Chance me for Brown ED?

ormdad
Sun, 17 May 2015 15:15:07 +0000

@cagedbird I had the same reaction that @fireandrain did to your reach/match/safety classifications. What you have to understand is that while you are a great candidate, you are not unique in this position.

More importantly, something like 30-50% of accepted applicants represent a demographic that top schools are eagerly recruiting (athlete, socio-economic/ethnic diversity, first gen students). Unless you meet such a need for selective schools, your chance could even be lower than the aggregate acceptance rate (in your case I would say slightly higher, but still nowhere near a sure thing).

My advice would be to focus your selection efforts more on your safeties/low matches than your matches and reaches.

As for ED, pay close attention to the ED stats- Penn accepts 50% of their freshman class ED, Brown is much lower (I forget % of incoming class, but accept rate is around 18% and they defer ~70% ). If you would be happy going to Penn, I would recommend doing ED.

Also, my opinion is that a 2400 is not much different than a 2250+. Consider the fact that Brown rejects 80+% of applicants with 2400s:

http://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/explore/admission-facts

I actually do not think that EA is really that important- what I’ve found is that if you are stuck with your safety/match schools that you got in to in December, it is a little more disappointing. Chances are you’ll get in to your safeties in the RD round and in some cases, merit aid is a little easier to come by because the RD round is less competitive. (Northeastern)

Again, you are a great candidate, but the game has changed dramatically in the last 10 years due to the common app and increase in financial aid for needy students at top schools and there are very few sure things any more.

Good luck!