<p>I’ll get to the point. My friend had crappy SATs, crappy ECs, a good GPA (around 3.85ish), and he got into Brown. The kicker? His dad is a [. . .] professor there. His SATs (superscore) were [just under 2000]. He is an average, white male, and his only EC is captain of [an athletic] team. He is not an exceptional [athlete]. He is, however, quite good at math. I was just wondering how you guys think he would get into Brown, because even if he had great essays and great recs, it still seems like he wouldnt get in if he were a regular applicant. Also, his course work rigor was tough but not the TOUGHEST. 1 AP junior year (when two are offered), two senior year (when three are offered). </p>
<p>What do ya’ll think?</p>
<p>Nobody ever knows for sure what goes on in the admissions committee. He could round out the class in ways that we have no idea about - perhaps Brown is looking for a new swim captain? Perfection is turned away all the time, and people who have very low SAT scores get in - to shave one down to nothing but numerics seems a little too inhuman, don’t you think? I’m sure the fact that his dad is a professor had some merit - but he can’t change that just as others cannot change other intrinsic factors of their lives. So we deal the hand life gives us.</p>
<p>Having a parent work for the school as professor is a ridiculously huge hook. As long as a professor’s kid isn’t an absolute dope, it’s pretty much in the bag.</p>
<p>Oh yeah.</p>
<p>They really run a HUGE risk by not accepting professor’s kids. Especially if it’s a more prominent professor. Think about it. Say they reject this person’s kid. Stud professor . . . gets upset about this, can’t believe university would do this after all the contributions he or she has made, and consequently leaves to go teach at a rival institution. It’s not that uncommon. It happens all the time; in this instance it would just be in a field more relevant to us. </p>
<p>Granted, you have to remember that the people who teach at a university are going to know the caliber a student has to have in order to survive, and they’re not going to want their children to do miserably. So I don’t think they’re going to set up people for failure… </p>
<p>In conclusion: it is a very, very big hook.</p>
<p>I think you should not have posted so much of your ‘friend’s’ personal info here.</p>
<p>I guess it is a big hook.</p>
<p>And to oreo, I really didn’t mean to sound as witchy (alter first letter) as I did, but still, I have some friends who are INCREDIBLY strong applicants who applied to Brown, and they were all flat out rejected or waitlisted. I was kind of upset because I didn’t find it fair. This ‘friend’ and I are actually friends, so there are no hard feelings there. I just see it as a bit of an unfairnesd because some of my stronger-applicant friends really had their hearts set on going to Brown.</p>
<p>Also, he has recently become a bit bigheaded about this. He was rejected at Harvard, but his excuse was, “they didn’t want me to be accepted at TWO ivies…they thought one was enough.” I was thinking, who is this ambiguous "they’'??? </p>
<p>In the end, I posted this just to see the standards of Brown. In all honesty, I think he does deserve to go to Brown and I know he can handle it (especially math and science), but I just don’t see how his transcript could have stood out besides the professor thing.</p>
<p>dreams: Preference for faculty kids happens at EVERY college, not just Brown. It’s a fact of life. College admissions is not fair – and doesn’t pretend to be fair. </p>
<p>And I agree with oreo, that you put too much info up about your friend. It is too easy to figure out who he is.</p>