Chance for ED at Brown University (PLME)

Colleges & Universities Brown University
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I’m applying to Brown University (Neuroscience/Human Biology) along with PLME for Early Decision this year. </p>

<p>Every single comments, insights, and snarky remarks will be wholeheartedly appreciated! So please feel free to share your thoughts :D</p>

<p>Nationality: Asian-Canadian
Gender: Male</p>

<p>GPA: n/a but according to estimates, should be around 4.00
Rank: n/a</p>

<p>SAT I:
Crit: 740
Writing: 800 (10)
Reading: 800
Total: 2340 (First time) </p>

<p>SAT II:
Math II: 800
Korean w/ Listening: 800
Chem: 730 (Arghhh, retook this month, hopefully will get a better score)</p>

<p>IB:
English SL: 6
French SL: 5 (final)
Math SL: 6
Chem HL: 6
Bio HL: 6
History HL: 5
(I know, the marks are quite shoddy; if I do get deferred, I will hopefully have bumped my Chem and Bio to 7’s and History to 6 or 7)</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>Academics
-Top Science Student (Gr. 10)<br>
-Top Information Technology (Gr. 10)<br>
-Duke Edinburgh Award 2011 (Bronze)
-Math Challenger Provincial Competition (Certificate of Participation)
-Pascal Math Contest (Certificate of Distinction)
-Michael Smith Science Challenge (Certificate of Excellence Top 10%)
-CFGL Essay Competition 2010 (Divisional Award)
-CFGL Math Challenge 2010 (Divisional Award)
-Award of Excellence Science (Gr. 10)<br>
-Department Award French (Gr. 9)</p>

<p>Miscellaneous
-Tae Kwon Do 2nd Degree Black Belt
-SemiMUN 2011 – Arctic Council 2011 Best Delegate
-FHMUN 2010 - UNSC 2010 Honorable Mention
-Design Entrepreneurship Competition 2011- Best Business Plan</p>

<p>Work/Volunteer </p>

<p>-Drycleaner during Spring/winter breaks
Odd jobs to pay for IB fees
-Volunteer @ School library 2008-2010
Rearranging books; odd jobs again
-Hospital Volunteer 2009-2011 (Junior Auxiliary, Musician, Team Leader)
Played music for patients with dementia; supervise junior volunteers; organize snacktime/mealtime; converse with the residents
-Math Club Tutor Volunteer 2009-2010
Help the younger grades with the math competitions
-Hospice 2011
Training to become a client volunteer; volunteering at the fundraisers and thriftstore</p>

<p>Extracurricular</p>

<p>Summer
-McMaster University Summer program participant 2011
Stayed at the university for summer enrichment program; university lectures and workshops; competitions such as Design Entrepreneur; focused on Entrepreneurship, Sciences, and Leadership
-Studied French in France 2009
Mostly touring and learning French</p>

<p>School
-Interact Club 2008-2011 Executive (Gr. 11)
Organized events for the club; created/managed the website
-The Interact Globalizers 2011 – Chair (Gr. 12)
Organize events, run committee meetings
-World Politics Club 2009-2011 – Delegate Coordinator (Gr. 12)
-Cancer Youth Society 2008-2011 – Group leader (Gr 10-11)
-Science Club 2009-2011
-Youth Orchestra 2008-2011 Cellist
Long time member, award-winning orchestra; RCM level 8 and up</p>

<p>Misc.
-Youth Leadership Millennium 2010
Year-long leadership program sponsored by S.U.C.C.E.S.
-Tae Kwon Do 2006-2011 Instructor/Volunteer
2nd degree black belt; clean up dojo; facilitate lessons
-Canadian High School MUN Committee (Director)
-Went to many MUN conferences as a delegate ~6 conferences</p>

<p>Recommendations: Known both teachers and counsellor for only a brief time, but will probably be good.</p>

<p>Essays: Showcases my volunteering. I think it’s quite alright. </p>

<p>Since all of you CC members are insightful and perceptive, I appreciate every candid and critical assessments.</p>

<p>I pretty much know PLME is extremely competitive. But I really want to know how much chance I have at the regular program.</p>

2

<p>As a disclaimer I should say that I don’t really know much about the Brown admissions system specifically, because I’m just another senior applying to college too:) but honestly, your SAT scores are impeccable and your ECs look fantastic, so if Brown is your first choice I would say go for it. You have really impressive stats so even if you don’t end up at Browm you’ll definitely be at an incredible school!</p>

<p>By the way, I love the username. As a fellow IB-er I can totally relate. I’m curious, how did you take so many IB tests in one year? Did you take all of your SL exams and HL exams last year?</p>

3

<p>Haha thanks a lot! I should clarify on the IB thing. I only took French exam so far, so that’s the only final grade. The rest are predicted marks.</p>

4

<p>Okay well in that case I wouldn’t worry too much about those scores, because they aren’t set in stone and you still have time to prepare so that they will be where you want them to be. In the meantime I would say to keep up your grades in those classes in case you need to send a mid-year report. Otherwise, I think your application looks great and your stats are very impressive!</p>

5

<p>Your ED must already be filed right? Do you get notified of PLME at the same time as the ED decision?</p>

<p>Did you hear that Brown received 25% more PLME applications this year? </p>

<p>One area I don’t see much in terms of in your profile is what is usually expected of combined programs. The medical school wants to see things like working with doctors, doing studies, doing research to show your interest in medicine.</p>

6

<p>Do you receive course grades in addition to your predictions? Most US schools are not going to really look at your IB predictions if you also receive grades in your courses.</p>

7

<p>@kmac0808 Thank you! I realize that and am currently struggling with procrastination to get my investigations, EE, and exams ready. It’s not really a winning struggle…</p>

<p>@texaspg I realize that. I don’t have many opportunities like research and shadowing where I live, so I have to make do with the hospital/hospice volunteering. Plus, PLME as an international ORM is an extremely difficult feat, so I’m not holding my breath. </p>

<p>@mgcsinc Yes I do. Majority of them are in the low, mid 90’s. And really? I thought US looked predominantly at predicted marks, analogous to UK universities.</p>

8

<p>Most US schools are used to receiving grades, not predicted scores; IB applicants are the exception, not the rule. To my knowledge, my predicted scores weren’t even sent to Brown when I applied. </p>

<p>In this sense, US unis are completely different from their UK counterparts. UK unis look carefully at predicted scores and then issue conditional acceptances based on achievement of those scores. I think that would sound crazy to most US admissions offices.</p>

9

<p>That is quite unfortunate to hear. I do actually have 2 80’s in IB that are both A’s (In Canada, 86+ are considered A’s) and low/mid 90’s. Given the stats, what do you think about my prospect at your school?</p>

10

<p>^You should get a copy of the transcript that your school sends to unis, and see what exactly is on there – does it include the actual grade numbers, or just the letter grades, or no letter grades at all? Are the IB predictions next to the grades? Etc.</p>

<p>Try to figure out how your information is being presented. Then, if you really want to be chanced (I don’t personally participate in chance predictions), repost here with all of that information.</p>

<p>Understand that admission at American unis is very different from admission at Canadian and UK unis. It is much less predictable. If the same well-qualified applicant were to apply to the same set of highly-selective American unis each year, for ten years in a row, she would probably be admitted to a different subset each time.</p>

11

<p>I believe the predicted marks, letter grades, and percentages are all included, but I’ll go and double check with my coordinator. </p>

<p>Thank you for your help! Yes, I realized that U.S., gauging one’s chances is a rather difficult task, so I sought after the help of the CC community :)</p>