*****OFFICIAL Brown 2020 Regular Decision RESULTS Thread*****

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

Please help future applicants to assess their fit (and, hopefully, build their confidence) by posting the results.

Please reserve discussion for the RD Discussion thread, and use this one only for results. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
[ B][ size=4][ color=#008000]Decision: Accepted - RD[/color][/size]**
[ B][ size=4][ color=#008000]Decision: Deferred - ED → Accepted - RD[/color][/size]**
[ B][ size=4][ color=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted - RD[/color][/size]**
[ B][ size=4][ color=#FFA500]Decision: Deferred - ED → Waitlisted - RD[/color][/size]**
[ B][ size=4][ color=#FF0000]Decision: Rejected - ED[/color][/size]**
[ B][ size=4][ color=#FF0000]Decision: Deferred - ED → Rejected - ED[/color][/size]**

[ B]Objective:**
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II:
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

[ B]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service:
Summer Activities:
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview:

[ B]Other:**

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major:
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant):
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):

[ B]Reflection:**

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

General Comments:

Just remove the spaces at the beginning of each bracketed section.

MODERATOR’S NOTE: This is for results only, no comments or discussion will be allowed.

2

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2250 (780M, 770CR, 700W)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (35E, 34M, 32R, 35S)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 730 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.98
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): European History (5), BC Calc (5), Computer Science A (5), Physics I (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Calc 3/Linear Algebra (university), AP Physics C, AP Chemistry, Advanced Compsci (AB), Portfolio Studio Art, English electives
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): School service grant, AP Scholar with Honor

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Attended two conferences on climate change, math competitions (ranked in state Math League), ACSL, Varsity 2 Tennis (captain), Varsity ultimate frisbee
Job/Work Experience: 1 summer internship at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1 year (ongoing) independent research with the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Volunteer/Community service: 20 hours at an optical clinic
Summer Activities: 2 summers Stanford EPGY in Physics and Engineering, internships (above)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): EC 9/10, wrote about one of the conferences I went to, Area of Study 8/10, explained most of it in the engineering-specific essays, Why Brown 9/10, wrote about how my friends call me a hipster despite my protests, Where Lived 8/10, wrote about spending lots of time at my best childhood friend’s house, Communities 9/10, wrote about how my small group of friends has grown throughout high school.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Math Teacher 10/10, have had her for two years
Teacher Rec #2: English Teacher 8/10, she liked me more than most of the boys she’s taught…
Counselor Rec:10/10, she knows me very well and included excerpts from a recommendation written by my research supervisor
Interview: Amazing! By far my best interview, even though it only lasted half an hour.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Engineering (woot)
State (if domestic applicant): CO
School Type: Small private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Research

Reflection:

Strengths: GPA, essays, research, interest in school
Weaknesses: Volume of extracurriculars (esp. clubs)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Brown has always been a school I’ve loved, so I put a lot of care into the application and why I’d be right for Brown
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Brown, Harvey Mudd (merit scholarship), Carleton, UCSD, UW (Honors, Purple and Gold Scholar), Case Western, CU Boulder (Engineering Honors). Waitlist: UC Berkeley, Tufts, Dartmouth. Rejected: Stanford.

General Comments:
Super excited about this, I was getting worried after 3 waitlists in a row. All I can say is this whole process continues to astound me at how little sense it makes and how arbitrary the decisions seem. Best of luck to everyone!

3

**Decision: Rejected **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2080 (CR: 580 M: 700, W: 800)
ACT (breakdown): 31C (36E, 33M, 28R, 27S, 35W)
SAT II: Math I: 630, Biology M: 680
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.776; W: 4.012
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%; 3/65
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Language (5), Biology (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load:
-AP Chemistry
-AP Calculus AB
-AP Spanish Language
-AP Psychology
-AP English Lit
-Ancient History
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
-Hymns lead teacher
-Main facilitator of NHS tutoring at school
-Hospital volunteer, nurse assistant
-Member of GreenSchools society; local cleanups, raising environmental awareness through speeches, and other things

Job/Work Experience: Own my own online store on eBay, with excellent customer satisfaction.
Volunteer/Community service: Avid volunteer at my local hospital, wrote my main commonapp essay on an experience that touched me, as well as an earlier medical experience.
Summer Activities: Hardcore SAT prep + volunteering. Not to mention AP summer work! (fun…)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9/10, thought it was really well-written and from the heart.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9/10, teacher I had for 3 years straight, knows my work ethic really well. Didn’t see the letter though.
Teacher Rec #2: 8/10, AP Lang teacher knows I am a hard-worker, as I got a 5 on the exam.
Counselor Rec: 10/10, We’re like best friends. Since I go to a really small school, the counselor knows everyone personally, so a recommendation from her was bound to be great.
Additional Rec:
Interview: I thought it went great, honestly. He really liked me and said I was an excellent fit for Brown. We talked a lot about current events and technology, and how it relates to my future career.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yup
Intended Major: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Pre-Med
State (if domestic applicant): MA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Charter
Ethnicity: White, Middle Eastern (Egyptian)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: <$60,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nope

Reflection:

Strengths: Definitely my essays, GPA, and recommendations
Weaknesses: Standardized test scores… Tried a lot to study for them, would have liked higher scores, but oh well.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: My SAT might was too, but I had my 31 ACT to back it up. Maybe not enough ECs?

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted to Boston College, BU, Holy Cross
Rejected: Amherst College, Brown, Tufts, Harvard
Waitlisted: NEU

General Comments: Really, truly devastated by this. I put all my hope and my love into Brown, and had a great interview as well as stellar supplements. It will be very hard for me to move on, but I will have to just suck it up and face it, I suppose.

4

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2400
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 800 Math 2, 760 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.90 (which is pretty solid for my school – nobody’s had a 4.0 in 7 years)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
AP (place score in parenthesis): not offered
IB (place score in parenthesis): not offered
Senior Year Course Load: won’t disclose for privacy purposes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing too impressive, just NM Finalist and Presidential Scholar candidate

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):Pretty trash tbh because I spend so much time commuting to school every day…anyway, here they are: Literary mag (Editor-in-chief), Debate (won some tournaments and a national award but I’m not amazing or anything), some econ and CS stuff, golf + tennis, various forms of tutoring. Ugh, I’m seriously puking in my mouth rn, these ECs were so bad.
Job/Work Experience: 2 internships, 1 paid at a commodities company in NYC, another unpaid at a bank in London
Volunteer/Community service: 250 hours of tutoring
Summer Activities: Pretty good – went to Stanford’s Summer Institutes, Princeton’s Philosophy Seminar, interned, taught myself some CS, traveled around Europe.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Personal statement was 9.5/10, although it was pretty ballsy, especially for Brown. I talked about how I hated my Mom for most of my life, because she made me culturally different than all my WASPy peers and such. Then as I grew older I came to accept and love both her, my heritage, and the concept of diversity. I thought a Brown admissions lady would be triggered right off the bat, so I didn’t expect to get in, but apparently they liked it. I mean, it was honest with zero pandering, and provided a pretty clear window into my soul, I think.
The supplemental essays were probably 8-9.5/10. The Why Major essay was written last minute and kind of shoddy. The Why Brown essay was pathetically sycophantic at times, but ultimately advanced the premise that I need Brown’s open curriculum because I’m a “aspiring coder-philosopher-economist” who doesn’t want my identity “pidgeonholed by other schools’ curricula.” Don’t ask me why I remember those quotes verbatim. Anyway, the Where You’ve Lived essay was more cash than the Federal Reserve. Seriously. I likened my life to a train, and all the different places I’d lived were the “stops,” described with playful and passionate recollections of what I did there. Then I ended the essay with “Now the next stop surfaces on the horizon; hopefully it’s Brown” – an ending that I’m sure they appreciated. The community essay was meh, I talked about my lunch table and the different interests, personalities, and cultures represented at it. It was cool, I guess.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: (Physics teacher) Didn’t see, but I wasn’t especially close to him or any of my teachers – it’s just not my style. Anyway, I did great in his class, so I’d venture to say between 6.5-9/10. At worst, it was tepid praise.
Teacher Rec #2: (English teacher) Didn’t see. Refer to blurb above^.
Counselor Rec: He knew me a bit better, so mebbe 7-9/10.
Additional Rec: nah
Interview: More cash than…oh, wait, I’m out of metaphors. But seriously, this was my best interview by far, and I’d like to think my baseline for interviews is already quite high. We immediately bonded over Thoreau and Louis C.K.'s comedy, and he was straight beaming at me the whole time. After the interview, he emailed me saying he “submitted a glowing report” and that “if Brown doesn’t admit you, it’s their loss.” So yeah, I’d say 10/10. But in general, all my friends seemed to find Brown alums chiller to interview with, so it might’ve been offset by that.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: nah
Intended Major: CS but I put Econ and Philosophy to avoid writing yet another essay. No ragrets.
State (if domestic applicant): Nueva York, Nueva York
Country (if international applicant): 'Merica (preferably said in George W. Bush’s voice)
School Type: more private than my privates
Ethnicity: White/Asian/Hispanic…yeah, I’m the genetic melting pot of the world
Gender: XY, or shall I say “male privilege”? It’s Brown, after all.
Income Bracket: Let’s just say my parental units aren’t lacking in the Shekel department
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM maybe? But then I’m part ORM because I’m Asian, too. Who knows what these sorcerers in the admissions office think. Honestly I’m just happy to be in.

Reflection:

Strengths: Academic stüf, essays, summer activities, interview, potentially ethnicity
Weaknesses: ECs (I’m lowkey surprised they didn’t totally sabotage my app), potentially recs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Probably the combo of ethnicity + scores/grades + chill persona as evinced through essays and the interview
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Feels so weird writing out the full list now…I can’t believe the college admissions process is over. Anywho, here goes:

Accepted: Notre Dame, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Duke, Georgetown, and Brown
Waitlisted: Williams
Rejected: Princeton, Stanford

General Comments: For me, the process wasn’t all that random. I was rejected/waitlisted from the 3 hardest schools on my list, and got in everywhere else. While I’ve seen others (and maybe you, future applicant) get immensely lucky and not rub their fairy dust on me, I’ve still got no right to complain – in my view, I’ve gotten into the places I was qualified for. I wasn’t qualified for Stanford/Princeton, so those rejections don’t sting so much. It’s great that I’ll be going to a school without impostor syndrome and feeling like I’m inadequate, and that sense of security is kinda priceless.

Anyway, to prospective applicants: Develop a PASSION. Dance, debate, YouTubing, scientific research – who cares – do it with love and care, and do it well. Brown and any other top school doesn’t just want smart people; they’ve got more than a healthy pipeline of those applying. I was incredibly lucky insofar as I got in without one, but you probably won’t be (especially if you’re white or asian – just being honest). Anyway, back to my hard-hitting analysis since I know eeeeverything about admissions now, haha: so these schools want to concoct a community of people who are the BEST at x or y – not jacks of all trades but masters of none. If this doesn’t sound like you, you’ll probably get rejected. But still apply if you’re academically qualified; you never know what’ll happen. So take that life advice from a crazy-eyed 18 year old, lol, and good luck.

5

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2340 (Math 740)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (
SAT II: 800 math II, 770 chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): unknown (probably top 3/40)
AP (place score in parenthesis): English Lang & Comp, 5; Calc AB, 5
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Calc BC, Physics C, Democracy/Shakespeare (S1/S2), FTC Robotics, Spanish V, probably something else (I take AP tests for all classes, but they technically aren’t APs).
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): won a smallish national essay contest at the state level. FTC team has done pretty well on a state level, historically.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): FTC Robotics (captain, etc.), varsity XC (captain), varsity tennis, jv soccer for a while. Lots of fiction writing, some programming and outside-of-school humanitarian robotics.
Job/Work Experience: nada
Volunteer/Community service: not much. Tutor as a sophomore (now picking it back up again, post-app).
Summer Activities: writing, programming, math; nothing procedural, structured, or like notable.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): probably 8? I think they demonstrated that I’d done research into Brown’s departments. Talked about how programming shifted, for me, from something scarily illogical to something defined, and made enjoyable, by its logic. Stuff like that.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): Probably pretty good. Teachers told me they were great. I love my teachers, and I think they enjoy me, too.

Interview: my guy was a doctor with a lovely Boston accent. We talked for 1.5 hours about everything. It was great. Really nice guy. I was kind of awkward at points – didn’t have the best answers – but, if you’re sincere, they can tell. So like awk answers won’t kill you. At least, didn’t for me.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yup. Got nothing. :confused:
Intended Major: Engineering. Told them I’d make my own in Robotics, though, which would be awesome to do.
State (if domestic applicant): NC
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: private, super super small
Ethnicity: white
Gender: m
Income Bracket: largeish. upper-middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

Reflection:

Strengths: no idea haha
Weaknesses: not a lot of community service (at least locally) or like math competitions or science fairs.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: not sure. Writing? No idea.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted: UNC, NC State, Dartmouth, Duke; denied: MIT; waitlisted: HMC, CMU

General Comments: Don’t worry about it. Things work out. And enjoy your interviews!

6

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): Didn’t take
ACT (breakdown): 32
SAT II: Bio (700) Math II (670? or 680? Can’t remember)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9something
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nada

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): PM me if you’re interested! Won’t go into detail. Did a lot of things related to writing and art. (Check the NEU or JHU accepted thread if you want something more specific)
Job/Work Experience: None.
Volunteer/Community service: Quite a lot, but didn’t mention in apps.
Summer Activities: Writing, traveling, internship at a newspaper company
Essays (rating 1-10, details): I poured my heart into my CommonApp essay. While it wasn’t emotional/touching or funny, I think it was very genuine and showed a lot about myself.
I honestly didn’t think my Brown supplement essays/short questions were impressive. I was so, so, so very sure that I was going to get rejected because of those.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1 & 2: I trust my teachers did a wonderful job! I may have doubted them for a few moments in the past (I was quite a new student and I’m not very social, so I wasn’t sure whether or not my teachers would like that), but clearly they weren’t bad!
Additional Rec: I asked numerous people for an additional rec, so I’m not sure whose I used, but I trust, respect, and adore every single person I asked so I’m 100% confident that these recs were good!
Interview: I am an awkward poop. I was so, so scared that my interview wouldn’t go well, and that I’d say something stupid (AND I DID. I freaking talked about how my dream was to buy a castle one day and live inside it with people who gardened.) I did my interview over Skype but I ended up having a good time!

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No…cries as money flies out of my wallet
Intended Major: Neurobiology
State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Asian country
School Type: Small, private
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Idk honestly.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Legacy, I guess. My sister goes to Brown. But I don’t think there was a place to put that on the app…if there was, OOPs. I didn’t see it!

Reflection:

Strengths: My essays and ECs.
Weaknesses: Test scores, maybe? My race?
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I honestly thought I was going to be rejected. No joke. I said, “Oh, I’ll probably get into X and X, but most definitely not Brown! My essays sound so cocky and I swear…I just don’t think I’m special enough for Brown.” But guess what? I got rejected from X and X but got into Brown. It’s weird how the schools I was so, so sure I was going to rejected from accepted me, and the schools I was so sure were going to accept me just flat out rejected me! Funny how college admissions process works.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Johns Hopkins, Northeastern (Scholars, Full tuition scholarship), Kenyon, Macalester, Grinnell, Denison
Rejected: HYP, Stanford, Cornell, UPenn, Amherst, Williams, Skidmore (which I thought was going to be my safety, but…turns out it wasn’t, lol)

General Comments: I applied to 17 schools … that’s a lot of $$ going into applying, sending scores, doing all the FA stuff, etc. Now that I look back, I don’t think I should’ve applied to 17 schools. And applying to 7/8 Ivies wasn’t a good idea, either, because personally, I wouldn’t have chosen some Ivies even if I had gotten accepted. I guess I was a bit blinded by prestige for a moment. It’s not that I’m frowning upon people who did apply to most of the Ivies – I’m not judging, I swear. I don’t mean it in a bad way. I’m just saying that personally, it was a bad decision on my part. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see what my reach schools had to say about me.

So for future students, apply to many if you’re curious…but if you’re 99% sure that you’re not going to go there, think again. Because, you know, in the end, we only get to pick one school. And if that’s not the school you’re going to pick, you might want to save that 100+$ and buy cake instead. Dammit, now that I think about it, I could’ve bought, what, 100 cakes with all the application fees?!

I’m a bit sad that my dream school, which was Yale, rejected me, but I’m also completely content. I am really thankful for the schools that want me. I remember reading somewhere on this forum, love the school that loves you back!

And for those rejected or waitlisted, know that you have such a long, great life ahead of you. College, name, brand, etc. should never, ever label anyone. College doesn’t determine who you are as a person. It’s YOU who paves your own path and future. You can do great, great things. If you fall, just get back up and try again.

7

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2330 (770M, 770CR, 790W)
ACT (breakdown): 34 (33E, 34M, 33R, 35S, 12W)
SAT II: 780 Math II, 760 Physics, 790 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.00
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1st
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History(5), Biology(5), US History(5), BC Calc (5), Physics I (4), Language and Comp (5)
Senior Year Course Load:, AP Chemistry, AP Comp Sci A, AP US Government and Politic, AP Literature and Composition
Major Awards: Scholar Athlete, RIT medal, President’s Volunteer Service Award (silver), Scholastic gold key

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
Natinal Honor Society (President), Spanish Honor Society (Secretary), Partners in Science Program at Boehringer Ingelheim, Math League (Team Captain, team won region), Varsity Tennis (captain senior year), Ping Pong club (started club), Key club for community service, Greet Team for environmental protection, debate club

Job/Work Experience:
Started online business selling artwork, artwork on sale at two local shops, babysitting.

Volunteer/Community service:
Ecumenical vacation bible school counselor (30 hr each summer), volunteer tennis coach (10 hr), writing and math center tutor (40 minutes every school day), Project CLEAR (35 hr/ year, environmental cleanup for and research program), science career fair assistant (5 hr), photography for school website (5 hrs), and many more smaller things.

Summer Activities:
Online business, project CLEAR, ecumenical VBS and tennis coaching mentioned above; started writing a novel; also went camping for fun.

Essays:
EC 8/10, wrote about my role as NHS president, Area of Study 10/10, wrote about how my creativity realtes to my interest in engineering, Why Brown 10/10, wrote about how I fit the art/academics dichotomy of Brown, Where Lived 10/10, wrote humors essay about when I moved, from one room in my house to another that is, Communities 9/10, wrote about my group of friends who endearingly refers to itself as the nerd heard

Recommendations :

Teacher Rec #1: Math Teacher 10/10, had teacher for two years.
Teacher Rec #2: English Teacher 9/10, had for an AP class I did well in. She also wrote a very strong letter.
Counselor Rec: 8.5/10, she does not know me all that well, but is familiar with my family
Interview: Great, but not my best. It was by far my shortest interview and was conducted at my school the same day as three other students from my school. For the length though, I fell like a nailed all of the questions in Brown Specific manner.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): CT
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 60,000
Hooks: submitted an art portfolio

Reflection:

Strengths: GPA, rank, essays, extracurriculars, art stuff, work experience
Weaknesses: never visited, not the best SAT IIs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Brown has always been a school I’ve loved, so I put a lot of care into the application and why I’d be right for Brown
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Brown, Northeastern, UConn Waitlist: Cornell, U Penn. Rejected: Stanford, Tufts, Johns Hopkins, Harvard, MIT

General Comments:
Decisions can be very arbitrary even if you are an over-qualified candidate but do not have the correct niche quality or are not of the proper demographic.

8

Decision: Accepted - RD

Received likely letter

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2060 (Accidentally sent…yikes) 670 Math, 690 CR, 700, Writing
ACT (breakdown): 34 C - 36 English, 31 Math, 33 Science, 34 Reading, 10 Essay
SAT II: Didn’t send
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 UW
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 7/530 when I applied, 5th now
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Lang - 5, AP Physics 1 - 1 (Obviously did not report) Will be taking - Calc AB, Bio, Lit, Stats
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Stats, AP Calc AB, AP Bio, Dual Credit Spanish 5
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Published 4x by HuffPo, 3x by another magazine (once in print), 2x by a literary magazine (once in print)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Medical club/competition 10-12, 2x State qualifier (Treasurer 11,12), Varsity tennis 9-12 (starting player), NHS, Academic UIL in Literary Criticism and Ready Writing
Job/Work Experience: Worked at a smoothie shop summer 10th through the first part of 11th
Volunteer/Community service: Just stuff through NHS honestly
Summer Activities: Tennis camps, working
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Common App: 8- honestly extremely proud of this. Very personal to my life as a writer.
Community: 8 - I wrote about my friends and how our diversity and quirkiness push me to develop my own individuality and embrace my “weird”
Why Concentration: 6 - Seemed pretty cookie cutter to me, but not necessarily bad
Where I’ve Lived: 9 - I loved this one. I don’t live in the greatest place but I took the opportunity to explain how my home has shaped me into a person who has an insatiable interest for the surrounding world.
Why Brown: 7 - The word count hurt me. It was very personal and genuine, just wish I had a little more room.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 10 - AP Lang teacher. The absolute best teacher I’ve ever had who continually says that I am one of the best students she’s ever taught.
Teacher Rec #2: 7 - AP Physics teacher. Not my best class, but I felt I pushed myself and I have a great relationship with the teacher.
Counselor Rec: 8 - We definitely have a great relationship.
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Didn’t think it was spectacular, but I guess it did the trick!

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Literary Arts/Ethnic Studies
State (if domestic applicant): TX
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Black/White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $180k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection:

Strengths: Multi-published author, ACT score, smaller intended concentration, rec letters
Weaknesses: SAT (oops), didn’t take absolutely everything AP/Honors, not a lot of major awards
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I honestly think my passion and success as a writer dominated my application and showed that I have a strong desire to use my writing to influence. Throughout high school, I never really did anything specifically for the purpose of college admissions - I did what I did because it was interesting to me. I think that’s why I got in, honestly. No, my application wasn’t perfect, but it reflected an extremely intimate image of me, not something I manufactured so that colleges would think I was perfect.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted everywhere else: UT Austin, TCU, Rice

General Comments:

Before I say much else, I want to tell a little story. Around this time last year, on my spring break, I was laying awake in the middle of the night in a hotel in Providence, just having toured the school of my dreams and paralyzed with the fear of the fact that I may not get in. From that point, I was led to this website, where I devoured every piece of knowledge I could garner on the perfect admissions essay, how to remedy the “mistakes” I made during high school, and basically how to avoid being heartbroken. Needless to say, junior year was not the best time for me. Every test I took, all-nighter I pulled, I was focused on Brown. If I didn’t get in, I was convinced that I would never be anyone, that my future was ruined. And when my anxiety was running especially high, I would come running back to the decisions thread from last year to soothe my pain/remind myself how unsuccessful I am - whatever was fitting for the occasion.

Today at 4:00 exactly, I found out I was admitted. Yet in that space between the end of my junior year and now, I learned a very hard lesson. To be entirely focused on one school - the “dream school” - often does nothing but hurt you. Yes, I learned a lot about the college admissions process, but at a price that almost cost me my mental health. So in that space between, I learned how to get excited about other schools, to be open and willing to accept my mistakes, and ultimately that even if I didn’t end up getting into Brown, that I would be okay. So when I opened that acceptance letter, I was of course ecstatic. Yet I know now that even if it was the world’s fattest rejection letter, I would’ve been okay - something that I never thought I would be able to say a year ago.

To any juniors who are undoubtedly reading this thread, panicked and taking notes like I was, I want to tell you to try to enjoy the process that is about to ensue. My time with it is almost up, and while it has been unbelievably stressful, it can also be one of the most fun times of your life. Don’t procrastinate, don’t get too attached, and always remain true to who you are and who you want to be, as corny as that sounds. Never do something just to impress colleges - follow what you’re interested in, and I promise everything else will fall into place.

To everyone else who was admitted, congrats! To those who were rejected/waitlisted, I know you’re going to end up where you’re supposed to be. Taking the step to even apply to a school like this is amazing in and of itself. For me, I’m not sure if I’ll end up at Brown (I can hear 11th grade me dying at that), but it’s amazing that I have such an amazing option. Sorry for being so melodramatic, but I know what I would have wanted to hear in this position last year. So I guess the best piece of advice to others would be to get off of this decision thread and go follow your passions!

I’m not sure if I’ll be posting much more on this site as this whole insane journey is coming to a close, but for what it’s worth, the advice and encouragement I’ve gotten has been amazing. Apply to schools you love, don’t apply for a name. Don’t compare yourself to others because what’s important is what makes you YOU. At the end of the day, colleges are admitting a person, not a collection of scores and awards, so don’t be afraid to be yourself, no matter how scary/dangerous that may seem. I did, and I’m happy with where I ended up.

9

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2230 (Reading: 780, Writing: 760, Math: 690 lol)
ACT (breakdown): 31
SAT II: Didn’t take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9 ish
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 6/604
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP World History (5), AP Studio Art 2-D (3), AP US History (4), AP Language and Composition (5), AP Physics I (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Micro- and Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, AP US Government and Politics, teacher’s aide, regular English 12
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A lol

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Tennis (4 years total, 2 years as Captain), Karate (12 years), Science Olympiad (2 years), Girl Up Club (President/Founder - just started it senior year).
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: Girl Up Club / Feminist Youth Society,Goodwill Ambassadors Club, Red Cross, Key Club.
Summer Activities: Tennis clinic, took a sociology class at local community college.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): I…don’t really know how to rank them 1-10 but I’ll try. Essay #1 (8-9/10??): wrote about being sexually harassed and standing up for myself and wanting to stand up for others who aren’t as vocal. Essay #2 (8-9/10): Wrote about Pokemon and how Professor Oak’s piece of advice has resonated with me and motivated me to become more vocal about social and political issues. I thought it was cute. Brown Supplements: (8/10) Really showed my interest in my goals toward social and political justice and health/medicine as well as how I would fit in at Brown.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: AP Physics Teacher, white male, knows I hate/literally cannot do physics. I totally dozed off during AP test, but I am his TA this year and he is my SciOly coach. Pretty sure he likes me, but he’s quite reticent so I can’t really read his thoughts. I make him laugh (a rarity!). Recommendation should be decent.
Teacher Rec #2: AP Lang Teacher, white male, 2nd amendment loving, former sniper or something. This dude has made me cry (lol), but we have a good relationship and he knows me pretty well – so his recommendation was great, haha.
Counselor Rec: So my previous counselor, who I had frequently visited my first three years left my school, and I got switched to a new counselor who barely knew me. So… that blew. However, I requested a letter of rec in a pretty professional manner with a shiny folder and a prepared resume and crap so that probably looked nice. Honestly, upon first meeting him I cried when we talked about my school career and college and stuff. probably showed my passion or whatever.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: Didn’t have one. Totally got intimidated and ignored the e-mail. Noooot my best moment. I meaaaan… I played hard to get :wink: probably good for me because I’m kind of awkward and blunt and have Resting B* Face and they probably would’ve hated meeting me in person.

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: 1) Health and Human Biology 2) Sociology
State (if domestic applicant): California, USA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Vietnamese, Filipino
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Grew up around Oak Park (high crime/poverty) --> wrote about wanting more political representation (in low income/high crime/etc. areas and for minorities) and wanting to be able to study healthcare and sociological norms.

Reflection:
Strengths: Essays for sure! I ranked them 8-9 but I can see how an admissions officer would like them even more. ECs showed commitment to a few # activities (rather than light contribution to 50000000 clubs like some ppl), and fervor for social issues that include health rights, racism, poverty, and all interconnections.
Weaknesses: SAT/ACT is decent but not the BEST! ECs aren’t as extensive as some others (aka, no I have not won any major awards, I haven’t cured every disease or was published in a major literary magazine or was recognized for my incredible Biological prowess for successfully splitting an atom – though I did demonstrate genuine growth and thoughtfulness in my ““limited”” activities). Was suspended in my junior year, but I wrote an honest reflection. Also, Asian pre-med hahahahah.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Wrote about wanting Southeast Asian political representation and wanting to become more politically involved in community. Buuuut, honestly, I have no idea.

Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: UC Irvine, Merced, San Diego, Davis, Berkeley. Rejected: Stanford (brother goes here), Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, UCLA (otha brotha goes here). Waitlisted: Washington University in St. Louis.

General Comments: I apologize if the way I wrote above seems really ungrateful or aloof, but that’s just my mind at the moment. When I applied to Brown I never thought I would get accepted so I kind of tucked it away in the back of my mind. When I actually got accepted I was (and am) extremely thrilled… and entirely confused. After I wrote all my stats out I wonder why I was accepted. I am eternally grateful that Brown thought I was qualified to attend their school. Super humbled. I’m a little hesitant… lowkey waiting for their “SIKE!! We accidentally accepted you” notification because I still can’t believe I got in.

Congrats to my fellow admits, and to those who did not get accepted: ur fine bro!!! don’t worry!! Congrats on being awesome anyway. We’re all amazing no matter what college we attend – whether it’s Harvard, Brown, or community college.

10

Decision: Waitlisted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2360 - 800 CR, 770 M, 790 W
ACT: n/a
SAT II: 800 USH, 740 Chem, 720 Lit
Unweighted GPA (4.0 scale): 4.00
Weighted GPA (4.0 scale): 5.68
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 5% of 378
AP (place score in parenthesis): Human Geography, World History, US History, Chemistry, Comparative Government (all 5’s)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Gov, AP Econ, AP Statistics, AP Physics 1, Spanish IV H, Juvenile Law H/Homicide H,
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, NHRP, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Four year Varsity and Club soccer (1 year as captain) - top nationally ranked teams, Spanish Honor Society (President), Pre Law Society (electives every semester and internship), NHS (Treasurer), Rho Kappa
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: Sailing Instuctor every summer (~400 hours)
Summer Activities: sailing, soccer. Did an 8 day program on IR at GU.
Essays: Common App about teaching sailing
Teacher Recommendation: great
Counselor Rec: 10/10 great relationship

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Political Science
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: top ranked private school
Ethnicity: Hispanic (Spain, Mexico)
Gender: M
Income Bracket: high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM

Reflection:
Strengths: test scores, grades, URM
Weaknesses: course load could have been more challenging. Never took AP Calc, AP Lang, AP Physics C, or a few of the other more difficult courses at my school.
Where accepted: Yale, Penn, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, BC, UVa, WUSTL, USC
Rejected: Harvard

11

Decision: Waitlisted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1890 (570 CR, 720 M, 600 W)
ACT (breakdown): 33 (35 R, 31 M, 34 S, 32 W)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 740 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Don’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): 3 AP European History, 3 AP Language, 4 AP Chemistry
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Literature, AP Spanish, AP Calc BC, Government, Politics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
AP scholar, National Honors Society, Spanish National Honors Society

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
High School Volleyball Team (9 Freshman, 10 JV, 11 varsity)
Club Volleyball (9, 10)
Piano (11 years)
Freshman Mentoring (11, 12)
Social Media coordinator for a nonprofit organization (11, 12)
Selected as a member of the school district’s student and board of education relations committee (12)
Feminist Club Vice President and initiating member (11, 12)
Chemistry Club Member (12)

Job/Work Experience: Work at American Eagle
Volunteer/Community service: over 400 hours through freshman mentoring
Summer Activities: attended Brown University summer program
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9, discussed my childhood as a Kenyan-American and how that impacted me
Brown Supplement essays: 5, I didn’t get time for someone to edit or even read them
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Didn’t read, she likes me a lot, 9
Teacher Rec #2: didn’t read, she’s fond of me though, 8
Counselor Rec: didn’t read, don’t know her well but she likes me, 9

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: International Relations
State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
Country (if international applicant): United States
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Black, East African
Gender: F
Income Bracket: $75,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Black, female

Reflection

Strengths: standardized test scores, essays, recommendations
Weaknesses: AP scores, no EC’s were done for all 4 years
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea

Accepted to: Penn, USC (presidential scholarship finalist), Northeastern (Honors Program), Ohio State University, Boston College, Johns Hopkins, GWU,
Rejected: Brown
Waitlisted: Tufts, American

General Comments :
Please don’t spend too much time on this website comparing yourself to other students. Not a single person here will be able to determine your acceptance, deferral, or rejection from a school, and the process truly is holistic. Unfortunately all you can do is submit your best application and wait until decisions come out, doing anything else will only stress you, and I know this from being a student who used to panic over reading the stats of other applicants.

Doesn’t matter anyways because I got into my dream school, Penn!!!

12

Decision: Accepted (PLME) - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2040 (700M, 640CR, 700W)
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 710 Math I, 660 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/400
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (3); world history (3); spanish lang (5); calc ab (4); apush (5); english lang (3)
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP MicroEcon
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar, Gates Millennium Finalist, Edison Scholarship Recipient, AP Scholar, Hilda Solis Women in Science Award

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): I conduct lab research everyday as part of my school curriculum; NHS/CSF; College outreach program (2); community group(leader); basketball (captain)
Job/Work Experience: Summer internship that i continued throughout the year
Volunteer/Community service: 350 hospital; 500 at local library; NHS/CSF hours
Summer Activities: COSMOS; math classes at local community college since middle school; SCA

Essays (rating 1-10, details): EC 8/10, wrote about struggles of growing up in community and how i have taken advantage of opportunities Area of Study 8/10, wrote about the time as a child i got into math, Why Brown 8/10, wrote about the diversity and how it can open new doors, Where Lived 8/10, wrote about the struggles of my community, Communities 8/10, wrote about team work through my basketball team (Im not sure if im a good writer so dont judge my scoring)

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: Math Teacher; no idea but i had him for 2 years
Teacher Rec #2: English Teacher 8/10; good he’s a published writer
Counselor Rec:10/10, he knows me very well both as a counselor and as a teacher (taught an after school class i took)
Interview: Amazing! Interviewer and i had so much in common; lasted about an hours.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Biology (PLME)
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Latino
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 25,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, First Gen, Women in science

Reflection:

Strengths: Research;URM; Female in science; First gen
Weaknesses: SAT scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think im just different than many applicants in terms of interest and ethnicity
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: Brown, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, UPenn, Columbia, Scripps, F&M, Wellesley,UCLA, UCB,UCI, UCSB,Bowdoin, Middlebury, Occidental, Barnard Waitlist: Wesleyan Rejected: Stanford, Pomona, Harvard

General Comments:
I am so blessed to have been admitted to 6 ivy leagues. it just feels unread. but brown is a contender with PLME

13

Decision: Accepted - RD

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2080 (670R, 630M, 780W; did not send)
ACT (breakdown): 32 (31M, 35E, 34R, 27S)
SAT II: 760 U.S. History, 690 Chemistry (did not send)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81 (5.01W)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5% out of ~450
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (3), Human Geo (4), Psychology (5), Chemistry (3), English Lang (5), US History (5), Spanish Lang (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Spanish Lit, AP Enviro, AP Calc AB, 2 honors classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):None. I have little writing/HOSA awards though.

[ B]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): self-started an organization for animals, published writer, HOSA representative, fostered animals (ALL extremely dedicated)
Job/Work Experience: tutor for underprivileged students
Volunteer/Community service: above really, i emphasized a lot of community service
Summer Activities: community college, volunteering
Essays (rating 1-10, details): Hard to rate but…
Common App: 10/10. easily the most passionate piece i wrote, about my love of reading and books
Area of Study: 8/10. very, very straightforward
Where I’ve Lived 10/10. very different, talked of myself being a crab in my hometown
Why Brown? 10/10. beautiful…everything just flowed. thought it would be generic but the style is very different. stream of consciousness almost
Community 7/10 talked about feminism and how i grew from it.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: english teacher…9/10, i read this one. absolutely beautiful
Teacher Rec #2: chemistry teacher 7/10, wonderful, talked about my health issues
Teacher Rec #3: english teacher 10/10, she is the best teacher at our school, love her so much and i am sure it was excellent
Counselor Rec: 10/10, said i was a once in a lifetime student
Additional Rec: 6/10 from my supervisor…not sure what it said, only assuming
Interview: 8/10, talked a lot about activism and diversity on campus, things i’d like to change about myself. an honest and thoughtful conversation. lasted more than an hour.

[ B]Other:**

Applied for Financial Aid?: yes
Intended Major: English
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public
Ethnicity: hispanic
Gender: F
Income Bracket: -
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first gen

[ B]Reflection:**

Strengths:essays. absolutely essays and extracurriculars were unique. i know i didn’t go into much detail here though.
Weaknesses:scores and GPA
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: a miracle. literally
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: FIU (full merit), UF, PSU (with merit), W&M (w/ merit), Dartmouth (w/merit), NYU (w/ merit), UChicago (full ride)
Rejected: Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Tulane

General Comments:

So elated. this was one of my top choices… good luck to all!

14

Decision: Rejected PLME

Objective:[ul]

[]SAT I and/or ACT (breakdown): 2260 (800 CR, 760 M, 700 W)
[]SAT II (place score in parentheses): 2400 (chem, math 2, bio e)
[]Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): NA
[]Rank/Percentile: NA
[]AP (place score in parentheses): NA
[]IB (place score in parentheses): NA
[]Senior Year Course Load: NA
[]Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NA

[/ul]Subjective:[ul]

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
[]Job/Work Experience: Summer internship with doctor )
[]Volunteer/Community Service: a couple of hundred hours (hospital volunteer + rotary)
[]Summer Activities: 150+ hours shadowing a doc (he even gave me a rec which I used for CA)
[]Essays: CA was good 8.5/10. Supplements were really good 9/10, I spent the most amount of time on my PLME essays which turned out to be a total waste.

[]Teacher Recommendations: average to good prolly 7/10, 8/10
[]Counselor Rec: didn’t know her, so probably very generic
[li]Interview: NA[/li]
[/ul]Other:[ul]
[]Applied for Financial Aid? Nope
[]Projected Concentration: Neuroscience/linguistics PLME
[]State/Country: International, but US citizen
[]School Type: Private
[]Ethnicity: B
[]Gender: M
[]Income Bracket: NA
[]Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none

[/ul]Reflection:[list]
[]Strengths: Def SAT scores, transcripts and ECs
[]Weaknesses: My mid terms were really bad (2Cs) and my ECs were not that unique compared to some other applicants. (plus no sports)
[]Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Average SAT 1, luck
[]Where else you are applying or have already applied: Some ivies and random colleges.
Already got into Tulane 32k/y merit, UCSD, UCLA, Case Western 31k/yr merit, Cal, UNC Chapel Hill
Rejected: Johns Hopkins, Grinnell, Northwestern, UPenn, Yale, Cornell, Tufts
[li]Advice: College admissions are a crapshoot. Good luck to everyone else! [/li]
This one in particular really sucks cause it was my top choice. PLME was the dream.

15

[ size=4][ color=#FFA500]Decision: Waitlisted - RD[/color][/size]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2060 (730R, 590M, 740W)
ACT (breakdown): did not take
SAT II: 710 Literature, 670 US History
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.776, 4.34 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): My school does it in quarters, so top 25%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 AP Lang, 5 AP Studio Art 2D, 4 AP Government, 4 APUSH, 5 AP Psych, 5 AP Statistics
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load:AP Studio Art 3D, AP Literature, AP Music Theory, Honors Wind Symphony (highest performing ensemble), Honors Sociology 1 & 2, Honors Film & Media Study, AP Computer Science
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Published poet in a literary magazine, various state and local art awards, nothing major

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Marching Band (national champions,drum major and section leader for 2 years beforehand), Indoor Drumline (national champions, also section leader), Badminton (captain), Indoor Track (co-captain), founded Debate Club, National Honor Society (vice president)
Job/Work Experience: Currently working at an art studio for kids, recently started my own successful jewelry business
Volunteer/Community service: Standard church, food bank, homeless shelter, etc. - raised $3000 on my own one year for world hunger initiatives.
Summer Activities: Essentially just band - I have rehearsals every other day and then every day for my two respective halves of the summer - but I did an internship on the weekends with a local children’s museum.
Essays (rating 1-10, details): My supplemental essays were strong, but could’ve been better. I wrote my personal/common app essay on my experiences with having synesthesia and how it has altered my perspective on the world and gotten me so interested in psychology and the arts.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 8-10 (I’m guessing) - from my AP English teacher, easily my favorite in my school career - he left the school so I wasn’t able to see him in person and read it, but we had a very strong bond and he is an excellent writer. Likely very good and complimentary.
Teacher Rec #2: 9 - Honors Sociology teacher. One of those teachers I’ll likely stay in touch with for long after high school - her letter was very eloquent and encompassed me well.
Counselor Rec: Pretty standard. I didn’t get to know her that well so her rec was pretty stock, but not bad by any means.
Additional Rec: My middle school Academically Talented teacher who I have kept in touch with long after I graduated Junior High. He was my mentor for my independent study, composing orchestral scores for movies with no soundtrack.
Interview: Went okay, my interviewee graduated 4 years ago so he had a relatively fresh perspective on Brown. We had pretty different interests - he was pre-med and I despise science - but I would say that it went well, and the discussion flowed freely. Nothing special, though.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Psychology, Music, Art
State (if domestic applicant): Connecticut
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public High School
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: $100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First gen 4-year college (?)

Reflection:

Strengths: Published poet, independent study, letters of recommendation, supplemental art and music portfolios
Weaknesses: Grades, test scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I have a lot of accomplishments under my belt, but I need time to work my grades up and possibly even take the SATs again. I’m just not as competitive in those areas. I’m a little upset, but it by no means was a surprise that I wasn’t immediately accepted. I’m so happy for this second chance!
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted Eugene Lang/The New School (likely attending), Accepted Tulane, Accepted Fordham, Accepted UConn; Waitlisted NYU Gallatin; Rejected Vassar, Rejected Wesleyan; waiting to hear back from Reed College.

16

Please reserve discussion for the RD Discussion thread, and use this one only for results. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!
**Decision: Accepted - RD (with Likely Letter) **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2140 (800 Math, 700 CR, 640 Writing). Didn’t submit to any school that didn’t require it.
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36 Math, 35 Science, 35 English, 34 Reading)
SAT II: 800 Math II, 780 US History, 730 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 8/350
AP (place score in parenthesis):
AP Calc AB (5), AP World History (5), AP US History (5), AP Calc BC (5), AP Physics 1 (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): School doesn’t do IB
Senior Year Course Load:
AP Computer Science A, AP Spanish, Differential Equations (Dual Enrollment), AP Bio, AP Gov, AP Lit
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Quiz Bowl (State Champion 11th, Captain 12th)
Boy Scouts (Life Scout)
After-school choir/voice lessons
I also put Fantasy Football Commissioner at the bottom of my activities section just for kicks, maybe that won me some brownie points.
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: Lots of volunteer service through Boy Scouts throughout high school.
Summer Activities: Stanford Pre-College Program (Theory of Relativity)
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Common App: 6/10. I wrote it for my EA school (Stanford) and then didn’t edit it between November and January which in hindsight was a big mistake. I talked about how I had learned throughout high school that grades weren’t the only thing that mattered and that it’s important to be a more well-rounded person.
Community: 7/10. Discussed how I’ve recently realized I can find a community of people with varied interests, not just in STEM.
Drawn to Field: 9/10. Talked about how I loved that statistics was multi-faceted.
Skill in Field: 10/10. Probably my best supplement I wrote for any school. I wrote about how my experience trying to create a formula to rank all 128 college football teams grew into my love for statistics.
Where I’ve Lived: 8/10. Talked a bit about my parents’ divorce and the various circumstances that has led to.
Why Brown: 9/10. One of the better supplements I wrote for any school, I talked about the undergrad focus at Brown, open curriculum etc.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: 9/10 11th grade Honors Physics teacher. Probably my favorite teacher in high school, who knew me quite well. We talked at length about what kind of schools I was applying to and thus how he should write the rec letter.
Teacher Rec #2: 10/10 11th grade Brit Lit teacher. I chose her both because we liked each other quite a bit, but also because she’s a fantastic writer and has had a novel published.
Counselor Rec: 9/10. I had the same counselor for all 4 years, and I met with him relatively frequently and I felt like we knew each other quite well. His past students have mentioned getting good rec letters from him.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: 8/10. Seemed like a nice guy, we connected well despite the fact his field is very different from mine. I talked about everything I liked on my visit to Brown, and we discussed how the school has changed over the past 20 years.

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Applied Math/Economics
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Public (pretty strong public, though)
Ethnicity: White and Indian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: >$150k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Not sure how much of a hook it is, but my dad has received a relatively prestigious award. I mentioned it once in my Common App essay and that was it, didn’t want to make it look like I was dwelling on it or anything.

Reflection:

Strengths: My recommendations and test scores.
Weaknesses: My Common App essay and extracurriculars.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I tried to make my transition from STEM kid to well-rounded with a STEM focus a theme throughout my application, which would show I wouldn’t get lost in Open Curriculum while still using it proactively.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: UCLA, Carleton, Emory, Michigan (in-state)
Waitlisted: Penn, Duke, WUSTL
Rejected: Stanford (ED), Harvey Mudd, MIT
General Comments: I’m very happy I got in. Once I didn’t get into Stanford, Brown became my first choice so I’m almost certainly going to attend.

17

Decision: Rejected - ED

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):N/A
ACT (breakdown): 34 (35M, 35S, 33R, 32E)
SAT II (place score in parentheses): N/A
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.952
Weighted GPA: 4.752 (Weird weighting scale)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/270
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc AB:5, Microeconomics:5, Macroeconomics:4, Physics C Mechanics:3
IB (place score in parentheses):N/A
Senior Year Course Load:AP Physics C E and M, Music Appreciation(Needed the art credit), AP Biology, Business Management Advanced Studies, Ap Literature and Composition, Student Council, AP U.S. Government, Student Aide, Ap Stats
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):
DECA State Champion SEM
DECA State Finalist SEM 2x
Business Student of the Year (My school)
Best Treasurer in my Region (BBYO)

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:
DECA (Procurement Manager, then Treasurer)
FBLA
JSU (Treasurer, Secretary)
BBYO ( CITY vp, treasurer, secretary, newsletter writer/editor, Regional Newsletter Writer/editor)
NCSY( City Vice President)
Lacrosse 1 year jv
Lacrosse 2 years varsity
National Honors Society
Varsity Quiz
Ambassadors (recruit kids to my school) (Long term fundraising chair)
Boys State Honors City Mayor
Job/Work Experience: Internship at a Small Investment Banking Firm
Volunteer/Community service: NHS, Ambassadors, Youth Groups
Summer Activities: Internship
Essays:
9/10
Teacher Recommendation:
9/10
9/10
Counselor Rec:10/10
Additional Rec: 9/10 from the guy i interned for
Teacher Rec #1:
Teacher Rec #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Rec:
Interview: 10/10 (The interviewer said Wow at the end)

Other:

Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: Economics
State (if domestic applicant): NV
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Magnet
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 200,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):N/A

Reflection:

Strengths: My GPA, ACT Score, Well-rounded Business Extracurriculars
Weaknesses: My application doesn’t scream Brown
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: There are a lot of great students applying for a limited number of spots.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted:Indiana-Bloomington, Tulane, Arizona State University, San Diego State University, Northeastern, Vanderbilt
Waitlisted: Washington University in St. Louis
Rejected: Yale, Penn, Cornell, Brown

18

Decision: Accepted

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 2200 780 WR, 700 M, 720 CR
ACT (breakdown):n/a
SAT II: 750 E-Bio, 760 US History, 700 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81 (had some b’s) 4.36 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A, probably top ten
AP (place score in parenthesis): US history (5), Art History (5), Eng Lang (5), Bio (4), AP Enviro, AP Lit + Comp, AP Calc AB, AP Poli Sci, AP Econ
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: 4 APs and honors class
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar w/ honors, National novel writing award, national merit commended, people to people international award (not that important), online writing awards, sports awards

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

Varsity soccer and track (4 years + sprints captain),
Gender-sexuality alliance (pres + founder),
National novel writing month(s) -( won an award for this) -
Editor and writer of student-run lit magazine,
People to People Student Ambassadors,
Junior classical league (just a member),
Published on juke pop novels website + articles in Diverse Voices Quarterly, Blue Pencil and Teen Ink -
I also did a lot of club sports and got state/regional recognition. Not recruited though.

Job/Work Experience: N/A

Volunteer/Community service: LGBT Center OC, Heifer International, Hands for Africa, Food Bank, Gay for Good

Summer Activities: Stanford Summer College (took writing and sociology classes) - As in both, People to People Student International Trip to Italy Spain and France, travelled to Tanzania one year and track-trained for one.

Essays: common app is 10/10 - I wrote about how my afro helped me come out of the closet
Brown supplements:
Community short: talked about mixed identity between my Nigerian side and American side - really creative
–Why Brown: talked about how I learn creatively in life and how it would help me at Brown
–Where have you lived: Talked about SoCal in a creative way
–Why this major: talked about creative writing/literature and how it effects our understandings of each other
–Extracurricular short: talked about my experience writing a narrative novel about QWOC character like me

Teacher Recommendation:
Art History teacher: 10/10 I participated a lot in her class and she really liked me + Art history was my favorite subjects last year
Bio teacher: probably 7-8/10 because I did well in his class but I wasn’t his favorite student or anything, but I stand out a lot in general.

Counselor Rec: Ehh… I would say 8-9/10 because I stand out a lot among my class and I had a really good interview with her but she has so many students so I’m not really sure.

Additional Rec: Fiction writing professor from stanford: 10/10 - I talked to her a lot over the summer and she helped me edit/polish a lot of my creative writing work. She knows me very well. (didn’t get to send this one to brown)

Interview: Great! My interviewer told me I was very fun to talk to.

Other
I submitted a resume because common app didn’t let me put everything down.

Applied for Financial Aid?: marked yes but ended up not applying.
Intended Major: English/Creative Writing, Modern Culture and Media
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: SUPER competitive public school probably will work against me.
Ethnicity: I’m mixed - half Nigerian and half American (so I put down African-American)
Gender: XX
Income Bracket: ~200k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, and I’m not sure being queer counts but I emphasized that too in my app

Reflection

Strengths: ESSAYS ESSAYS ESSAYS - if the rest of my app wasn’t strong enough, my essays got me a second chance. Also SAT scores and unique extracurriculars - but honestly i think my essays played the biggest part.
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: QWOC who wants to be a writer? Idk.
Weaknesses: GPA probably, not a lot of super prestigious awards, super competitive class, I have a lack of work experience.

Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Essays, unique ECS, prevalent academic focus

Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: still waiting on all the ivies except Dartmouth
-Accepted to: Stanford, Yale, Brown, Cornell (CAS), NYU, Tufts University, Barnard College, UCLA, Emory University, Sarah Lawrence College, UCSB honors program, UC Santa Cruz Regents scholar, University of San Francisco, Boston University Honors
-Waitlisted: Columbia and Harvard
-Rejected: UC Berkeley, Princeton, Upenn
Your “Big Red” factor - the most unique thing in your application: … Probably just getting a second look because my essays are pretty good, but I don’t know. College admissions are part crapshoot.

19

Decision: WRECKED

Will try to be as transparent as possible

Objective:

  • [] SAT I: 1800 (690CR, 510M, 600W) (Highest score in my school)
    [    ] SAT II: None, partly because I didn’t know of their existence or importance until senior year. This one is actually my fault though.
    [] Unweighted GPA (out of 100):82/100
    [    ] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 35%
    [] AP (place score in parenthesis): School didn’t offer exams, didn’t even know of their existence until senior year
    [    ] Senior Year Course Load: AP English, Pre-Calculus, Physics, Writing, Government (That was the most rigorous available at my school, no other APs were offered)

Subjective:

[ul]
[] Extracurriculars: School didn’t offer much in the way of extracurriculars: Uniform Committee, Student Council, MS Word Class, Philosophy course taken outside of school (4.0 earned)
[] Essays: ?/10 - Talked about one of the many problems that come with being from a low-income area (wasn’t cliche)
[li] Teacher Recommendations:[/li]English Teacher 10/10 - Said I was the best writer in the class

Global Hist Teacher & Assistant Principal 10/10 - Said I was the smartest student in the school

AP Global Hist Teacher 5/10 - A bit generic, mostly a repeat of my resume
[] Counselor Rec: Didn’t see it
[] Additional Rec: Principal - Didn’t see but has also called me the smartest student in the school
[li] Interview: 8.5/10 - It was more of a casual conversation than anything else. Went pretty well[/ul][/li]
Other

  • [] State (if domestic applicant): NY
    [    ] School Type: Public
    [] Ethnicity: African-American
    [    ] Gender: M
    [] Income Bracket: <$15,000
    [    ] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM, first gen, low income

Reflection

[ul]
[] Strengths: Recommendations, Brown supplemental essays ( I compared Brown’s open curriculum to a Japanese learning system, which I thought was pretty unique)
[] Weaknesses: Everything else
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Committed to Binghamton[/ul][/li]
General Comments:
I knew I wasn’t qualified from the start. By senior year I had already convinced myself that applying to any ivies would be a waste of time for me, but I read about Brown’s open curriculum and mission statement and fell in love like a sucker. Brown’s whole philosophy resonated with me and I honestly felt that I could succeed in the kind of atmosphere it promoted. I poured my soul into the Brown supplemental essays. Didn’t matter, still rejected anyway. As soon as I mucked up my freshman year that was it for me with the ivy leagues. I tried to explain it a bit in my personal statement, and my assistant principal’s recommendation also touched on it, but the bottom line is that these schools don’t care, they want complete excellence and unfortunately freshman year was a period of weakness for me where I temporarily took my eye off the ball.

To all admitted: Congratulations!

To future applicants who are similar to me: If your GPA is low don’t even bother, even with an upward trend, it doesn’t matter. The competition is too intense for it to matter, and it’s only going to get worse from here on out. Despite what many will tell you, getting into the top schools is basically formulaic at this point (I didn’t know the formula, but that’s another one of the problems that stem from being from a low income area). Follow the formula best you can and hope for the best. If I knew back in freshman year what I know now I’m almost positive I’d be posting a different result right now.

For reference, nobody else in my school who applied to ivy leagues got in. Not a single person. They all had higher GPAs, but lower SAT scores than me. So no, despite the impression you’d get from reading CC, affirmative action doesn’t influence much.

20

Denied

Objective:

SAT I (breakdown): 800 m, 720 cr , 720 wr 8 essay
ACT (breakdown):
SAT II: 730 Chinese, 720 m2, 710 m1, 670 wh, 770 ush
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 25/650
AP (place score in parenthesis): did not send but 2 2s, 3 3s, and 5 4s
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: all honors and AP/DE
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): VP Math, Treasurer German, Varsity Swimming for 4 years, Spanish, National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard
Volunteer/Community service: 133 hours
Summer Activities: Travelling, community service, work, summer assignments, classes, relaxing
Essays: I thought they were decent
Teacher Recommendation: didn’t read
Counselor Rec: Decent
Additional Rec: Eh
Interview: Wasn’t contacted for one
Other

Applied for Financial Aid?:
Intended Major: International Relations, Art
State (if domestic applicant): FL
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Upper Middle
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Art? I didn’t win anything huge, but I definitely emphasized this in my app

Reflection

Strengths: Scores
What you tried to focus on in your application - any hooks you tried to make for yourself: The artsy side of me
Weaknesses: Grades for sure.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: no idea. I thought I had a chance with the art supplement, but I guess not
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
Accepted: Rice, USC, UVa, UNC CH, UF, UCF
Waitlisted: Notre Dame, NYU Stern, JHU, Cornell
Rejected: Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, UPenn, Brown, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Duke ( I know, I know. I did these schools because YOLO)

Pretty depressing week. I knew getting into college would be tough, but I was really hoping for something in the northeast to admit me. Chances are pretty low, but I’m praying that I will get off the Cornell waiting list. For now, I’m going to Rice.