My grade has about 500 students in a pretty competitive public school in MA. I know 3 people who are going to apply ED to Brown (my dream school) and have legacy, URM status, and pretty good ECs (slightly lower stats but probably won’t matter). I know that me getting into Brown will ultimately matter on what I do and not what others do, but I was nevertheless wondering if this competitive ED applicant pool at my school would lower my chances of getting in. Thanks!
You are competing against a much larger group of students than those from your HS. Colleges do not have quotas by HS.
That said, I’d strongly recommend that you give up the idea of a dream school and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be happy to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Assuming no hook Brown is a reach for everyone.
That seems rather typical to me. I’ve known schools with smaller class sizes with even more kids applying to the same selective school. My oldest had 9 kids accepted out of a dozen who applied to Harvard one year. It was a banner year for Harvard acceptances at that school that sent a very strong message that Harvard wasn’t placing individual school quotas. I also saw an unusual number of kids accepted to Bowdoin from a schoolone year.
I think kids from an area, like the north east or the Bay Area in CA where a lot of students apply to the same selective schools may have a challenging go at it. That there are so many very well qualified students from those areas make it tough too. Though there are nuances among the various schools there that are well known among the locals, such things may not be as important to college admissions officers other than at several well known schools. I remember it was hard for some of the Catholic school crowd to get that a given college wasn’t necessarily going to differentiate between Cardinal Johns and St, Benedict’s. They’’ll all be placed pretty much in same category and your competition isn’t just the kids in your own school.
https://www.collegedata.com/en/college-profile/163/?tab=profile-admission-tab says that Brown does list class rank as “very important”, so there is some competition between you and others at your high school (which could be in your favor if your class rank is better). However, lots of other things are “very important” to Brown, including things that are difficult for applicants to observe and compare with others (e.g. essay, recommendations, character/personal qualities, etc.).
According to a quick google search, last year Brown had 32,724 applicants. You will be competing with approximately this number of applicants again this year or next. Whether Brown gets 4 or 5 or 10 applicants from your high school won’t make much difference. If you get in you will know this did not matter. If you don’t get in, then you will probably never know why not.
As @happy1 said, you need to consider a range of schools and apply to at least two safeties (which Brown definitely is not), as well as match and reach schools. Brown is a great school, but there are a lot of other great schools for you to consider. Also, as @happy1 also said, you should find out your budget and take this into consideration.
Good luck with the process.
Occasionally a school like Brown will accept a higher stats unhooked applicant along with the legacies, URMs, and sports recruits within one school, just to keep the guidance counselors and parents from complaining too loudly about the unfairness the system. Not always, just occasionally. So take your shot regardless of what your fellow students are doing. However, realize you are competing with ALL applicants, not just those from your high school. Find some other dream schools, ones where your stats put you in the top 25% or so. Having one reach school as your one-and-only dream school is a recipe for disappointment.
In at least the past decade, no one has gotten into Brown from our small, ny suburb without going ED. The competition at Brown and schools like it, is brutal. The best thing you can do for your own sanity and well being is to try to fall in love with some schools where you have a great shot at admission.
This board is great at helping kids craft good college lists. If you let us know what you love about Brown, your intended major, financial and geographic constraints, you will get excellent suggestions for schools where you have a great shot.
RUN YOUR OWN RACE.
Have a mix of safeties, matches and reaches.
Figure out what you like about Brown besides it is an Ivy and see what other colleges have those characteristics.
If your Brown is your dream school, just go for it.