<p>I think you’ve gotten a fairly comprehensive answer to your question so far, but I thought I’d add what Brown tells you in its undergrad info sessions:</p>
<p>Most schools read applications twice before going to “committee,” where one admissions officer basically summarizes an application for his/her colleagues. Based on the recommendation of that admissions officer or a final review of the student, an admission decision is made.</p>
<p>Most schools- like Penn, for example, whose quality is fairly comparable to Brown- have regional admissions officers. That means that the very first person to review your application will also likely be reviewing the application of not only every other applicant from your school, but every other applicant from your county and the ones surrounding it (or your state, if you’re from the Midwest). The second person to read your application is usually reading it out of its geographic context. In this type of admissions process, I’d say that you will almost definitely- if inadvertantly- be compared to other applicants from your high school.</p>
<p>In the case of Brown admissions, however, the process is reversed; the first person to read your application is the one who is reading geographically-random files. The second will read your application and others from your region. The advantage is that if you are a Caucasian female from, say, an overpopulated Northeastern state whose stats would stand out almost anywhere else in the nation, you will likely get a positive review from the first admissions officer which may- or may not- in turn, affect the recommendation of the regional officer. Or, in your case, you may get a positive review from the first admissions officer because that person has not read your file and your high school valedictorian’s file back-to-back. Make sense?</p>
<p>Brown is perhaps the only school whose admissions process is as “hollistic” as they all claim to be. It is a wonderful school and I wish you the best of luck in applying. I hope that this response provides a little more insight.</p>