What are my chances for Brown?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

Okay, don’t hate me CC community. I am only asking to be chanced for one specific school, Brown University.
Background: I am a Caucasian female from a Midwestern farming community. I am a rising senior. One of my parents is a teacher while the other lacks a college education and is construction worker.
GPA-4.0 unweighted
ACT Composite-31
Subjects (best from different dates)
Eng- 35
Reading-33
Math-31
Science-31

Classes: Highest Classes that my small school offers. As of junior year, I have taken 6 sciences.
I have taken classes through a community college and one AP class (Biology).

Extra Curricular:Pep Club, Science Club President, Book Club, Spanish Club, FCCLA, Yearbook Staff. Quiz Bowl Captain and District Champions
Sports:JV volleyball, Varsity Track, Varsity Basketball District Runner Up and School Record Holders (only mentioning basketball at the moment on my common app)

Community Service (I consider this my strength.): Member of a youth council of a charitable foundation (there are a bunch of affluent white kids on this besides me of course) we decide on grants, over 100 community service hours junior year, NHS Community Service Project Planner, summer reading tutor, library volunteer, local nursing home bingo caller.

BIGGEST Accomplishment: Wrote and won 2 national level grants one being from the shoe company Keds for a service project that incorporates youth into a project painting flower pots and giving them to senior citizens. Hundreds of people affected. Over 100 hours of volunteering for this project alone

Awards: Have received an award for the highest grade for every one of my high school classes save for Science 9 and Spanish 1. Voice of Democracy Local Speech Winner

Merit Scholarships for Summer Learning: Rising Freshman Year fully paid overnight medical camp, Rising Junior Year rural electric representative in DC, Rising Senior Year: 3 week medical camp at state university and fully paid 3 weeks at Summer@Brown

Work Experience: Summer Janitor and Year-round Childcare

I have received the highest marks in all my science courses where I am the youngest student. Hoping to attend an elite school to further my knowledge of life and chemical sciences with a premed direction in mind.

Built a strong relationship with a high faculty member who was my professor at Summer@Brown, and she offered to write me letter of recommendation. I essentially am going through the college admissions process alone. No one form my school applies to top universities. Also, I am trying to represent my background consistently through my application.

2

Record looks really good! The amount of extra curricular activities is impressive.

To improve I’d try to take hard classes senior year(more AP/IB), and try to improve your ACT. Maybe try SAT if you haven’t yet since your reading and English scores are really high.

Just keep in mind that there are too many qualified students that apply, and no one ever has a “great” chance of getting in.

3

My high school is small and offers three AP total, which I will be taking all of them. In addition, I am taking 6 semesters of dual enrollment college classes online and a independent study advanced chemistry class. I am hoping to show that I am an independent learner with schedule. I think I am one and hope that comes across! Thanks for the feedback. @Qarrle

4

Your credentials are good. However, you will be competing with kids who have done literally the the equivalent of 10 APs in 1 year, not to brag but I was one of them. However, I’m not hindering you but instead giving you an idea of what you would be competing against. The ultimate breaker to determine if you will get into an ivy league is do what you love to do for your senior year, and still do a lot of rigorous coursework. For if you are considering pre-med what I consider doing is get more hours for your senior year at a hospital and volunteer during the school year. For what I did was continue my volunteer work and manage to get 500 hrs at my local hospital. So if your interested in pre-med get to 500 hrs of volunteering/shadowing in the medical field before college to help save you on the pre-med work. On another note, present the reason of why you need to attend this school, not based on status (warning they can instantly tell based on writing if your in it for status or need). I recommend you read the book Getting To Yes-Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, it would give you a premise on how to write a killer essay. Also if you did dual enrollment courses, any ivy league institution will make you retake them which is terrible, because one re-taking the classes are immensely boring, and two you will not receive any credit from what you have done. Yet again, apply to Brown you have nothing to loose!

5

Yes, @coolbird I am not one who has taken 10 AP classes in one year. Not to be spiteful, but I do not think that the location in which I was born thus the formal education I have been able to receive can measure my intelligence and caliber of a student. Also, I have taken 8 taken dual enrollment classes and retaking them does not bother me in the least bit. Thank you for your feedback.

6

@BiochemHopeful Yet Ivy Leagues are most concern if you are taking the most rigorous amount of info. Btw, I think you misinterpreted, I said the equivalent. What you can do for your senior year is take 10 more classes, 5 1 semester and 5 the next to be competitive.

7

Not true. Brown evaluates each student in the context of their high school and their community. BiochemHopeful will not be penalized for not taking 10 APs/year since her high school doesn’t offer them. In fact, many colleges would consider such a course load to be overkill. Her 8 dual enrollment courses are darn impressive.

And since Brown doesn’t accept students into a “pre med major,” she doesn’t have to volunteer 500 hours at a hospital for admission, either. I think her ECs are good as they are.

BiochemHopeful – it’s really hard for anyone to give you an honest assessment of your chances without seeing your entire file and knowing what Brown admissions is looking for this year. Based on your description, I think you are a strong candidate – and your background is attractive and would provide diversity to the class. Don’t fret too much about your ACT score – the 35 English is pretty impressive even if your composite is 31, and again, you will not be compared to affluent Northeasterners who’ve taken intensive prep classes and been tutored for years.

Since you aren’t getting a lot of support from your community on your application, I hope you are using CC as a valuable resource to help you. Don’t waste your time on chances threads – instead, ask direct questions about the application process that will make your application sing. You can PM me with specific questions if you’d like. One piece of advice – work with your teachers so that they write a really strong recommendation for you. They need to say more than “BiochemHopeful is a lovely hardworking student.”

8

@fireandrain Im sorry I was just only suggesting just from my own experience.

9

Also, high school ECs, unless continued at the same place/person into college, should not be included on med school apps.

10

As a source for finding colleges – in addition to the excellent Brown – recognized for furthering the goals of their pre-med students, this online list can be useful: “The Experts’ Choice: Colleges with Great Pre-med Programs.”