<p>hey guys and dolls its been a while but I need to get this off my chest, if you forget I applied ED but was deferred. I have gotten into a few schools so far, but Brown is the only one I really want to go to, I made this clear when I mailed a letter in early February with some of my photography stuff to show and to explain why I want to got to Brown yada yada yada. However I will admit that Brown is a extreme reach school for me, I am not a SAT god although I did get a 780 on the math section, and my grades while solid do have one or two bad spots. My major hook is my research, which I have incorporated into independent studies and as my most important EC. My research is the main reason I am applying to Brown, if it did not have the department in question I would not have applied to Brown like those who do to put another Ivy on their list (not that anybody here did ). Based on the absolutely ridiculous numbers for the applicant pool, I am having trouble believing I will have any shot at getting in. with 30000+ applicants how do any stand a chance? they could easily only accept people with 2400 sat’s, above perfect GPA’s and still have about 4000 people for the 900+ slots left. But will they? Would they be more interested in a student like me who is actually human? I guess what I mean to say is do our essays, recommendations, interviews, research, etc become more important factors in making their decision? Is it a little late to worry about this considering everything? People at my school, teachers, and professors at Brown all said that I would be perfect for Brown, but I have to remind them that the chance of getting into brown now is about the same as suddenly turning into a humpback whale given all of the applicants. I wish they allowed students to talk to admissions to argue their case like a trial, I would make a hell of a case. But I felt that I did this already with my application and my letter, I was surprised that they deferred me, I felt that I would be accepted because they wanted people like me or rejected because of my grades/sat’s because I am not a SAT/grade God. I really don’t understand the original deferral, if they were wanting to see my senior year they could have called my school to get them before December 14th/15th whenever it was\ I felt that I would be borderline candidate, a person they wanted but due to grades could be cut loose. I never got a likely letter or letter saying “your in but keep your grades up Mr.!” although they don’t send them to all I really felt that I was borderline. This means I am either admitted and golden, or rejected and laughed about with them saying “what the hell was this kid thinking!?”. I wont say chance me because there is either no point or no chance. But what does Brown look for in its applicants? how do they possibly decide between all of these students if so many are exactly alike, does this mean that being different will actually help them notice me, or are they looking to see if we fit their cookie cutter? it looks completely black-and-white to me and in the end I am either going to love Brown for the rest of my life like some desperate person or completely filled with hate and contempt for Brown. I really want to believe that Brown will do the right thing, stick to their principles, which encourages students like me. But I fear that they will not.</p>
<p>damn that was long, sorry that was a rant but</p>
<p>Yeah, I guess the thing to remember is that there are a lot of smart humans out there in the world who want it just as much and probably even more than you do.</p>
<p>The moral is, if things don’t work out now, work 20x harder in college - get the grades and continue your research - and then you can laugh at them when you accept your nobel prize.</p>
<p>^. Honestly, if there were only 11 Good Colleges, the world would suck. A school doesn’t define your greatness, you do yourself. Good luck though.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I’m understanding 100%. Are you arguing that getting into Brown should NOT be a meritocracy? Of course you have the right to be frustrated that people who have better stats are applying to Brown, but how can you possibly argue that you deserve to get in over them?</p>
<p>You fill out all the materials because they all matter.</p>
<p>Admissions is a crap shoot even for the most qualified students. Your case is your application, and you just have to hope your story shined through and matched the adcoms view of a Brown student. It’s not going to determine the rest of your life, and at this point it’s totally out of your control. What will be will be, but hope is all you can do right now. There are tens of thousands of applicants doing the same thing right now.</p>
<p>I should say, "All things observable to external folks may seem equal, yet the decisions are different. Trying to infer the precise value each admissions officer and the committee as a whole puts on each part of your application is near impossible. Put your best foot forward and hope is about all you can really do. "</p>
<p>Fair? I didn’t mean to imply it’s random-- you’re just not likely to get in without certain qualities, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say there are many people who meet those standards who never had a shot for one reason or another that is hard for those of us outside of admissions to infer.</p>
<p>@panser:
Regardless of the outcome for you, I would urge you to look back at your prior posts and ask yourself what kind of picture you paint for yourself.<br>
-I see you claim Brown “blacklisted” your school. Maybe in jest or kidding around, but you make it seem like they have something against you.
-I see you claim two other students in your school have better grades/scores, but you refer to them as “Psychotics”
-You’ve referred to your religion, which is not a bad thing, but there are no shortage of Jews at Brown. So not a hook.
-You’ve mentioned that you are not applying for FA. But since Brown is Need Blind, who cares.
-You’ve called other applicants “Hoards”, but each one of those in the Hoard is an individual, and one that has as much right to apply to Brown as you. Many of whom have shown higher academic motivation (grades), and aptititude (scores) than you.
-You’ve mentioned how everyone at your school feels you are perfect for Brown, but at the end of the day, they dont count, only the adcom does.
-You call your grades “so-so”.</p>
<p>So, to me, you paint a picture of an over-priveledged spoiled child that never worked too hard for anything in his life, has a very high opinion of himself, has a very low opinion of others, and is now crying because he is not getting his way.</p>
<p>And though I might be 100% wrong about you, consider re-reading your essays and seeing if in fact a casual reader might walk away with the same opinion.</p>
<p>Brown has already “proven themselves” and does ‘stick to thier principles’ by encouraging all students~they have years of admissions to show for that. But accepting you will not validate that commitment, nor will rejecting you invalidate it. </p>
<p>wow people, lets take a chill pill, there is no need to be so combative. I will try to address everything but seriously why so combative? Anyways “Imontoya” the other two people who applied ED to Brown are just a bit more intense than me, they are both very nice and one is a good friend of mine, we are just different character types. Being Jewish is not a hook nor did I consider it to be, it is just my ethnic group. Indeed I am not seeking financial aid, I am fortunate that my parents saved up for me. Hoards, come on it is just poetic license, perhaps “hoards of great students” would suffice, but it is just poor word choice. As for me being spoiled, I would argue that I have had to work very hard to get where I am now, and that your statement is frankly baseless as you know absolutely nothing about me other than my comments on CC. I only got deferred, so far it is not the end of the world for me because my research and my ambitions will never be sacrificed based on what college I get in. Brown would certainly provide excellent opportunities for me and my future but ultimately I am the result of my decisions, and if that means I won’t get into Brown then so be it. Brown is a reach school for me, it is a long shot, I do not expect to get in, I hope to get in but realistically I won’t simply because of all of the other excellent applicants like me. But that does not mean that I should not strive to be all that I can be. (just realized that the army uses that o_0, hopefully not foreshadow…). I do however enjoy the contrast in tone between the first 80% of your post to the last 20%.</p>
<p>ds134: no, a meritocracy is a good thing, but the difference between quantitative (GPA, SAT, etc) and the qualitative (essays, interview, etc), am I frustrated that people have better scores? A little jealous, but frustrated no. How can I argue that I should be accepted? Well that would show up in the essays, in fact I made a very good case, but in the end it depends which they look at more (grades vs essays). I say we all deserve to get in, but that is impossible. my question was more along the lines of: given how many more applicants there are this year how will the admissions department respond, will they have cut-offs for grades and SATs, will they only consider ED applicants who wrote essays, etc. I wanted to encourage speculation on this point, what do you guys think. How can anybody say that they deserve anything more than anybody else, that is a impossible question. Obviously there is the statement that “I am more qualified with GPA and grades” but they don’t stick to that as much as you would think. How would you justify your admission (I didn’t check to see if you were ED or not, if so and you got in say why you think you got in and others did not).</p>
<p>while writing this I think that I actually found some sort of answer as corny as that sounds, good thing I am taking that philosophy course anyways I hope to get in and is sort of all I can do at this point.</p>
<p>i agree that the applicant pool seems like a crap shoot. It’s almost like the adcoms are like “Hey! there are 30,000 applications! lets give each a number and pick 900 stuents to be accepted RD!” That is NOT the case. They are looking for something, but the admission office will NEVER say what they’re looking for. They would get the same amount of applicants with half having exactly what they want. Now there’s an excess of what they want and they need to see which of the few are in fact lying. Does it suck? Absolutely! All applicants can do is hope and wait.</p>
<p>@Panser: Not trying to be combative, just pointing out what appears to me as a reader. Calling people “Hoards” and “Psychopaths” is indeed poetic liscence. But since the essays must carry considerable weight to any adcom, maybe an element of that ‘poetry’ throws up a red flag? You vented, I responded. Like I said, I might be 100% wrong about you, but really what does an adcom have to go off of? Your writing. Sometimes it is not just what you write, it is what the reader sees between the lines.</p>
<p>I have been doing my research since December of my freshman year, and I have attended two related conferences presenting posters on all four of my publications, I am currently working on a bigger publication that is in combination with a senior thesis. Almost every essay I wrote incorporated it somehow, and my application included all 4 publications. I have got recommendations from two different lab heads. </p>
<p>@Imontoya: these posts really are not indicative of the tone of my essays, they were not rants and well thought through, plus my English teacher loved them. so </p>
<p>The issue is not whether you are perfect for Brown – thousands of students would do very well there. The question admissions asks is, how will Brown be better if you go there? What do you offer that will make the campus a more interesting, more vital, more intellectual, more diverse, etc., place. Will the football team win because you are there? Will another state be represented? Will there be enough minorities? first generation college students? female physicists? Will you be the student to write the computer code for something like Mocha, which all students use now to select classes? Will you work on a research project that will generate federal funding? </p>
<p>And the thing is, many many students who bring something like the above to campus ALSO have high grades and high SAT scores.</p>
<p>Students who have better quantitative stats than you probably worked hard for it. If I were a university, I’d want students who showed they were willing to put in the effort. Students with better stats aren’t necessarily smarter but they’re usually pretty hard workers. But it’s a “crapshoot” for everyone. I don’t think there’s anyone out there arrogant to think they have a really good chance of getting into Brown. I don’t think there’s anything you can do to ensure having a good chance of getting into Brown, but working hard at your grades and standardized test scores certainly helps.</p>
<p>basically, the OP thinks she deserves to get into brown and is angry because she probably won’t and is lashing out at the world before she (most likely) gets rejected (or waitlisted).</p>
<p>I guess … why do you think you’re any different than the other 29,999 applicants. ALL want to get in. All feel they might be qualified, but have some fear too. All hope that the entire application is considered…and it will be. All KNOW that there are “hooks” that sometimes feel unfair (unless you’re the one with the hook, then you embrace it). NONE of them know who Brown will select. NONE of them can change what is, at this point, a done deal.</p>
). Based on the absolutely ridiculous numbers for the applicant pool, I am having trouble believing I will have any shot at getting in. with 30000+ applicants how do any stand a chance? they could easily only accept people with 2400 sat’s, above perfect GPA’s and still have about 4000 people for the 900+ slots left. But will they? Would they be more interested in a student like me who is actually human? I guess what I mean to say is do our essays, recommendations, interviews, research, etc become more important factors in making their decision? Is it a little late to worry about this considering everything? People at my school, teachers, and professors at Brown all said that I would be perfect for Brown, but I have to remind them that the chance of getting into brown now is about the same as suddenly turning into a humpback whale given all of the applicants. I wish they allowed students to talk to admissions to argue their case like a trial, I would make a hell of a case. But I felt that I did this already with my application and my letter, I was surprised that they deferred me, I felt that I would be accepted because they wanted people like me or rejected because of my grades/sat’s because I am not a SAT/grade God. I really don’t understand the original deferral, if they were wanting to see my senior year they could have called my school to get them before December 14th/15th whenever it was\ I felt that I would be borderline candidate, a person they wanted but due to grades could be cut loose. I never got a likely letter or letter saying “your in but keep your grades up Mr.!” although they don’t send them to all I really felt that I was borderline. This means I am either admitted and golden, or rejected and laughed about with them saying “what the hell was this kid thinking!?”. I wont say chance me because there is either no point or no chance. But what does Brown look for in its applicants? how do they possibly decide between all of these students if so many are exactly alike, does this mean that being different will actually help them notice me, or are they looking to see if we fit their cookie cutter? it looks completely black-and-white to me and in the end I am either going to love Brown for the rest of my life like some desperate person or completely filled with hate and contempt for Brown. I really want to believe that Brown will do the right thing, stick to their principles, which encourages students like me. But I fear that they will not.</p>
anyways I hope to get in and is sort of all I can do at this point.</p>