<p>Is there something that attracts more applicants to Brown than to its peer schools?</p>
<p>it’s better</p>
<p>Open Curriculum means inter-disciplines == you cultivate your own courses(you become a better intellectual person) == corporate between departments and research areas == (Technology + Know Human Behaviors + Right Business Model(TBB)) ==> Success Enterprise/Individual.</p>
<p>Acceptance rates have more to do with prestige than anything else. Look at Georgia Tech, a top engineering school in the country that ranks near MIT in most engineering majors but has an acceptance rate of around 60%. Brown is an awesome school and I applied because of the Open Curriculum, but a lot of people just want to go to an Ivy because of the prestige.</p>
<p>I find Brown to be one of the least intimidating of the top-tier colleges because it seems to be a place where you are really allowed to do whatever you want academically. I think you can take any class pass/fail, you can pick ANY classes you want, and overall you can just explore. That is appealing to many people. On top of that, it is an Ivy, and it also has top-ranked programs in basically everything. It’s pretty easy to see why it is appealing. Therefore, more (or really the same #) applicants for a smaller class size equals lower acceptance rate.</p>
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<p>Oh that’s a very good pt!</p>
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<p>Most everyone applying to Brown is a plausible candidate.</p>
<p>So a 7% acceptance rate is almost like winning the lottery.</p>
<p>Now factor in legacies, and people with connections (such as JFK, Jr) and affirmative action goals, athletes, etc., and the chance of a kid getting in is extremely small.</p>
<p>@BrownAlumParent: I’m aware of the other factors, but I don’t think they account for most of the difference. I’m speaking from experience as a student at a good public high school. All of my peers in AP classes applied to Ivy schools, and many of them are doing it for the prestige. They think the prestige opens doors, and maybe they’re right. Many of my classmates in my math class are applying to engineering schools, and many of them knew about Georgia Tech, but more of them applied to Ivy schools than to Georgia Tech even though Georgia Tech has better engineering programs than Ivies. They acknowledge that Georgia Tech is a good school, but they don’t seem interested. Less people apply to Georgia Tech even though it’s cheaper and better for engineers. I wish more people would look past prestige when it comes to colleges but it’s not happening right now.</p>
<p>Brown’s undergraduate focus, excellent community and guest speakers, combined with the open curriculum, and the general acceptance of all people and all ideas makes me wonder why Brown’s acceptance rate isn’t even LOWER. Brown is such a well-rounded school in terms of academic departments, sports, and participation of students in clubs. </p>
<p>It is probably the only university which perfects the small-liberal-arts-college-feel with the large-undergraduate-research-private-university-feel. I don’t understand why universities like Washu and Dartmouth are ranked ahead of a place like Brown. Brown has a lower acceptance rate than most ivies, but I think its “reputation” as a pot-smoking hippie college with laid back academics seems to pervade the minds of the ignorant public. (haha ignorant public is redundant.)</p>
<p>I don’t think Brown’s acceptance rate is lower than is true peer schools. I think Brown ranks lower than it should because of factors like the endowment. In other words, factors that may not be as meaningful to the average applicant.</p>