I'm a nooby freshman looking for advice! <3

Colleges & Universities Brown University
1

<p>Over this past break, my family & I went on a college road trip for my brother. A lot of the schools were really nice, but one just immediately caught my eye - you guessed it. Brown. On the long car ride home, I basically spent all my time searching on google about Brown & how to get into it & what I need to do, etc. My searchings brought me to this site AND it brought me to a deeper level of “obsession” with Brown. :slight_smile: And now, since I’m home and I became a member, I’d like to introduce myself as well as garnering some advice on how I can make it into my new dream college.</p>

<p>Phew. That was long.</p>

<p>Basically, I’m a freshman at the most competitive high school in the state, one of the top in the country. My school regularly sends ~30 kids off to the ivies every year (we have around 4.5k students total and the number of kids makes it extremely competitive so I’m worried. I need something to set my apart!). We have basic classes, honors classes, high honors classes, and AP classes. I don’t want to sound like an uptight prick or anything, but they say that our honors classes are equivalent to most honors classes around the country and high honors are above them. So, to continue --</p>

<p>I’m a freshman taking…
(All core classes = high honors for all years)
English I
Geometry
Physics
German II
World History</p>

<p>Sophomore year I’ll be taking:
Chemistry
English II
German III
Modern World History
Algebra II</p>

<p>Junior:
AP Chem (Possibly)
Biology
AP English
AP US history
Pre-Calc
German IIII</p>

<p>Senior:
AP German
AP bio
Creative writing
AP Literature
Not too sure about the rest… :confused: But it’s okay.</p>

<p>ECs:

  • 4 year field hockey (captain as a senior maybe)
  • 4 year soccer (captain as a senior maybe)
  • 3 year newspaper (you can only do it from soph on. Hoping to be editor-in-chief as a senior)
  • Church youth group member
  • Uhh</p>

<p>Volunteering:

  • Babysit kids at church (easily 25 hours, 50 if middle school too)
  • Uhh</p>

<p>What I need help with is some more ECs and volunteering, since I read that Brown just loves those two things. c: I’m looking into English/Journalism, are there any things that would be good for me to get involved in? I’m rarely free after school with my two sports & club sports.</p>

<p>Aiming to get 33 on ACT and 2100+ on SAT.</p>

<p>All help is truly appreciated. c: Thank you to all! (WOW. What a long post :o Thanks to all who read it!)</p>

2

<p>This is a common misconception on this site and in general with high school seniors, the number of ECs you have does not compare to the quality of the ECs you have. No school in this country awards admission based on the number of ECs you participate in. All that shows is your ability to juggle lots of stuff in a little time. However, this also suggests you are not able to devote an ample amount of time to each team/club/experience. In your essays, you have to show who you are. Honestly, this is best done using anecdotes. You can’t just tell them, you have to create a picture. Your best bet is to limit the number of ECs you participate in. Make the ones you are a part of count. </p>

<p>Having said this, volunteering weekly somewhere you are passionate about could help round out your application. Some of the best stories come from volunteer experiences you really put time into. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Anecdotes. I love those. :slight_smile: Thank you for the tip!</p>

<p>And extracurriculars are probably my biggest problem–I would love to focus more on my writing (one of my biggest passions) yet my two sports suck up almost all of my time. Do you think that a college like Brown would realize that?</p>

<p>Volunteering is turning out to be a big problem too. :K Most places I’ve looked at/been interested in are only looking for 16-year-olds. I’m only 15 and it’s bugging me to no end! Hospitals, animal shelters, internships…</p>

4

<p>I had the same issues with sports while in high school, but I was also recruited to play college basketball, so it worked in my favor. I understand they suck up a lot of time. If you love to write, submit pieces to your local newspaper and your high school paper. It doesn’t have to be weekly, but make it fairly consistent. Also look into a writers club at your school. Mine never had one, but the local library had something very similar. If you go through the community, youll be in with older people (generally) which will give you a new perspective on writing.</p>

<p>As for volunteering, please don’t stress. You’re only 15 (I dont mean that to sound condescending). You have lots of time to accomplish anything you want before you have to apply to college. </p>

<p>On another note, the special olympics generally allows students of all ages to volunteer. I started with them when I was in junior high school. I played soccer and basketball as a volunteer partner. I promise you, nothing in sports or life, really, is more rewarding than participating with the athletes. It’ll really show how huge every basket or every goal is.</p>

5

<p>I will definitely consider submitting pieces to my school and local newspapers. And the community of writers/Writer’s Club at school is an awesome thought. I’ll definitely look for those.</p>

<p>It’s not only that I want to volunteer for college but for myself as well. When I was younger & had the time, I volunteered at soup kitchens constantly and I absolutely loved the feeling of helping people. </p>

<p>I will definitely look into the Special Olympics. One of my best friend’s brothers is autistic and he is one of the sweetest men I have ever met.</p>

6

<p>Honestly, don’t stress over it too much. The one sport I stuck with all 4 years, lacrosse, I didn’t start until spring of freshman year. I didn’t start my big extracurricular, debate, until my sophomore year. I dropped out of football by junior year (and then I picked up and devoted real time to swing), and met the minimum volunteering requirements for IB. However, I used the fact that I didn’t stay committed to much for too long as an advantage, showing how it (along with things like keeping up on the news, researching stuff on my own, etc.) represented the exploratory side of me.</p>

<p>Seriously, be who YOU are. If you want to write good essays, and you’re super-committed to writing, you can always keep an idea-diary (i.e. a small notebook that, when you think ‘huh, that would be cool to write about’ you jot it down on). This would benefit you more in life than just your college essays though, and if you actually kept it I’d hope you’d use it as such (because college essays are such a small portion of life).</p>

7

<p>Brown is amazing. I felt the same way after I visited a couple weeks ago.</p>

<p>15 as a freshman? :open_mouth: sorry, I just turned 16 and I’m a junior…I feel terribly young now</p>

<p>Anyways, don’t stress too much about Brown now. But I sincerely advise you to involve yourself in writing clubs (or start one?), write some articles and send them to various papers, and enter some writing contests (check out Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for one) </p>

<p>Good luck :slight_smile: maybe we’ll both end up at Brown someday.</p>

8

<p>You could write about sports, since it’s so much of your life. Maybe a regular column or some articles for your school newspaper or even try the local neighborhood news-rag. You could also consider writing a blog, maybe a humorous one about the life of a jock. You might also try your hand at being a sports photographer, both action shots (for the newspaper) and posed shots (for the yearbook); both kind could appear on your blog.</p>

<p>In any case, try to build upon what your already doing (and plan to continue) rather than starting off in a whole new direction with possible eventual time conflicts.</p>

9

<p>^continuing what you’re doing is only a good idea if you still enjoy what you’re doing. As soon as you don’t enjoy something, stop and try something else. That’s what high school’s for, in terms of ECs.</p>

10

<p>Thanks for all the fantastic advice, guys. It was really thorough and quite helpful.</p>

<p>I’ve decided that I’m just going to follow what I love in high school and if Brown is meant to be for me, then it’s meant to be. :)</p>

11

<p>"I’ve decided that I’m just going to follow what I love in high school and if Brown is meant to be for me, then it’s meant to be. "</p>

<p>That is by far and way the best attitude to approach high school and even college with.</p>

12

<p><em>smiles</em></p>

<p>…why is it that whenever I use asterisks to portray a motion it comes out sounding dorky? I guess I’m just my good ol’ dorky self. :slight_smile: Thanks again to all.</p>

13

<p>Advice for you would be not to fetishize Brown. If indeed, you’re a viable Brown applicant in 3 years, then you’ll be a ripe candidate for a wide swath of colleges. Don’t focus on one school but keep your options open. I didn’t even decide to apply to my eventual HYP college until November of my Senior year. These next 3 years are not just meant to be a stepping stone to college. They have inherent value and opportunity for you to mature. Good luck to you.</p>

14

<p>^Agreed. I also think the best way to get a feel for what these kinds of schools are looking for is to look at the results threads for Brown and other top colleges.</p>

15

<p>Ok so first of all, not to sound mean, but you keep saying your school is one of the top in the country. Yet I’m a freshman in high school and I’ve already taken geometry in 8th grade, am taking algebra II this year, and pre-calc next year. And our school has only sent 2 ppl to ivy leagues…and in different years. Funny how that works out. Your ECs seem pretty average. But I don’t wanna give u any ideas…after all, u and I will be competing to be a part of Brown’s Class of 2018 ;)</p>

16

<p>You’re a freshman, you’re not suppose to be worrying about college’s until late junior year/beginning of your senior year. You only get to enjoy high school once lol.</p>

17

<p>@bookworm
I’m more writing-oriented than math oriented, so I’m only taking geometry this year. I know freshmen who are taking pre-calc. So yes, your school and my school are different if your school only offers Alg II to freshmen. & just because you are in a higher math class than I am doesn’t mean your school is better (if that’s what you’re inferring). And I’m not even saying my school is the one of the best overall (because it’s really not), just one of the top rated academically.</p>

<p>@shaheirunderdog
I know, if you read the rest of the topic you’d realize that I actually realized that fact before your post. Thanks, though.</p>

18

<p>@bookworm: From a Brown student, if your attitude is really “I shouldn’t be giving away my academic secrets so that I can do better than the people I’m competing against,” then you really shouldn’t be considering Brown. We are pretty collaborative in nature, and I remember proofreading/discussing essays of other people who applied the same year as me. What that ended up doing was making ME a better applicant (and it makes me a better student), because I get to explain concepts/reasoning, and other people get to tear my ideas to shreds so that I have to start over and rebuild. Even if your teacher grades on a strict curve, you’re better off in the long run collaborating (not cheating, mind you) than not.</p>

19

<p>I was kidding! And I didn’t even have anything to say that hasn’t been said b4. If I hurt anyone’s feelings I apologize. :(</p>

20

<p>Use your summers extremely wisely, they’ll help you get ahead in ECs, academics, etc. Maybe apply to J-Camp or TASP or something like that when you’re eligible. if you go to one if those, you’ll be quite competitive. Good Luck!</p>