<p>My D applied to several universities/colleges, and got her share of admissions, waitlists, and rejections like many other HS seniors. I know all colleges try to admit those who FIT and make up a well-rounded class.</p>
<p>I now gained some idea about what kinds of students fit what colleges. But, Brown is one exception. I still have no idea what characters Brown is looking for in a student.</p>
<p>Can you guys please help me or future applicants? I’m asking this purely out of curiosity. I have no negative feeling towards Brown or its admission policy.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all those admitted, and good luck with your college life at Brown.</p>
<p>It seems like Brown is trying to accept those who seem like they’d thrive most in the Open Curriculum. The sort of person who will use the lack of requirements to build their own strong program. These people aren’t just going to follow what’s been set out for them, but they’ll make their own path, and proactively make decisions for their own education.</p>
<p>That’s how it seems to me, at least. Brown was the perfect fit for me because I had a strong, well-rounded set of courses that I wanted to take - I knew what I wanted to do (with some room for exploration), and my essays made this clear, instead of the generic “I’ll be able to take whatever I want.”</p>
<p>That seems to be right. I still have no idea how or why I was accepted, but I think some of the things they like about me might have been my wide and varied interests (came through in my extracurriculars, course selection, and essays) and also that I designed my own independent study course last year. The latter, especially, shows that I really take charge of my own education and know myself academically. Maybe I am completely wrong about this being what they liked, but my Brown application probably portrayed this characteristic better than the rest of my applications.</p>
<p>“I still have no idea what characters Brown is looking for in a student. Can you guys please help me or future applicants?”</p>
<p>Generally, I think the others are right. Brown is a pretty unique environment among its peer schools, and the admission office is looking for people who are suited to that environment.</p>
<p>“Are there any other things you guys want to tell me about Brown?”</p>
<p>I’m a bit… confused. Is there something in particular you’re looking for?</p>
<p>My daughter had no idea at all what she wanted to do four years ago, so her acceptance seemed to have been based on different criteria than Uroogla’s. She was, though, pretty much a free and individual spirit who did things her own way, within the confines of high school and family norms. She was the best in her HS class and was creative, independent, community-minded, etc. etc. etc. Brown was the right place for her. Not to say that other great schools wouldn’t have also been just as good a fit. It’s been really good.</p>
<p>It’s really hard to answer your question because Brown values diversity. So there is no one “Brown type.” </p>
<p>Admissions has to satisfy many institutional priorities. That means athletes, legacies, geographic diversity, racial and socio-economic diversity. Brown particularly likes first-generation college students: the recent press release showcased the fact that 17% of the accepted students this year were first-generation. There is a big focus on the hard sciences, like engineering and physics. </p>
<p>Intellectual rigor and curiosity and confidence are important because of the open curriculum. </p>
<p>I went to Brown a long time ago; I’ve been interviewing students for decades and have many friends who also interview. We are often very puzzled by who Brown accepts and denies – we very often don’t get it, don’t understand what Brown is looking for. And we complain a lot when a great kid doesn’t get in while a recruited athlete does. From an outsider there very often seems to be no rhyme or reason. And the “typical” Brown student has changed some over the years, which just makes it more complicated.</p>
<p>I just don’t think there is an answer to your question. The acceptance rate is so low that all future applicants can do is research the school thoroughly, show that in their application, and present themselves honestly. There is no secret code for getting in.</p>
<p>Thank you for that insight, Uroogia – it helps to explain why my son was admitted to Brown. He is a 3-year high school graduate who, with his counselor’s permission, essentially disregarded the conventional and approved path to set his own customized agenda: he skipped “required” prerequisites to go directly to the AP classes, took his first college class as a high school freshman, took supplemental online classes and self-studied for 4 AP tests, 3 of them for subjects not taught at his school. </p>
<p>Yes, he happened to have perfect stats, among them a 36.0 ACT and a 1 in 400 class rank; yet that wasn’t enough for him to get accepted at Yale, Princeton or MIT – and, I now suspect, for Brown either. I see that showing independence and initiative could have been the key factor for Brown, where their course flexibility can be extremely liberating… or disorienting, depending on the individual. Brown does seem to be a perfect fit, taken from this perspective.</p>