Chance me and I'll Chance Back

Colleges & Universities Brown University
1

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>Ethnicity: Multi-Racial (part hispanic, part white, part Irish, also consider myself Black since I’ve lived most of my childhood in Africa/Haiti)
Location: Rigorous Private Boarding School in New England (sends many graduates to top schools) but have lived in 8 countries outside of the United States
GPA: unknown (mostly As and Bs - I may be at the top quarter of my class)
SAT: 1770 (December 2010), will be retaking after prep this summer (aiming for 2000+)
SAT 11s: have yet to receive scores
APs: Took two Junior year (AP Spanish Language & AP USH, and I also took the AP Eng. Comp & Lang exam) and will take four Senior year (AP Bio, AP Euro, AP Stats, AP Eng. Lit)</p>

<p>Awards:
• Honor Roll (2008-2009)
• High Honor Roll (2009-2010)
• 1st Place Science Fair Award (2009)
• Excellence Awards for Creative Writing, French, Physical Science, Earth Science, World History, English, and Humanities (2007-2009) - 7 different awards
• Honorable Mention Award (CMUNCE – 2010)
• Golden Talon Award for Demonstration of Outstanding Behavior (2010)
• Value of the Month Award for Demonstration of Discipline and Humility (2010)
• Principal’s List in Recognition of Scholastic Achievement (2010) </p>

<p>Extracurricular Clubs & Positions Held:
Environmental Club (10th Grade)
- Founder and President
National Honors Society (9th and 10th Grade)
Model United Nations (9th, 10th, and 11th Grade)
-Attended conferences at University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and Columbia University
-Awarded Honorable Mention at the Model United Nations Conference and Exhibition in Columbia University
Film Club (9th and 10th Grade)

  • Founder and President in 9th Grade
  • Co-Founder and Vice-President in 10th Grade
    Student Government (9th and 10th Grade)
  • 9th Grade Class President
  • 10th Grade Class Senator
    Literary Magazine (10th Grade)
  • Treasurer
    Junior Statesmen of America (10th Grade)
    Book Club (10th Grade)
    -Founding member
    Black Student Union (11th Grade)
    Hispanic Club (11th Grade)
    Environmental Club (11th Grade)
    School Newspaper (11th Grade)
    • Opinion Editor
      Gay-Straight Allegiance (11th Grade)
      School President (11th Grade)
      -Highest leadership position available</p>

<p>Athletics:
Baseball (4th – 10th Grade)
Cross Country (11th Grade)
Soccer (6th-8th Grade)
Track (9th and 10th Grade)
Tennis (9th and 10th Grade)</p>

<p>Arts/Music:
School Play: Held Several Minor Roles (2010)
School Play: Tech Crew (2011)
Baritone (7th-10th Grade)
1 Week Digital Filmmaking Summer Camp at the New York Film Academy (Disney/MGM Studios – 2009)</p>

<p>Volunteer Work:
10th Grade: Worked with two clubs, one which helped the elderly, while the other helped build houses for the poor.
Rotary Interact Program (9th Grade)
-Founding member
Invited to attend an outreach program in Africa</p>

<p>Professional Experience:
Summer Internship: USAID

  • Administrative Assistant (June-August 2010)
  •   Administrative Assistant (August 2011)&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Other:

  • Built a dog pound in Latin America with the help of my family (was a failure, but may work as a good short response/essay)
  • Shadowed a Doctor
  • Writing Tutor</p>

<p>*Extra-Curriculars are all over the place - this could be good (am interested in several things, makes me look more well-rounded) or bad (looks like the only reason I’m in so many clubs is to pad my application) - so I may end up leaving some of the less important ECs out.
*Came into a rigorous school Junior year, which was extremely tough (mostly due to the academic rigor and the fact that I took 2 APs, which is seen as being pretty rare for a Junior) - GPA was hurt, so I’ll probably mention that somewhere in my application
*Brown is my top choice, so I’ll be applying ED. Have already visited and have already planned out my essays.

  • SATs are bad, but I’m already prepping for the first fall test date
  • Sorry if this is too long, but I would really appreciate your input. THANK YOU!</p>
2

<p>I don’t do chances, but I can offer some comments.</p>

<p>If your school has it, Naviance would be helpful for determining your chances. The SATs are certainly low, as you seem to know. Now, the rigorous New England boarding schools generally send a good number of students to the Ivies, as I’m sure you’re aware. At the boarding school I attended, most of the students who matriculate at Brown were outside of the top 20% of their class (in my year, only I was inside 20% out of the 7 who attended), so the rank is not necessarily inhibitory, but they’ll likely look very hard at your junior year grades at a new school vs. your freshman and sophomore year grades. 11th grade is notoriously tough at the New England boarding schools (but if I had to guess, it’s also tough at many other schools, as well), but if your estimated rank is where it is only because of the first two years, it might not bear the same weight.</p>

<p>One thing that Brown considers extremely important is fit. Why is Brown your top choice, and what do you bring to it?</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your input!</p>

<p>My school does have Naviance, however, because the scattergraphs in Naviance only take SAT scores and GPA into consideration, as you can imagine, I’m on the opposite end of the graph. As for my estimated rank, I was calculating it solely using my Junior year grades and comparing myself to other students in my grade (although my grades aren’t amazing, only about a quarter of the juniors take 2 APs, so I calculated it more based on the rigor of my courseload than solely on my grades in comparison to the grades of my classmates). </p>

<p>As for the “fit” factor, I’m not completely sure what criteria come into play - there is, of course, the stereotype of what kind of students go to Brown, and, I must say, I do fit that sort of stereotype, which can either good or bad. But, as someone who had to go through the admissions process for boarding school AND college, you understand how much importance is played on the “feel” you get from visiting the school. And, in all honesty, I did get that “feel”, which was something I actually did not get when applying to boarding school. I guess that is why Brown is my top choice - in visiting other colleges, I did not get the same sort of gut feeling I got when I visited Brown. Of course, I’m also interested in Brown because of the open curriculum, its location, the degrees it offers (I’m focusing on medicine and/or international relations - maybe combine the two and focus on international health) and just the environment/atmosphere I felt at Brown (it wasn’t the same sort of competitive environment seen at a school like Harvard, instead, there was a relaxed feel, where you get to learn the way YOU want to learn). And, as someone who has been interested in Brown for the longest time ever, I sorta already feel like I’m part of Brown - due to the fact that I’ve researched Brown heavily, I already know about the Naked Doughnut Runs, the StarF*** and Sex Power God parties, the VDub, the Ratty, the Blue Room, the awesomeness that Thayer Street is, Brown traditions (entering the Van Winkle gates during commencement/exiting during graduation, Spring concert, Halloween at Brown/the organist, etc), etc. And, as someone thinking on focusing on foreign relations and who has lived in 8 countries outside of the US, I feel as though I could bring something into class that not everyone else really can.</p>

4

<p>To be realistic about your chances, you should also consider where your grades place you among your peers. It’s hard to say what Brown would think about below-average (for your school) grades with an above-average curriculum, but if your grades are also above average for the school, that’d be a plus. You likely have college counselors, as well (you might have already been assigned to one). They would probably be able to give you a good sense of where you are in your class and what your chances are (with and without an improved SAT score). An e-mail probably couldn’t hurt. Additionally, you can use Naviance to see how people did with higher SAT scores. It’s not great, since you have no clue about those marks on the graph (did they take a rigorous courseload like you? Did they have other things going for them?), but it’s a reasonable first step to see if you have much of a chance at all.</p>

<p>Communicating that feel (and what you bring) to Brown through your essays will be very important. I don’t feel my essays were great, and I suspect that this is a good part of what kept me out of my top choice school (in a year in which 13 of my peers matriculated there).</p>

5

<p>Well…I guess I’d say that my grades are average, but, then again, I do have an above average class schedule.</p>

<p>I was given a college counselor, and he placed Brown as a reach, but, he also asks that we not only pick several reaches (5-7 reaches, 3-5 matches, and 1-3 safeties), but that we focus on them as well. As for Naviance, they did have higher SAT scores and only slightly higher GPAs, however, my school does not release our GPAs, and, like you said, I have no idea how similar my courseload was to those who got accepted on Naviance.</p>

<p>I’ve already started rough drafts of my essays, so, hopefully they come out well. </p>

<p>May I ask what school was your top choice?</p>

6

<p>Almost all college counselors will place a school like Brown as a reach (or any classification less likely than a reach) for all applicants because admissions are so unpredictable. Glancing at numbers from my school for the class of '11, for instance, Brown matriculations are half what they were last year, while Harvard+Yale+Princeton increased greatly. Next year both totals might return to normal. They might not. It depends on what the colleges are looking for in any particular year. It depends on the strength of your class compared to other years. My top choice was Princeton - I still wonder what things would have been like there and if I’d be happier here or there. But I’m entering my final 2 semesters of undergrad, so the what-if’s aren’t really relevant. In general, what happens in college admissions happens - you’ll find a place where you can work hard and get a lot out of the experience.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that although no GPA is released, it’s not that hard for colleges to get an estimate, especially if your school’s profile gives a rough breakdown (my school did not formally calculate or release GPAs, but we had a bar graph breakdown of GPAs in our school profile).</p>

<p>One thing to keep in mind is that, if you’re worried about your 11th grade results looking low and about your SAT scores, you may benefit from waiting to apply regular decision to give Brown a larger sample size (and to show improvement). After taking into account recruited athletes, ED doesn’t seem to really provide much of an admissions benefit - you’ll just (maybe) get a result sooner.</p>

7

<p>You have lots of ECs… which could be a bad thing because they aren’t focused. Having a few ECs that are focused in a particular interest area looks better than a bunch of ECs that like you did them just to get into college.</p>

<p>You should be in the top 10% of your class, and have over a 2100 if you want to have the best shot possible. Brown’s admissions appear to be holistic, therefore good recs and a good essay can get you in if your SAT and grades aren’t spectacular.</p>

8

<p>^The top 10% rule doesn’t hold for top New England boarding schools, where even Brown is quite happy to take numerous people outside the top 25%.</p>

9

<p>Wait, Uroogola, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you attended Andover (correct me if I’m wrong) - the boarding school I attend is actually also a member of the ISL. I think it’s been ranked 14th (yet it’s also been ranked 24th and 35th…) if that gives you any idea of how academically rigorous/competitive my school is. Although our college matriculation wasn’t that amazing this year, it has been in the past (I think 4 students matriculated to Brown last year…I might be wrong).</p>

<p>I’ll double check what the school profile says…</p>

<p>I hadn’t really thought about applying regular decision instead…that actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea. But, I feel as though people most likely get deferred instead of flat out rejected - and if I do get rejected, then I’m positive that applying regular really wouldn’t have helped me much…so, the way I see it is that if I apply ED, I don’t exactly have anything to lose. But I’ll take that into account and discuss it with my college counselor into more depth. Thanks.</p>

<p>As for the reaches/matches/safeties, you’re pretty right. But, I do think it’s a good sign that Brown was a reach instead of an unlikely. :)</p>

<p>And thanks RenegadeJ. As I said before, I think I won’t mention a few of my ECs and focus more on Student Government, Newspaper, maybe Debate and if not Environmental Club, and Film - and of course, I’ll keep the volunteer work where it’s at (Book Club, Gay Straight Allegiance, etc will be left out). And, like Uroogla said, college admissions for top New England boarding schools is really a whole different story*</p>

10

<p>You should really retake your SAT and maybe try ACT. Other than that, you seem like a good canidate.</p>