<p>There’s about 10 others applying, and they almost all have a better application than me…</p>
<p>depends on whether you have better recommendations or not. usually they have to use a benchmark within your school to see your performance.</p>
<p>The simple answer to your question is unfortunately, YES.</p>
<p>What’s a benchmark, texaspg?</p>
<p>I was afraid of this.</p>
<p>And what if no one is applying from my state ( I am from India)
Will I have a better chance??</p>
<p>Benchmark is a reference point. They can see several students at once from your school and if the top student applied and has the best recommendations, that person’s application can become a benchmark as an example, although people tell me schools are not always looking for the best students but most suitable.</p>
<p>Onething the schools do say is that they are looking for how you best used the resources available to you and this is where the comparison becomes obvious. So if the school offers you 10 APs and one applicant took 2 while the top person took 8, obviously, they use the other person as a benchmark for what is possible at your school. OTOH, if you are a national level flutist and Brown needs one, all bets are off.</p>
<p>Mrinal - there is not a chance that no one is applying from India to Brown. Your state has no bearing on it if you are from India.</p>
<p>@texaspg, Ofcourse it is impossible that no one will apply to Brown from India. I just meant to ask that will the number of applicants from my state will have a bearing on my chances or not.
Anyway, I got my answer. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>texaspg,</p>
<p>what you are talking about has nothing to do with the number of kids applying but you are right that you need to be making the most with what you have. In other words, it doesn’t matter whether the kid with 8 APs is applying to Brown, it’s the fact that you only took two that will hurt you.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>Not really. I would argue where you’re from (and this address Mrinal’s question) and thus how many people from your region apply has a much larger effect on your application than how many kids from your school apply.</p>
<p>An adcom once told me that one of the best ways to increase your chances of getting in is to have a BUNCH of applicants from your region/school, who all are less suited to Brown academically etc. (said it as a sort of statistical joke, but who knows, it could be a ploy for future applicant? The other ploy is to have your family move to N. Dakota for high school.lol)</p>
<p>@BrownAlumParent The N. Dakota angle was brought up at Brandies University when we visited it last Spring. The first question the Adcom asked the assembly was, “Anyone from N. Dakota? That is the only state we don’t have a student from”</p>
<p>I say the answer is no
Brown is looking for whatever specifics they desire in whomever they accept
That being said I dont thin it matters if you are the only applicant from your school OR if there are 50. They are looking for their particulars and the # of appliacants from one school is not relevant .</p>
<p>Other students applying from your school does matter. Brown wants to see how you stack up against other students, and if you have been challenging yourself. The best way to see that is to compare your application to the valedictorian from your school (they will have the valedictorian’s stats and classes taken). If they have a significantly higher number of AP classes than you, or their grades are significantly higher, then you clearly have not been challenging yourself, and that is not the type of student they want. However, if it’s in the EC’s that it’s unbalanced then all bets are off. Aside from grades and courses taken, which only show if you’ll be able to keep up with your peers, they want a diverse class.</p>
<p>The school you go to does have a lot of impact. Some schools have a history of sending a certain number of students to specific colleges each year while other colleges totally ignore them. Past track history between a high school and a college are a good indicator to determine whether you can expect to make it.</p>