<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I’m a student from India, who is going to his 2nd year of IB on 16th August. </p>
<p>My numbers and extra currics are something that I would consider to be slightly below Ivy League standards (2200 in SAT, around 38 is what my outside-school counselor predicted). Until recently I was VERY sure that I was going to apply to Penn for Early Decision for Life Sciences and Management, but recent encounters with certain people have given me reason to believe that my numbers may fall short for Penn and schools of similar calibre. After Penn, Brown is my second choice school and I’m almost certain that these are my top 2 choices of schools. </p>
<p>Now, people have told me to apply to Brown ED instead of Penn because last year, almost 10% of our schools batch was given a seat at Brown (6). Also, in the last two years, no one from my school has gotten into Penn. These people believe that I have a better chance at Brown than Penn because of the above factors.</p>
<p>My plan as of now is to finish both the essays for Brown as well as Penn, and gradually take both your opinions as well as everyone I know’s opinions and finally taking a decision midway through September.</p>
<p>I am also posting this in the Penn forum, to see their opinions as well. :P</p>
<p>I will be glad if I get into either school, Penn or Brown, and my sole dilemma is about which one I should apply to ED, and which school I should push back to RD?</p>
<p>Thank you for any replies!</p>
<p>which one is your top choice? Forget about what happened last year, that’s irrelevant. Where do YOU want to go? That’s where you apply ED, end of story (unless finances are a major concern although if you’re from India applying to US schools, I’m guessing they aren’t)</p>
<p>I agree with i<em>wanna</em>be_Brown; don’t apply to a school ED unless it’s your top choice. Penn and Brown are on par in the admissions field; I seriously doubt you’ll have much higher chances at one over the other. What matters is where you actually want to spend 4 years of your life.</p>
<p>^Yea, but if you like both schools equally I think, based off of your school’s previous track record with Penn, that you should apply ED to Brown. Considering that no one from your school has gotten into Penn in these last two cycles, when I’m assuming people have gotten in before, sounds like maybe your school may be blacklisted for whatever reason. I’m not saying it’s true, but if you come to the conclusion that you like both schools equally and would be happy at either, I say apply early decision to Brown.</p>
<p>You can never trust something like that. When I applied to Brown 10 kids got in while 3 had in the previous 6 years. I would hate to have based my choice based on that.</p>
<p>That’s true too, but the exact opposite happened at my school. No one would know for sure, but I know that if I was in the OP’s situation I wouldn’t have a problem having to choose between the two schools if I was set on apply early.</p>
<p>Would you say the kids from your school who got into Brown or other Ivies had numbers and ECs that were “slightly below Ivy League standards?” Or better? And, there is no guarantee a school that took many in the past will continue to focus on your hs. Top schools can consider when it’s time to offer opps to kids from schools they’ve ignored lately.
For intls, not needing finaid helps.</p>
<p>Right so if the OP likes both schools equally, an ED application isn’t necessarily a bad thing.</p>
<p>@I wanna be brown,</p>
<p>I prefer Penn over Brown by a very slight margin. Out of the schools I’m applying to, I think Brown is the only one which will make me forget about Penn if I don’t get into Penn, I would say they are almost at par, and getting into either one, ED or not will make me extremely happy.</p>
<p>@looking forward,</p>
<p>The people from my school who got into Brown last year had extremely good scores and resumes. I think they would clearly be what I consider Ivy League scores.</p>
<p>@ambitious mind,</p>
<p>That is exactly the reason I have this dilemma, I’m seriously considering applying to Brown.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies guys. :)</p>
<p>If you got into Brown ED, it sounds like then you will always be saying, “maybe I could have gotten into Penn”. At least maybe until you are at Brown and realize it’s a better place to be. 
But really, given the way you keep phrasing this, it sounds like you should apply ED to Penn. or to neither and just RD to both to be able to choose should you get into both.</p>
<p>Your response to me says it all. You should apply ED to Penn.</p>