My Chance of Getting into Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>Yep. Another “chance me” post.</p>

<p>Basically, I am wondering if it is possible to get into Brown without amazing grades and test scores, and without being a legacy or a recruited athlete? That is, can your application be carried by your essays, resume and your personality? </p>

<p>This is going to sound VERY conceited, but I think I am probably one of the more interesting applicants Brown is going to get this year (although, realistically, out of 25,000 applicants…probably not haha). I am applying early decision.</p>

<p>High School Experience:
-Finished conventional high school in two years, then transferred into a competitive early college program, where I became a dually enrolled student, taking all college classes and receiving credits toward my diploma at the same time. The program is prestigious and nationally ranked, and regularly sends kids to some of the best schools in the country. I ended up graduating in three years with a ton of college credit.</p>

<p>Extra Stuff:
-I’m spending my senior year of high school living with a host family in small town Egypt, polishing my Arabic and learning about Muslim culture. My travels are 100% funded by the US Department of State through their NSLI-Y Scholarship Program. I’ve met and interacted with all sorts of diplomats, and even got a change to meet an ambassador.
-I play old-time banjo music. I won second place in a national competition.
-I captained my school’s ultimate frisbee team for 3 years, leading us to 2nd and 3rd place finishes at the state championships over the past couple of seasons. Last season, I captained NC’s All-State team, that finished 8th in the nation. In addition to playing at the high school level, I also compete at the elite adult club level (the only high schooler in NC to do so).
-I attended a three week summer program at Brown. I know those programs are all about money, and they let pretty much anyone in…but still, I think it shows that I have a serious interest in the school, and that I do something with my life.
-I’m fluent in Spanish.
-I once held a national record in pole climbing (seriously).
-Lots of volunteer hours and stuff (would take way too much space to talk about here).</p>

<p>In addition to all of that, I believe my essays are strong, as well as my short answer responses on the Brown supplement. I presented a clear vision of my interests and what I plan to study. I also submitted an essay talking about why Brown was the perfect school for me.</p>

<p>Now, here’s my weakness: the numbers. Throughout my last year of high school I overloaded my schedule with really tough college courses (e.g. Honors 200-level Psycholinguistics), which caused my grades to sag. As for SAT and ACT, they aren’t TERRIBLE, they just aren’t spectacular. I never really studied for them, and took each one only one time. </p>

<p>Here are my stats:</p>

<p>SAT: 2070 (730 CR, 620 M, 720 W)
ACT: 28
APs: Spanish 5, World History 5, Psychology 5, Art History 3
GPA:3.4
Rank: N/A</p>

<p>If you’re still with me – God that was long – verdict?
Is there hope?</p>

<hr>

<p>By the way, I’m aware this post comes off as super cocky, but it’s kind of hard to talk about your accomplishments without sounding all self-congratulatory… I’m really a pretty laid back/humble dude believe it or not haha.</p>

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<p>well if you say you are fluent in spanish…
pareces un buen candidato tus SATs estan bien, aplica!
Tambien cogi 5 en AP span and span Lit
por cierto, naciste en US o en un pais latino? eso ayuda!</p>

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<p>Naci aqui pero asist</p>

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<p>De nada! debe ser divertido estar en Egipto! wow tanta historia! really exciting!</p>

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<p>Plenty of people get in to great schools like Brown for plenty of reasons, and not all have great grades.</p>

<p>You have plenty of hooks to help you, but in the end it’s always a dice roll. Best of luck.</p>

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<p>I think people who ask for chances all the time will enjoy ■■■■■■■■■■ It will tell you yor chances but with Brown I think their is messed up a little but it will give you a vague idea of your chances. plus ***** <dot> com is like myspace for colleges</dot></p>

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<p>I think people who ask for chances all the time will enjoy ■■■■■■■■■■ It will tell you yor chances but with Brown I think their is messed up a little but it will give you a vague idea of your chances. plus **<strong><em>.com is like myspace for colleges for some reason it is putting stars up when i spell </em></strong> so i will do this:</p>

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<p>with </p>

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<p>Colleges can view your page and show “love” to people they like. It also gives you scholarship matches.</p>

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<p>I think you’ve got a shot. Arabic and Muslim relations are becoming more and more important - they’ll view you as someone thinking about the future. Of course, it would help to have higher stats, even if it’s a pain to study and retake.</p>

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<p>I think you do have a chance of getting in. Your experiences truly make up for your gpa and test scores so I wouldn’t worry too much =) You sound like a very interesting person haha and I think the adcoms will see that too =)</p>

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<p>I hope you are what these schools want. If not, my optimistic view of society’s values will be completely shattered and I will promptly leave the US.</p>

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<p>I’m in a similar position with eht1991, but instead of languages its geoscience, so I totally agree with your last post calsbo. I hope Brown is the school that lets in the students who although have pretty good gpa and sat scores, but are highly committed to certain extracurricular stuff</p>

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<p>I am not sure that Brown truly cares at all about academic ability. My son had outstanding grades, 3.81, test scores, took 10 APs attended their summer program, got recs from Brown prof, was captain of his sports team, had other music extracurriculars and an internship at a local university. He was deferred then rejected. Another student at his school with 2 APs and C average got in because he won a regional tennis competition. Ridiculous! Son was told by his regional rep when he questioned all of this, that they didn’t see a coach’s letter in his file to recruit him. That’s all they care about??? It’s a sham. He was very sorry he went though all the trouble. he did get into higher ranked Ivy though.
(: who cared much more about his academics.</p>

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<p>@cadmiumred:</p>

<p>I just want to point out that if Brown accepted everyone with your son’s stats they would have a student body in the tens of thousands. I know that you think little Johnny’s accomplishments make him oh so special, but believe me, kids with 2400s and 4.0s are a dime a dozen. </p>

<p>You were absolutely right when you said the admissions officers weren’t just looking for “academic ability.” They are looking for kids with true intellect, passion, charisma and individuality. I’m not saying your son wasn’t any of those things, but your implicit argument that he somehow deserved to be admitted because of his grades and test scores is incredibly misguided. </p>

<p>While it IS regrettable that he worked so hard and was ultimately rejected, that’s just the way Ivy League admissions go; there are way more qualified applicants than there are spots, and some of those spots go to legacies and athletic recruits.</p>

<p>I apologize for the rant, but come on man… get over yourself.</p>

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<p>I hear you ,but they implied my son would have gotten in if he had a recruitment letter, as if everything else didn’t count. The other student who got in, had a “high” C average who got in?? Come on.</p>

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<p>cadmium, I too am sorry that your son was disappointed. College admissions has become cutthroat, and seems capricious from the outside.</p>

<p>Brown accepts ALL types of students. There are students there solely because of their academic prowess. Others were accepted because of their athletic ability, others because of their parents’ money. </p>

<p>Every Ivy operates that way. I’ll bet anything there are plenty of athletic recruits at your son’s school with weak GPAs who were accepted because of their ability to kick or hit a ball. And I’d also bet that kids with impressive statistics were rejected from that school as well. I’ll leave it to someone else to defend the athletic recruiting system, but I assure you that Brown is not unique – they all do it.</p>