<p>What does Brown look for in an applicant? A student who is well-rounded and performs well in many areas, or a student who has a strong, specific subject of interest?</p>
<p>I think both. In my son's case, he was well rounded, strong academics, good varsity level tennis, some community service, nothing stood out, all strong, 2 languages to AP level, strong scores humanities to sciences. But somebody else may say angular, lopsided. I think a good school would want both types. In the end he did not go to Brown. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I recently heard the director of admissions say that the vast majority of Brown students are well-rounded, and that students with a specific talent will not get in unless they are strong applicants across the board. In other words, don't expect an amazing singing voice and acting awards to make up for low grades in math. Are there exceptions to this rule: I'm sure there are.</p>
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In the end he did not go to Brown. Hope this helps.
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He got accepted, right?</p>
<p>Agree with sly_vt: The five kids I've known who were accepted to Brown in the last five years--and who attended--have had exceptional grades, high test scores (not 2400 but high), and a high-school passion in which they were exceptionally talented--art, music, theater, dance, athletics. Compared to the kids from our HS who've been accepted to HYP, the average accepted Brown GPA and SAT are just a wee bit lower. Still sky-high.</p>
<p>I see that students often underestimate the extent to which all the top-tier schools (Ivies, Stanford, top liberal arts colleges) do not have to make tradeoffs in this area. They get plenty of applicants with high math and verbal scores, high SAT II scores, and strong AP scores, so they can make that the baseline and then select students with a well-developed talent in one area. </p>
<p>Students often forget this hard fact when applying - I've seen many students ranked at the state or national level in some field who thought that would compensate for average academic performance, or even a significant weakness in one key evaluation area such as SAT Math or Verbal - it usually doesn't.</p>
<p>bobmallet, yes he got accepted but declined to my regret.</p>
<p>Alley, well put, they don't have to make too many tradeoffs but please note though the colleges say they turn away thousands of perfect 800s (subject, V, M etc) not many out there who got 2300+, with 4 800s on subject tests, 10 5s on APs etc. If you keep adding the nos for any one kid, the pool narrows but still there is plenty to fill a class. Hence, social engineering, I suppose.</p>
<p>ramaswami, yes, I've heard a lot of colleges say that, and they are clearly exaggerating, because there were only 100+ students with a 2400 last year, though I'm sure there were plenty with multiple indivdual 800s in the SAT I and II. But yes, they are not just looking for the scores, they can set a pretty high baseline and then optimize for other things, which is what they do.</p>
<p>Meant to say the five kids I've known in the last TWO years, not five</p>
<p>Ailey: This hard fact is true 99.99% of the time, I think. And everyone hopes he/she is the .01% exception to the rule. And you never know. One of the Brown applicants whom I know had mostly A's but not all, was National Merit Commended but not Semi or Finalist, did not have a gazillion volunteer hours and did not start a club, but what she did have was slam-dunk, well documented talent and excellent references.</p>
<p>Let's reach a consensus here. Well rounded or lopsided?</p>
<p>Well rounded, but that doesn't mean you can't show significant talent in one area, too.</p>
<p>You might say that Brown acceptees are like jelly doughnuts rather than regular doughnuts: they are not just well-rounded but are also filled with a special talent/interest/passion/jelly center. (I think I'm hungry.)</p>
<p>Lovely metaphor!!!</p>
<p>How about saying: well-rounded, but with significant involvement in each area</p>