<p>lol okay so then i have some for advice for you specifically because asians have to take a special approach to college admissions because they just aren’t fair with them. and for everyone else who isn’t asian…you can follow this as a guideline, but really what you have to do is different. this is for asians in particular.</p>
<p>brown is known for putting the most weight on the essays + extracurriculars. this is even more important if you’re asian. if you are an URM with very high scores, you will probably get in no matter what. but no with asians.</p>
<p>college admissions see so many applications each year, so they are really experienced. Although they will NEVER admit it, they really do believe in those asian stereotypes, because, let’s be honest, a majority falls into those categories. but they would be NAILED by the press if they said that publicly.</p>
<p>if you’ve ever looked at the 2014 brown decisions thread here on CC, you will see that many asians amazing scores get rejected. instinctively, you might think that they are expecting an even higher score. don’t be fooled by this. it could ultimately cost you a spot if you think that way. getting an extra 30 points will not matter. Brown views scores 700+ as the same. I know what you’re thinking: 700 and 800 are VERY different. but really don’t focus on your score.</p>
<p>so brown doesn’t like asians that fit those stereotypes…what do you do? avoid science/math/engineering interest. I know this is not fair! what if you want to do this? try not to mention it in your application.</p>
<p>also, brown will reject an asian who they can vision spending hours on a saturday night with his or her nose glued to a textbook. you can’t come across as that. I’m assuming you aren’t like this, but you need to do everything in your power to go against this if you want to stand out. you need to force your application to make you seem like a social butterfly. who do you think gets in, an asian with a 2400, national merit scholar, captain of science olympiad, and intel finalists? or an asian with a worse scores who participated in model un, was class president, and on the debate team?</p>
<p>regarding your essay topic, you need passion and emotion in them. brown is so experienced with applications (just from the sheer number) that they know if it is BS. you just can’t pick a topic that you think is impressive or something that will look good. for example, a good topic can be as strange as how you hatched quails over the summer or why you don’t like to wear shorts. you might think that they are stupid, but if you are generally passionate and have something to say about the topic, then you’ve aced the essay section. you also need to SHOW, and not TELL. this seems pretty vague, but you need to get it right. if you say “…was an invaluable experience. I learned the meaning of a true leader, … blah blah blah” terrible essay. even if you are concluding your essay. DON’T GENERALIZE. the admissions team isn’t dumb. they will probably get the significance, so don’t elaborate on that. show what emotions you were experiencing at the time. give us an anecdote about the experience and take us through step by step showing why you remember it so well today. of course you can’t say those words. you can’t literally say that “…I remember it so well today.” that should be very subtle and implied. the actual essay is the experience. show you have emotions. show you can laugh and cry.</p>
i guess another 5 hours of extreme pressure for me…</p>