<p>I originally wrote everything pretty seriously, but, after re-reading it, it sounded generic and just wasn’t me. I went back and re-wrote my essays for Brown today, but now I am worried that maybe I was too casual. For the prompt that asked what we didn’t know, one of my sentences was “I don’t know how to dougie (or what that even means)”… mistake?? It’s hard for me to write without making some type of joke or pun, but I don’t know if it’s too much. I have a decent GPA (4.5) and a decent SAT score (2110), good teacher recommendations, fairly weak extracurriculars and… now I’m afraid my essays will make or break me. What do you guys know about Brown admissions, do they tend to accept really different essays or will it hinder my chances?</p>
<p>It depends on the context of the joke. This odd sentence could make the admissions officer ROFL or crumple the paper. Brown is a very good school though. Keep in mind that if Brown accepted you, they’d be lowering their SAT avg… I wouldn’t have taken the risk. What other schools are you applying to?</p>
<p>please comment on my thread
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1060060-colleges-im-interested-can-i-get-into.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1060060-colleges-im-interested-can-i-get-into.html</a></p>
<p>Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. Either hate it or love it. I feel like they wouldn’t have taken me with normal, generic essays. Having strong essays is really my only shot. I applied to a lot of the UCs, I’ve been accepted to Davis and Santa Barbara. Aside from that, Brown, University of Virginia, and College of William & Mary</p>
<p>Oh, also… my SAT IIs are 760 in chemistry and 740 in literature. so again on the low end for ivy leagues</p>
<p>There’s no sense in worrying about it now. The deadline has passed and your essay is done. Worrying about what you could have done won’t do you any good.</p>
<p>4.5 out of 5?
SAT IIs are better than you think </p>
<p>an admissions officer reading your app will be (hopefully) hmm… alright SATs great GPA and SAT IIs. He’s kinda smart and a hard worker.</p>
<p>4.5 weighted out of 4, i’m in the top 3% of my class. also a female haha 
anyway, it’d be nice to hear the opinion of somebody who’s been accepted to Brown</p>
<p>I said “I don’t know how to fry dumplings, which is a problem due to my late obsession with eating them” and got in if that makes you feel any better…?</p>
<p>To me, that’d come across as pretty funny and unique, and your academics seem strong (SAT II and GPA), so I think it was a good maneuver. Also, Brown and schools like it, sometimes do try to keep their 25-75 artificially low to encourage applications, bringing more money to the school, so you really might have a pretty good shot at it.</p>
<p>Haha, love the dougie reference. I highly doubt the admission officer will get it, though… so it might have been a bad decision.</p>
<p>You may have wanted to play to your audience (old people) more, but I don’t think it will make or break your application.</p>
<p>This is coming from a kid who quoted Hannah Montana in one of his essays.</p>
<p>Well there is one admissions officer who is younger, and I’m pretty sure she would know what it is. Regardless, I think it’s fine if the essay is well written and says something about you.</p>
<p>I’m currently a sophomore, so I have about a year and a half before I’ll start worrying about college apps. </p>
<p>I hope Brown doesn’t change their essay topics because my essay is going to be about: I don’t know why I’m not five feet tall. Would that be creative enough?</p>
<p>Are you seriously contemplating college essay topics as a sophomore…?</p>
<p>@HelloImChelsea:</p>
<p>I would not worry about essay topics for a LONG time, just relax before your junior year. </p>
<p>I came up with the topic for my Brown extended essay and wrote it on Jan 1st (the deadline), and it came out well (or so I think). I’m sure you can do the same.</p>
<p>See, I would think they appreciate offbeat topics, but I don’t even know what “dougie” is… if it’s well written though, why not?</p>
<p>PS I took a risk on mine by writing about how I got fired from a job at a toy store… for accidentally setting the store on fire.</p>
<p>@ GoalBates:</p>
<p>Actually, Brown’s middle 50% range for SAT is 1980 - 2310, so 2110 wouldn’t lower the average…</p>
<p>haha that sounds pretty funny catherinee5!</p>
<p>OP, I think either they won’t know what it is and will sort of ignore it/glance over it, or else they will know what it is and think it’s funny. Remember that admissions officers are people too, and accordingly they have different senses of humor. What you did was rather risky, but I think interesting and likely funny essays are better than generic no matter what. Good luck! Try not to worry.</p>
<p>For anyone wondering what it means to “dougie:”
[YouTube</a> - Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie](<a href=“Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie - YouTube”>Cali Swag District - Teach Me How To Dougie - YouTube)</p>
<p>For the record, I got into Harvard Law School (et al.) with an essay that began with something like: “The greatest meal in all of fast food is a Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich and a Frosty.”</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input, everyone!
That was the one thing I thought they might not get because of the age gap… I have a hokey pokey and p. diddy/puff daddy/diddy reference so they should get that even if they’re old (I don’t know why “it’s all about the Benjamins” – I always thought it was all about the hokey pokey). I also referenced Fergie, Dexter’s Lab, George Stephanopoulos and Pee Wee’s Playhouse (they should get that one at least). Seems like a very random combination of things, but that’s what I mean about taking a risk.</p>