Would admissions be harder for me if...?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>If the valedictorian in my school applied to Brown, would it decrease my chances?</p>

<p>I am not up to par in comparison to her. She has everything-sports, music, volunteer work, a job and many leadership positions in them.</p>

<p>She is not valedictorian just yet since so many people in our school have a 4.0 GPA. But still, my GPA and SAT scores don’t even compare to stats.</p>

<p>Brown is still my top choice, unlike her (she’s applying to other Ivies; I am not).</p>

<p>So I’m still applying because I would hate not to try. But just wondering, would this affect me?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>Yes, especially if she had higher stats all around.</p>

<p>I think that if you applied ED and showed more interest though, it wouldn't be as bad for you.</p>

3

<p>That's not really what Brown advertises sak09. For the most part, they attempt to treat you as an individual and there are many schools that have multiple applicants get in, and not just private schools that are known feeders.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the info. I always thought schools compared students from the same school and took the strongest bunch. Hopefully I can really shine through my essays and recommendations. I can't apply ED though since I need to know about financial aid.</p>

5

<p>There is no clear-cut answer to this. It depends on how large your school is, how strong its applicants are (a magnet school like Stuyvesant in NYC has many applicants accepted, but at a small rural HS it is more likely that only one -- the val -- would get in), and if the non-val applicant has something special (athlete, legacy, first-generation, exceptional music ability, etc.).</p>

6

<p>Our suburban public high school had for many years sent no more than one student to one of HYPSM. My son and his friend both applied to this college. There was some thinking that they were competing against each other, but in fact both were accepted.</p>

7

<p>That's great that both were accepted. Did they have similar stats?</p>

8

<p>fyi, about 8 people at my daughter's small private school applied to Brown (grad class 140?). Both she and the Val were accepted, but no one else. No, she did not have his GPA. I don't know his SAT's, hers were high. She had a very good application package. She went, he decided on a very small engineering school.</p>

<p>Make great essays, especially your why Brown, perhaps you can make themm aware of it as first choice? (although my daughters was likely weak on that one, it turned out it was her first choice.)</p>

9

<p>I don't know details about the friend's stats. They were both considered pretty smart.</p>