Regarding Brown's Regular Decisions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>No offense meant to those who have been accepted, and I’m sure my school does not well represent the entire pool but as an avid brunononian, I think brown made some ****ing stupid decisions in their acceptances at my school.</p>

<p>I go to a private highschool in Northern California.</p>

<p>People who will not fit Brown well at all, but seem to fit other top-level schools well, and will certainly NOT do well/ever go to brown were accepted. I assist an english teacher at school, and so I helped edit about a third of our school’s essays. It was clear from these students essays, statistics, and recs (we edit some of those as well—though I’m not supposed to tell you that) that they would never go to Brown, but instead will go to where they applied early… Stanford, Yale or MIT. They were clearly applying to Brown to build up a list of “ivies” and add more notches in their belt.</p>

<p>Some others (I’m thinking of two in particular, one who’s app I helped with and know every detail—4.0 GPA, 2200+ SAT, BRILLIANT young woman) were denied. These two, I am ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN would have gone to Brown, and I’m unimpressed, because I think they would have done extremely well there.</p>

<p>Here’s what worries me: the beauty of Brown (for me) is that it’s not any of the other ivies. Instead of searching for the highest SAT/GPA, they search for leaders, thinkers, and passionate individuals who have stepped outside of their box. Brown students are fundamentally different in nature than the other ivies. My friend says that Brown is a school for “smart kids who don’t want to work hard.” And that makes me laugh, because I feel that a Brown student truly understands that sometimes, you can work harder at a pass/fail course than in a graded one and why it’s so important to act in a mature manner and take control of your own education.</p>

<p>It seems to me that Brown, whether it’s from pressure via the US News or O’Reilly or something else, is accepting students that much better fit other top-level institutions and ignoring some who fit brown perfectly, but may have a lower gpa/sat/what have you. And I think that’s wrong.</p>

<p>Your comments?</p>

2

<p>Get over it, dude.</p>

3

<p>Your individual experience is sad, but it's hard to tell from that one anecdote if what you've observed is a general trend in Brown admissions. If so, that's definitely troubling. But every college makes mistakes, especially when people's applications are doctored / enhanced / whatever you want to call it. Everyone has a story of their friend who was fantastic and got rejected from school X when some other kid from their school got in who didn't deserve it. Who knows what the admissions committee saw?</p>

4

<p>wow, first of all, amor caelistis, i turly hope you dont go to brown. and if you do, your probably one of those students i hate.</p>

<p>and i know the person who does admission for our area, and he told me that every year he accepts a lot of people who dont choose to go. i think northern california is particularly bad because of him—his yield rate is significantly lower than other officers, it could be just a function of him in this area.</p>

<p>and, once again, amor caelestis, i'm unimpressed, your comment seems directed only to incite, saying 'get over it' never helps anyone ever get over anything. and dont call me a 'dude'.</p>

5

<p>Cypris,</p>

<p>Your comments are uniquely profound and insightful. Paticularly, your last paragraph. And it is quite troubling to some. Brown is trying to figure itself out and there are a number of varying and conflicting approaches to that end.</p>

<p>However, I would point out two important details
(1) California is either the most or 2nd most competitive state for Brown Admissions
(2) A college may not know how seriously they are being considered by the applicant if essays are well crafted (and screened for further polish)</p>

<p>Best Wishes</p>

6

<p>thanks fred, and youre right, california is EXTREMELY competitive, and just because i know these kids so well, i cant be absolutely certain it came across in their applications.</p>

<p>but, there were hints. for example, one girl who got in wrote about how she wants to become a surgeon because everyone tells her it's the "hardest thing" you can do. so, i thought it would be clear she has no idea what she wants to do with her life, or her schooling, and that even in highschool she was typical nose-to-the-grindstone-probably-make-a-great-MIT-student-but-not-brown character.</p>

<p>i guess it didnt work.. who knows? maybe i'll be on the committee at some point</p>

7

<p>I'm not trying to impress you, dude, just giving you a taste of reality.</p>

8

<p>saying.. "get over it" is not giving a taste of reality.</p>

<p>if you really are such a misanthrope, why dont you go somewhere else? there's no place on CC for someone like you.</p>

9

<p>Actually, I think cypris is onto something here. I've been involved in Brown admissions as an alum for years, and I am seeing some different trends these days.</p>

10

<p>does a change in admissions director have anything to do with it?</p>

11

<p>good point... the new admit director could change the flavor of the school.</p>

<p>is there any chance the new campaign has brown looking for a different kind of student? or are we attracting a different type of student now, and just having a hard time choosing brunos?</p>

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<p>More the former than the latter. Incidentally, I sent you a pm</p>

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<p>I like what you are saying, but in my own (and very limited) personal experience, I have seen a very different trend. I was admitted RD, and my stats are definitely character driven. My SAT's were below average (2020) and my class rank was horrid. (40 out of 300) I am going to stick up for the only Ivy that saw something special in my application, and accepted me. By the way, I have no real hook. (Maybe the fact that I'm from Utah, but I wouldn't consider that a super strong hook)</p>

14

<p>roflmao Mo_man, one person is not a trend. To know whether you are part of the trend or just an outlier you need the dataset as a whole.</p>

15

<p>cypris, please tell me you did not just judge amor as the kind of person you would hate based on a one-line post...</p>

16

<p>Cypris is a thirty four year old man. You'd think he'd know better.</p>

17

<p>i didnt judge amor based on one post... he/she's flamed multiple topics now... as you can see above ^, his posts are often useless and directed only to inflame his subject.</p>

<p>mo_man, it's nice to know that you were accepted, and i think you are the example of who should be.</p>

<p>I think part of the problem is that brown does an absolutely miserable job campaigning/selling themselves. The O.C. will help.... but better letters/tours/advertising would really do a lot of good for the university.</p>

18

<p>personal (however provincial) anecdote of sorts:</p>

<p>last year at my school, brown flat-out rejected a girl (smart, dynamic, extraordinarily talented artist) who in my opinion was as good as it gets when it comes to fitting the "brown mold." she had taken a few summer courses at RISD, and sent in a super-impressive art portfolio, but had subpar test scores (good, but not great). </p>

<p>however, the only applicant that got in was a small, socially inept bookaholic boy who passed the SATs in flying colors, wanted to go premed since the incubator (or shortly thereafter, im not positive), but who did little outside of academics.</p>

<p>i personally applied to 11 schools, brown being one of them. i got into 10 of them (including princeton, duke, washu, ...), but was waitlisted at brown. don't get me wrong, i'm not posting this with a bitter taste in my mouth, nor a negative bias (like some do after word of an unfavorable decision). i just found your comment, cypris, to be startlingly accurate within the realm of my own brown experiences/knowledge.</p>

<p>on a final note, perhaps they are just trying to weed out (i actually didnt intend that "pun", but nice) the green-haired, free-spirited, uberliberal lot that has proven to be the basis of the naive, princeton review-esque brown stereotype.</p>

<p>who knows, but i hope thats not the case. b/c thats what makes brown brown damnit! eh, well.. congrats to those who DID get in, and good luck to all of you.</p>

19

<p>As someone who was waitlisted last year, my heart goes out to all those who were not accepted. I know how random and unforgiving the admissions process can be. As comprehensive as it tries to be, it can never truly know its applicants. Some applicants, like the roommate of a friend of mine, know how to put on a show and then when they come to Brown shut themselves away in their room and go home every weekend. Others, friends of mine who I know would have been perfect for this school, slip through the cracks for whatever reason. I know that you’ve probably all heard this before, but for many of applicants who fit the test scores, the grades, the extracurricular involvement it is about luck, how something in your application didn’t catch their eye when it would have on another day or if another admissions officer had read it then maybe it would have gone over better.</p>

20

<p>Thanks, aidnked - you're an inspiration to us waitlisters! (Though I really do realize that I have almost zero chance of getting in..still a little hope.)</p>