Should I apply ED to Brown or Rice?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I go to an average public Texas high school. We send just 4-6 to Ivies/prestigious schools every year.</p>

<p>My test scores are pretty average.
- 33 ACT (33 Eng, 34 M, 33 R, 30 S - got after a week of studying, not retaking)
- Retaking SAT in Oct with a projected 2150 (I got 2020 the first time around with a 670 R, 740 M, 610 W, but I didn't study at all. I'm studying this summer and I've taken a practice SAT since; my projection is reasonable.).
- SAT II: 740 Math I and 780 USH (taking Math II in November for UC Berkeley, will study for 780-800)
- Pretty rigorous courseload, though not overwhelmingly so.
- #7 / 580
- GPA: 3.85 UW / 4.4 W. (Got 3 Bs first semester in 9th grade, all As after that) </p>

<p>EC is weak to OK.
- Yearbook & Newspaper all 4 years, won a few small awards
- Freelance photographer for 2 years
- Key Club (intl organization) member for 3 years, President for 1 year
- Animal shelter volunteer, about 10 hrs / mo, started late junior year
- Member of my county's Youth Democrat Association, started late junior year
- Academic Challenge (2 years), Academic Decathalon (1 year)</p>

<p>I'm not a strong candidate, but I don't think I'm very weak either.</p>

<p>I've basically given up hope on Columbia after going through results on the thread! Cornell was originally my top reach, but I've been swayed to Brown. Brown and Rice are now my top choice and I'm really confused on which to apply ED to. I think I have a better chance for Rice by being in-state, but I prefer the location and school of Brown overall. Honestly, I'd be thrilled with either (or heck, even my other reaches: Cornell, Northwestern, Georgwtown, UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon). </p>

<p>Also- this may be an unimportant & trifling fact, but I'm Middle Eastern and Pakistani. Would I be better off representing myself as one over the other? I think I'm an ORM either way...</p>

2

<p>I might be wrong, but I can’t see you having any chance at all for Brown, no matter when you apply… Read the stellar ECs and perfect stats of the accepted students, or even the waitlist. If you apply ED at Carnegie Mellon you’re almost surely in, and applying ED would probably help you at Georgetown or Northwestern too. Don’t waste your ED on a school you have no chance of getting into, it’s better to make a low reach into an option with your ED.</p>

3

<p>Definitely Rice! I personally know a few students who had similar stats to you got in Rice, but did not get into Brown. It does not mean Brown is much better school than Rice.</p>

4

<p>I’m actually pretty surprised by that, Eli. By my understanding, NU seemed just as selective of a school as Brown (NU’s ranked above Brown in US News and Forbes & their average SAT/ACT scores are similar). Unless Brown focuses more on EC?</p>

<p>Regardless, I’m now strongly considering ED to Rice. Thanks wildwood! …Actually, NU would be my personal choice; its poli-sci program is better and I love the school. But I’m afraid of picking it, getting rejected, and being left thinking “if only I had used my ED for Rice…” I know Rice is an excellent school and I would be only grateful if they accepted me. The only drawback is that Houston is a bore. It doesn’t have much opportunity for political or law-related internships and such.</p>

<p>My EC is really screwing it up. And my grades aren’t perfect. I wasn’t disillusioned until I found CC, though. It’s all about perception; most people in my school are under the impression that I have a good chance to get into Yale or MIT. I say it’s impossible and that I’m not trying to be humble- just truthful. Lol.</p>

5

<p>Brown is more EC based, read the accepted students thread lol… Sorry, but you have almost no shot. You’re going up against Intel finalists, nationally recognized musicians, teenage entrepreneurs, etc… Read it, you’ll understand, I mean you know disrespect, I just don’t believe your application is of the caliber expected for Brown…</p>

6

<p>"Decision: Waitlisted</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2300 (800 CR, 800 W, 700 M)
ACT:
SAT II:790 Bio (M), 770 Literature, 660 Math I
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 98.5/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):1/136
AP (place score in parenthesis): Biology (5), Physics B (5), Language and Comp (5), European History (3), Chemistry (taking currently) (I took every AP offered at my school, if that makes a difference)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Honors English (dual enrollment), Honors French (dual enrollment), Forensic Toxicology (dual enrollment), AP Chem, Honors Calc II (dual enrollment), Honors Statistics (dual enrollment), Honors Public Affairs (dual enrollment), Honors Economics, Photography, American Law
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Nothing major…National Merit Scholarship Commended Student, AP Scholar with Honor, placed in two science essay contests
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School newspaper (Co-founder, Editor, President), Theater club (Treasurer), Science Olympiad, Envirothon, Weather Watch, Student Government (Class secretary 9th grade, class president 10th/11th grade, Executive Council president 12th grade), Johns Hopkins CTY courses, Tennis team
Job/Work Experience: Wendy’s for a while; Math tutor for seventh grader for 7 months
Volunteer/Community service: Hospital volunteer (~200 hours total); Ball-runner/Ball-runner trainer/coordinator for a professional tennis tournament held in my area for four years (~80 hours per year), Assorted activities with my school
Summer Activities: Worked 1 summer, Hospital volunteer/Tennis tournament volunteer for 4 summers, CTY courses 2 summers, and Michigan Math and Science Scholars program the summer before 12th grade
Essays: Common Ap: wrote about how a Geology course I took changed the way I saw the world/learned; Brown essay, wrote about the “Best piece of advice you’ve ever been given” and based it around a quote from a Doors song; “Why Brown” was pretty cliche, you can probably fill in the details
Teacher Recommendation: Should have been good
Counselor Rec: Hmm…well, I don’t know if I read this particular recommendation, but another one he wrote for me had some serious spelling/grammatical errors and kind of painted me as condescending towards my school, so I don’t know what to think!
Additional Rec: Should have been good
Interview: Went really well!
Other
State (if domestic applicant):New York
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: small, rural public school
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Formerly ~110,000; Dad is now unemployed, so I’m not sure.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
None really.
Reflection
Strengths: Essays, SAT I, ranking
Weaknesses: SAT IIs, pretty average ECs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I’m guessing nothing about me really stood out.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Accepted: University of Pittsburgh (Honors College), Penn State U Park (Schreyer Honors College), UNC Chapel Hill (Honors Program), University of Virginia (Echols Scholar), College of William and Mary (Monroe Scholar) Waitlisted: Brown Rejected: None
General Comments: Leaning towards W&M at the moment. Relegated to the Public Ivies; not upset at all. Good luck to everyone else! I’m headed for warmer climes."</p>

<p>"Decision: Rejected</p>

<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2380 (780 CR)
SAT II (if submitted): MathIIC 800, Chemistry 800, Chinese w/ listening 800, English Literature 790
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/300ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): Modern European History (4) CalcBC (5) Chemistry (5) Chinese Language (5) French Language (5) English Language (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Econ/US Government AP, Statistics AP, English Literature AP, physics, journalism, peer tutor
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nothing really. National merit finalist, NCTE, a few piano things.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): manga translator, piano, Chinese violin, school newspaper (In-depth Editor), cultural magazine (managing editor), non-profit organization (owner and secretary), badminton, volunteer QA at startup company
Job/Work Experience: none
Volunteer/Community service: peer tutor at school, English and music teacher in rural China for a summer
Essays: pretty good, somewhat political
Teacher Recommendation: didn’t read but I’m guessing pretty good, nothing spectacular
Counselor Rec: didn’t read but again, I think pretty good, nothing spectacular
Additional Rec: Nope
Interview: Pretty good
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: anthropology with minor in chemistry
State (if domestic applicant): CA
School Type: public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: female
Income Bracket: $200,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): none
Reflection
Strengths: scores, fair amount of extracurriculars
Weaknesses: no big awards, no dominant leadership position"</p>

<p>Enough said…?</p>

7

<p>^ There’s no need for all that, lol. I’ve also seen people with lesser stats get accepted, but those tended to be URM. If you actually read my post, you’d see I pretty much stepped away from Brown and simply asked if they focused more on EC (vs NU / Rice).</p>

<p>Pretty much narrowed down ED choices to NU and Rice. I’m also strongly considering EA for Georgetown, but I guess I’ll wait until I take my SAT in Oct and convince my parents to let me go OOS to fully decide between those 3.</p>

8

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<p>I disagree. I know people (Asian) that get deferred ED with stats like these. Granted, they didn’t get in, but OP might as well apply ED. Also, if Middle Eastern is considered white, then put white. If it is considered Asian, well then you are Asian either way, so you have to put that. If it is in a different category, put that. Avoid putting Asian, unless Middle Eastern is indeed considered Asian by the form.</p>

9

<p>Thank you! I can handle getting deferred, but a straight-up rejection is kind of heartbreaking. But I’ll still use my ED elsewhere, as it seems the wisest choice. </p>

<p>I was looking at the Common App and it put Middle Eastern into “White”. So it’d be slightlyy more advantageous to select that? Thanks :)</p>

10

<p>Yeah, Brown has NO ED advantage so it would be better to stick with another school.</p>

11

<p>Please do not feel like ED is a “use it or lose it” thing. You should only apply ED if a school is head and shoulders your #1.</p>

<p>I believe EliKresses is incorrect in this case. You have a 4.0 excluding freshman year and an ACT score equivalent to a 2200. You definitely have a shot at the Ivies, but you need to focus on what makes you unique. Everyone applying to these schools has scores like yours if not better, so adcoms are looking for the best overall class, not just the smart kids.</p>

<p>I don’t particularly find the two examples he posted all that impressive. #1 has a lot of “paper tiger” ECs and #2 screams stereotypical Asian applicant. </p>

<p>Being from Texas doesn’t help you at Rice because it is a private university. </p>

<p>What do you like about Brown? Cornell, Columbia, and Brown are all very different environments so their place on your list is somewhat confusing. </p>

<p>Just don’t check Asian on the race box.</p>