Former Brown interviewer here. NOT a paid adcom however… but our region was supervised by a fairly senior adcom.
1- Brown’s admissions team works hard to assemble the class. Part of this “assembly” is making sure that students who apply early are evaluated in the context of the ENTIRE applicant pool (even though a significant number of applications haven’t been submitted yet). What this means is that the solid oboe player who otherwise doesn’t hit the academic bar, isn’t going to have a finger on the scale because the adcom’s panic “Oh my gosh, what if we don’t get any other oboe players? Got to admit this kid NOW”. If there is something else of interest in the application, the kid will get deferred and get another look in Jan/Feb when all the applications are in.
2- Lie? No. The early pool has in it a high proportion of kids who are very, very likely to be admitted no matter when or where they apply. Faculty and staff children, for example. An Econ professor’s kid who is struggling with a C average at a HS in Cranston isn’t applying early (or at all). The parents know where the bar is. So the faculty/staff kids who DO apply are very strong students. And if that Oboe player isn’t a solid player-- but is an artist at the level of a young Yo Yo Ma or other virtuoso… plus has strong academic chops? Those kids are in the early pool. They’ve made the hard call that they aren’t applying to Julliard or Curtis because they want a liberal arts education.
3-Like any other college- apply early because it is far and away your top choice AND it’s affordable. Period. Gaming your own life- eh, I’m not a fan.
Good luck.