<p>I’m a current junior and my dream school is Brown, because of its open curriculum that lets you choose what you love to study and the sereneness of the school itself.</p>
<p>However, my GPA is definately not my strong point. I have a 3.67UW and 4.0W, mostly because of a C in AP Chem (I know, gasp, everyone on CC is the next Einstein. or so it seems) and Honors math classes (I know, you’re probably questioning my intelligence).</p>
<p>So science? not my forte. same with math… yuck. </p>
<p>But I do truly love history and English, and I have gotten consistant As on those classes. My SAT is a 2230 as of now, but I will definatey take it again to achieve a 2300+, and I have four 750+ SAT2 scores. </p>
<p>I have taken community college classes relating to history and english, and yada yada yada. And extra currics, I have it all.</p>
<p>So I was wondering: </p>
<p>Is it completely bogus of me to reach for BROWN because of my GPA? Or do I have a legit chance? </p>
<p>(I would appreciate real insight on this, this isn’t a chance kind of thing – past applicants, especially if you didn’t have a 5.0 or a ridic high GPA… insight please!)</p>
<p>I think you'd be quite well suited to apply to Brown. In my opinion, the most important thing is showing them that you love something want want to peruse it. GPAs and SATs are not nearly as important as this, as we see in the rejection of more than 50% of applicants who obtain perfect subcategory scores on the SAT.</p>
<p>Oh and my strong point was convincing them that I'm ready to do anything to help other people.</p>
<p>I agree with matt--don't count yourself out just yet. My SATs were actually lower than your current score and my SATs, on average, were lower. Albeit, my GPA was higher, but that's because I found everything, to an extent, interesting. But you make up for that by showing passion in other areas. Your course load and ECs will definitely help in showing a strong interest one way. Personally, I think it was mainly showing an interest in languages and emphasizing it that got me in.</p>
<p>Yeah baby! 2230's where the party's at as far as SAT's go!
Lol, I'm heading to Brown next year so I thought I should chime in to say that the majority of acceptees don't have 2300's... If you make it into the 700's for each exam, the 20 or 30 pts in each category won't push you into a special bracket or anything, so my advice is to not worry too too much about the scores if you do take them again. My reading/writing were low 700's, but my Math was 800, and I consistently demonstrated my interest and passion for math throughout my application, without coming across like it's all I do. My point is simply that the scores just prove that your bright and intelligent to a large degree, but the personal qualities that emanate from your writing are what will make the admissions committee want you! Good luck! Hope to see you next spring!</p>
<p>I got my first two C's my senior year in high school (Calculus and Physics).</p>
<p>My SAT score was 1100 (this was when it was out of 1600).</p>
<p>I was val. in my class, but had 3.13 GPA (out of 3.8)</p>
<p>I played a sport and was in Key Club.</p>
<p>So I guess maybe it was because I was well rounded. In all honestly, I really sometimes wonder what was the reasons that they used to justify me getting in.</p>
<p>Anything can happen. Apply, its a loss of 70 dollars, but it might be worth a shot (at least thats what the application fee was when I applied 4 years ago).</p>
<p>I'm currently a Junior and plan on applying to Brown next year.
I was wondering if being the creator of Badminton Club would make me stand out...</p>
<p>Well, it's not that alone. I'm a leader of Diversity Club, might be a leader in one or two more next year, my transcript is all A's (all honors/AP), some other stuff... but I know that's what everyone is going to have.
I was just wondering if that would be considered a strong point. I really need some more distinguishing things... I'm still made my parents won't let me take college courses this summer.</p>
<p>blink, it all depends on what you do with your leadership. If you have one meeting a week and discuss classic badminton games -- yawn, how boring. If you run a badminton camp this summer for elementary school kids, continue it as an afterschool program in the fall and convince the school board to make it a varsity sport; if the Diversity Club raises money, holds a significant conference, gives testimony to the state Legislature -- now, those type of actions bring some spark to your application and show that you are creative and take action. What did you do with your leadership and what did you learn from it? That's what colleges want to know, not that you were president of some club that met once a week.</p>
<p>For my application, I don't think my grades or my SAT scores stand out. But I'm pretty sure my show of my passion for astronomy showed through. I wrote my college essay about spending time with my telescope, wrote I was the founder of the astronomy club at school, attended astronomy camp, did a self coordinated community service involving public stargazing throughout my state, and had my astronomy teacher write one of the recommendations for me. I think that for applications nowadays, you should not just give them a name of your activity and your position and leave it at that. You should definitely go in depth about that particular activity to show how involved, seriously honest, and passionate you are about it...the more knowledgable (aka prof.) you are at it, the better. To give you a better idea, Brown's admissions officer recently visited my school and said that they used to admit students who played soccer. Nowadays, they admit "soccer players".</p>
<p>I'm not sure they do. My writing section was the worst for me (but still good, just bad relative to my other 2 sections) and none of my schools quite frankly seemed to care.</p>
<p>I'd say my essays were really strong. It's important and helpful to have the grades/GPA/scores/rank, etc...but when all the applicants have exactly the same or very similar grades and whatnot, you just need the other parts of your application to stand out. Essays, ECs, community service, employment, etc.</p>
<p>your writing score alone will get you no where; it's a package. so don't worry about that. your job here is to present what you have in the best, most accessible and impressive way possible. That's your strong point. There is no one thing -- it has to be everything.</p>
<p>from what i can tell brown really emphasizes the importance of writing, but this includes helping people who don't start out at the top- i'm just looked at the accepted students booklet and it says that there's a writing center that any brown student can use for free </p>
<p>but obviously better writing skills = better essay = better chances at getting in. so solid writing skills are good to have</p>
<p>other than that i think they really look for people who can contribute- i think i said that my sister is a good runner, so that's a good example- she isn't just a typical honor roll student, she is an honor roll student PLUS a super athlete. basically just do what everybody says and find something to be passionate about and then play that up! like if you volunteer someplace often, or if you're a concert musician, or if you can speak 5 languages. i don't know, i'm making some inferences here, but they seem right to me!</p>
<p>So, i just read the responses on here and a most of you stated one thing in common...stand out and show a passion for something. My question is, how much?</p>
<p>I'm currently at the end of my junior year, and Brown is my dream school. Number wise, I'm not the strongest applicant (i.e I don't have a 2300+ or a 4.0 uw) however, I am interested in biology and this is my passion. I'm in science club at school was elected Vice President for next year, mentored kids with vernal pool studies/research, working at a genetics lab for a part of the summer, also interning at a Biotech company, volunteered at hospital, pediatric office, and bunch of other places. I'm pretty sure my essay will have something to do with Bio/science. My question is, does this show enough "passion" like some of you mentioned? Oh, and these aren't my only activities, these are mainly just the science related ones.</p>