Why is Brown's admissions rate so low?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
21

<p>So basically, you're saying Brown should probably be ranked higher and that it's selectivity is one way to say, "Hey, something funky is going on with the way USNews is ranking schools!"</p>

<p>Yeah, most of us know these things, which is why we laugh when schools like Wash U rise from 50 something to 10 in a decade without much change to teh school itself to justify this.</p>

<p>Yes, the system is flawed, Brown is probably under-ranked, but most Brown students don't care because we recognize that any system looking to quantify something like higher education will be laughable at best.</p>

22

<p>Answer to your question: Coz there are way more applicants than there are openings.</p>

23

<p>Brown has one of the best undergraduate programs in the country (#12 by this measure):</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/pdfs/wsj_college_092503.pdf&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.wsjclassroomedition.com/college/feederschools.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

24

<p>yank yank....</p>

25

<p>Lols there is something mentally wrong with the OP who cares so much about any rankings. Can any ranking which places Duke ahead of Columbia and Upenn ahead of MIT be trusted? Upenn ahead of MIT. No one in the world believes that that manipulating TTT Upenn is better than MIT. Also only 1.5% of the ranking is based on selectivity.</p>

<p>Brown is not even arguably the 5th ivy, more like the 4th ivy. More Cross admits choose Brown over Columbia. Columbia only gets so many apps due to a NYC location. The fact that Brown can lure studnets away from NYC to Providence shows truly qualified students in the know recognize the value of Brown.</p>

26

<p>Because US News rankings are bunk perhaps?</p>

<p>Because lots of people love brown and want to go here, perhaps?</p>

<p>Seesh</p>

27

<p>
[quote]
More Cross admits choose Brown over Columbia.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Where does that information come from? Are the percentages reported?</p>

<p>As to the selectivity versus US News rank, Brown gets a boost in popularity for being an easy school (given the level of students): lack of core requirements, pass/fail, New Curriculum, etc. This raises the number of applications (higher selectivity) but probably lowers the Peer Assessment (lower ranking).</p>

28

<p>siserune, thinking of the curriculum like that is, like, soooo 1990.</p>

29

<p>Siserune, that comes from a report which I'm sure someone will come in and copy and paste soon which looked at how cross-admits choose between all of the top schools.</p>

<p>Also, as mgcsinc says, no one has thought like that about the curriculum since hte late 80s when Vartan Gregorian was president and found himself defending the New Curriculum after it had worked for 20 years.</p>

<p>So basically, if you think that, you're either uninformed, unintelligent, blindly biased, or all three.</p>

<p>Thanks for playing...</p>

30

<p>Yea those percentages are something like 60-40 which is quite good considering Columbia's higher rank, better location, endownment and prof schools. But students in the know that Brown is better fo sho.</p>

31

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/09/17/weekinreview/20060917_LEONHARDT_CHART.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

32

<p>What do you mean level of students? The people here are brilliant! From what and where are you drawing the conclusion that students here are subpar?</p>

<p>And few people take all their classes, or many classes even, s/nc. The lack of core requirements does not make the school easier by any means. </p>

<p>If anyone is going to attract "mediocre" student applicants, it's places like Harvard where prestige mongerers just want to see if they can get in. </p>

<p>god this is SUCH a troll thread.</p>

33

<p>Threads like these are why CC should allow inline images. This place would be a lot more fun...</p>

34

<p>Clay, I think he was actually saying 'easy for the level of the student body', which was a compliment rather than an insult. That's how I read it, anyway.</p>

35

<p>Save a few classes (like at ANY school), I think the classes are very demanding.</p>

36

<p>
[quote]
Siserune, that comes from a report which I'm sure someone will come in and copy and paste soon which looked at how cross-admits choose between all of the top schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That study did not publish anything about how Brown does against Columbia or any other university. See the following threads for more information:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3902732#post3902732%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?p=3902732#post3902732&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=376698%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=376698&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

37

<p>Um, Siserune-- did you read my next post? It demonstrates that 56% of students admitted to both Columbia and Brown chose Brown.</p>

<p>I don't need to read any further to learn how to read a simple chart, thank you very much...</p>

38

<p>modest - unfortunately siserune is right, at least as I understand the study. The results are purely theoretical, based on some kind of complex linear model - they don't say anything about actual numbers of cross-admits choosing each school. </p>

<p>You're right that you don't need to read any further than the graph itself, but you should read the whole graph, including the caption :-)</p>

39

<p>My bad then, I see it cited all the time so just assumed people don't throw it around CC without anything. I didn't read it, just found it and quickly sent it.</p>

<p>As you know, MG, I really could give a **** less.</p>

40

<p><a href="modestmelody:">quote</a></p>

<p>Siserune, that comes from a report which I'm sure someone will come in and copy and paste soon which looked at how cross-admits choose between all of the top schools.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Again: the "56 percent" victory rate for Brown over Columbia is not something that anybody measured from actual cross-admit data, and is unreliable for all sorts of reasons detailed in the threads I referenced. The NY Times graphic is an extract of numbers from the Revealed Preferences rankings article, it is not new research by the newspaper.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Also, as mgcsinc says, no one has thought like that about the curriculum since hte late 80s when Vartan Gregorian was president and found himself defending the New Curriculum after it had worked for 20 years.</p>

<p>So basically, if you think that, you're either uninformed, unintelligent, blindly biased, or all three.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Or maybe I am stating the well known fact that for Brown, being a soft and easy school (compared to schools requiring a similar academic level for entrance) is both a huge application magnet and something that lowers it in the eyes of academics. Here are the opinions of a student, a professor, and the dean of admissions at Brown from 2005:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Debate within the CCC and faculty over the past few years has included the possible use of pluses and minuses in grading, but the issue was resolved in favor of keeping the current system. Although individual professors may disagree with aspects of the grading system, the fundamental principles are not seriously questioned.</p>

<p>"** 'Requirements' is almost a four-letter word around here,**" said Executive Associate Dean Robert Shaw P'03. Shaw, a professor in the Department of Education, said he personally favors including failing grades in transcripts.</p>

<p>"It's never going to be like we're going to disband the New Curriculum," Zaheer said. "It creates a strong brand for Brown."</p>

<p>Director of Admission Michael Goldberger agrees the New Curriculum is a powerful part of the Brown "brand."</p>

<p>"*There is absolutely nothing that compares with the impact the New Curriculum has on applications," Goldberger wrote in an e-mail. Goldberger estimates that over half of Brown's applicants each year mention the curriculum as one of their most significant reasons for applying. *

[/quote]
</p>

<p><a href="http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2005/03/02/Focus/The-New.Curriculum.Now-882260-page2.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2005/03/02/Focus/The-New.Curriculum.Now-882260-page2.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>So yeah, it could be pure ignorance and dinosaurs from 1990, or maybe Goldberger and company know what they're talking about and this is the reality of 2007. What do you think?</p>