happen to live in the northeast, then you have your work cut out for you, lol.</p>
<p>ehh pianoking, i talked to an admissions officer (elisha anderson) yesterday and he said that (at least for my area) our major competition is with the kids within our school
BUT that could be because my school has historically had the highest brown admits in the specific region, so we aren't really competing with kids from other schools in the area (most ohio schools are very mediocre)</p>
<p>I think Brown looks for people who are self-directed about what they want to study and why--independent and original thinkers who could optimize their use of Brown's resources and the freedom of their curriculum. I did alum interviews and that's the type they selected. Given this, your app would not come across as a clone of your rival's app--GPA is never the whole story.</p>
<p>you guys have nothing to complain about, my best friend of about 7 years and I are both applying to all the same ivy schools, she has higher gpa, significantly higher SAT, better AP scores, and one teacher that we both asked for a rec from absolutely worships her and wrote that she was his best student ever. I am NOT a competitive person, but she definately is, I feel like Im no competition for her but she is still giving me the cold shoulder</p>
<p>Ouch. THAT sucks. My best friend and I both applied to Caltech and MIT together, and we got rejected together.</p>