Brown University

Essay Strategy
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Brown University Admissions Strategy
Admissions Criteria:

The parts of the application Brown considers very important are: Course rigor, class
rank, GPA, test scores, essays, recommendations, talent, and character.
Extracurriculars are considered important.

The parts of the application which are considered are: First generation status, legacy
status, interviews, geographic origin, race/ethnicity and volunteering. None of these
factors will be enough alone, but can increase overall chances of admission.

Recruited athletes do have an advantage in the admissions process, while they do

need to be academically competitive, they have an advantage if they are actively
recruited by coaches.

Brown does not consider demonstrated interest or ability to pay.

What is Brown Looking For?

The school takes a fully holistic approach to the admissions process, examining and
weighing each candidate individually. They are looking for curious students who will
make an impact, and are much more free-form and independent than the other Ivy
League schools. Further, they want to see how each student will benefit and be
benefitted by Brown. All applications are decided on by a vote from the admissions
committee.

Every student is rated from 1-6 (6 highest) on two scales: academic and personal.
While no students will be rejected by their first reader due to low scores in one area,
they will likely not be discussed long in the committee if their readers are not confident
in their ability to succeed at Brown.

Engineering applicants to Brown go to an additional read by Engineering faculty during

the admissions process. Brown is actively trying to improve its engineering program,
and is seeking highly qualified and motivated engineering students.
Brown has a progressive and free-flowing atmosphere, and they look for students who
will specifically benefit from that. They want to see how students would add fresh
perspectives or contribute to classroom discussions. Further, they want students who
care about things, and who will take the initiative to act on their passions.

Brown has a longstanding commitment to diversity, and is actively working to recruit

underserved and disadvantaged populations. They do not take ability to pay into
account when making admissions decisions, and have programs which guarantee aid
for families earning under a certain threshold.

Brown Strategy:

The best way to improve your chances of admission is to apply Early Decision, as the
admissions rate there is far higher. While students must still be qualified, they are
competing against a smaller pool, and their commitment to attend is also appealing.
Brown’s yield rate is very high, and they want to maintain that; a high number of ED
admits is a good way to do that.

Strong engineering applicants will have significant success applying to Brown, more so
than similarly qualified applicants applying to a more tech-focused program, such as
MIT. Engineering students who want to take an interdisciplinary approach are also
sought after, as Brown is heavily focused on interdisciplinary approaches, due to their
free-form curriculum.

For Brown’s essays, students should show their creativity and passions. The question
about the open curriculum is a good place to explore interests you have outside your
desired major, and how you may relate the two through interdisciplinary investigations.
In all of the essays, students should display their character, and what they will
contribute to the community at Brown.

Letters of recommendation are very important, and students should make sure their
recommenders are able to say tangible things about how the student contributes to
class and engages with their academic interests. Putting the student in perspective
with others is also helpful.

Brown is well known for its unstructured and free-form curriculum, and this is why
many of the students who apply choose to go to Brown. You should determine if this
looser approach fits your needs and interests, or if you would thrive more in a more
traditionally structured environment.

Brown Essays Analysis

Introduction

Brown requires you to write four essays in addition to the personal statement. These
are all fairly short, with one requiring 150 words, and the other three requiring 250. One
asks about extracurriculars, one about your intended major, and the last two are both
essays about communities you are involved with.

The community essays are slightly different, as one asks how you will contribute to
Brown’s community, and the other asks how a community has shaped your
perspective. We’ll give examples of well written Brown essays, and discuss what
they’re looking for in responses below.

Extracurricular Essay Example

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. *150
Words

Masked and gloved, I drove the empty streets of Sugar Land in pursuit of a summer job. From
Baskin-Robbins to Ben & Jerry’s, no one was hiring. When I finally compromised my ice cream
standards by walking into Menchies Frozen Yogurt, to my surprise, I was hired on the spot.
My joy at having found a job during Corona-times was quickly overshadowed by the fact that I
was doing janitorial work for minimum wage. Furthermore, my boss forced me to close the
store alone, which quickly became source material for recurring nightmares.

One fateful night ALL the yogurt machines broke down in a massive, sticky explosion. When
my boss finally returned my frantic calls hours later, she proceeded to yell at me for closing two
minutes early. My crumpled uniform now serves as a traumatic reminder of the dangers of
rationalizing unfair treatment by so-called superiors.
Extracurricular Essay Analysis

The question asked here is very straightforward, as Brown wants some expanded
detail on how you spend time outside of school. As there are two more essays which
may describe your involvement in other extracurriculars, try to focus this essay on
another activity. You want to give Brown a look at as many facets of your life as
possible, as they know nothing about you save for what you tell them.

While the question is very broad, this essay is another chance to show admissions
officers some of your values or accomplishments. The author above uses the essay to
describe a learning experience, and how they dealt with the challenges posed by a bad
boss. While we recommend not being overly negative, showing what you learned from
a challenging experience gives depth to your application.

Consider what activities you’ve listed in the Common App, and what values and
lessons you learned for each. The largest and most impressive likely show up in other
essays, but a 150 word response is a good place for a small but impactful lesson or
value. You can also reuse another essay which discusses an extracurricular. Avoid
discussing community as one of the values however, as there are two questions which
address community specifically.

Why Major Example

Brown’s Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their
academic pursuits. Tell us about an academic interest (or interests) that excites you, and how
you might use the Open Curriculum to pursue it.*250 Words

From dead animals floating down my street to the threat of petrochemical spills,
Hurricane Harvey turned my neighborhood into a sci-fi blockbuster. Add in the “effective
immediately” evacuation mandates, and things turned truly apocalyptic. Rather than drowning
my faith in government intervention (or lack thereof), I used the three weeks trapped inside of
my house to wade into the muddy waters of public policy.
I learned that a 1970s flagship program called “Housing Houston” mobilized so-called
“explosive property development” on low-lying lands. This get-rich-quick scheme prioritized
economic growth over personal safety, not only opening the floodgates for dangerous
conditions, but later costing the city $125 billion in Harvey-related damages. What’s more, the
national flood policy has yet to be improved, inviting history to repeat itself.
 How can we learn from such disasters to develop ethical crisis response methods? The
Open Curriculum’s emphasis on seeing from many angles by engaging with a wide variety of
disciplines will enable me to tackle the pressing social problems of my generation. I am eager
to dive into the dialectical relationship between economic pursuits and moral responsibility, not
only engaging with economics and political science, but also with philosophy, history,
psychology, government, and untold other subjects. As I pursue an International and Public
Affairs concentration, classes like Democratization as Metaphor and Reading New York will fuel
my curiosity about how political systems can advocate for social justice, while courses like
Approaches to the Middle East and Econometrics will ground my lofty ideals in concrete data.

Why Major Essay Analysis

The name we’ve given this essay is something of a misnomer, as Brown does not have
specific majors, or even much in the way of organized courses of study. Instead, they
have an open curriculum, and do not have any required courses, with students allowed
to take any classes which catch their fancy which they meet the prerequisites for. As
this is such a different system from most other schools, Brown wants to know how
students plan to use this academic freedom, and which subjects or areas of study are
their current favorites.

While you can use a Why Major essay you wrote for another school to respond to this
prompt, you should tailor your response to directly respond to the opportunities offered
by Brown. The open curriculum is a unique system, and as Brown does not have a
separate essay about why you want to attend Brown, detailing some of why the open
curriculum allows you to pursue your academic goals is recommended here.

The author in the example above does this well. The first part of the essay provides
clear motivations for why they are interested in the subjects they are, while the final
paragraph lays out how the open curriculum in particular will help them pursue their
interests. They also mention several specific classes they want to take, showing they
are already invested in what Brown has to offer.

When you write this essay, try to be as specific as possible when you discuss what
academic opportunities you want to pursue at Brown. Are there specific courses you
want to take or professors you want to work with? Do you have a specific
concentration or subject in mind, or do you want to use the open curriculum to the
fullest, and take classes in as many fields as possible? Make sure you specify how
exactly Brown will fulfill your academic desires.

Community Essay Example

At Brown, you will learn as much from your peers outside the classroom as in academic spaces.
How will you contribute to the Brown community? *250 Words

“I’m coming!” The crowd of teenage girls surrounding Ananya backstage parted as the
lull of my voice cascaded over the chatter of 50,000 people echoing through the stadium. I ran
through my signature pre-performance pep-talk, and five minutes later, Ananya was on stage
dancing beside me with a beaming smile, leftover tears flinging from her lashes with each jati.
Until a year ago, I was the one having bi-weekly anxiety attacks. Something as
inconsequential as misplacing a pencil would catapult me into panic. Despite practicing yoga
and “taking deep breaths,” this persistent stress plagued me for years like a pinched nerve.
In 10th grade, my hip young English teacher spent an entire class discussing nihilism.
Despite the harsh nature of a useless existence, I was captivated. A key passage from the
Bhagavad Gita rang in my ears: “You have a right to ‘Karma’ [actions] but not to any of the
Fruits [results] themselves.”
My newfound understanding of the sacred text of my childhood and the calm
“detachment” it produced in me was a direct result of recognizing my own finitude. While I
don’t remind hyperventilating dancers that they’re going to die someday, I do remind them that
no one will remember the second girl from the left missing a beat. I am eager to continue to
share and explore this liberating blend of Eastern and Western thought at Brown University.

Community Essay Analysis

This question is asking you to describe how you will contribute to Brown’s campus
community. The easiest way to do this is to show how you have contributed to other
communities you’ve been a part of, as the best indicator for future accomplishments is
past success. Brown is looking to build a supportive and welcoming community, and
you should demonstrate how your values and abilities make the communities you are
part of better.

The author in the example above discusses their perspective on philosophy, a blend of
traditions, as it relates to overcoming anxiety. This essay thus works in two ways. First,
it demonstrates how the author gives back to their community, by helping one of their
friends overcome their anxiety. Second, it shows the unique perspective they will bring
to campus, in their melding of eastern and western philosophy.

Your own essay should try to convey what values you hold and how you will contribute
to the community. While showing unique perspectives you hold is also helpful, Brown
has another whole essay meant solely for that. If your perspectives fit naturally into this
essay, then include them, but don’t try to force them in. The essay should show how
you contributed, rather than making claims as to your contributions. This isn’t the
activities list, you have room to expound upon your accomplishments.

Perspectives Essay Example

Tell us about a place or community you call home. How has it shaped your perspective? *250
Words

My life has been a succession of sprints toward an ever-moving finish line. From grades
and test scores to hobbies and extracurriculars, my incessant pursuit of achievement has often
left me exhausted and unfulfilled. When I started cross country my sophomore year, the
seemingly unattainable finish lines in the distance sparked a shift in my understanding of a life
well-lived.
As I prepared to run the first mile of my life, the track extended before me like a python
coiling around its prey, and by the time I finally crossed the finish line, the other runners’ sweat
had already dried. When my dad asked me how practice went, I lied and said I didn’t make the
team, but he saw right through me. I resorted to syllogisms, puppy-dog-eyes, and everything in
between, but he wouldn’t budge.
Although I had shaved more than two minutes off my turtlish mile time within a few
months, I never even made the top 50% in the participation race. Running has enabled me to
balance my pursuit of achievement with an appreciation for “the race” itself. Rather than
getting frustrated, I slowly shifted my line of sight from the finish line to the track itself, focusing
on putting one foot in front of the other, aligning my breathing with each step, and embracing
who I was in the moment: Meera, The Winded Cross Country Star.

Perspective Essay Analysis

This essay also asks about a community you have been a part of, but instead of
focusing on how you contributed to that community, the essay focuses on how the
community impacted you. Brown is looking to admit students with a wide variety of
perspectives and outlooks, and this essay is how they look for those. They want to
foster dialogue and connections between people with wide ranging opinions and views
of the world, and want to know how your personal viewpoints were shaped.

There is no right answer, but any views you espouse should be ones which show you in
a good light. Be cautious when espousing controversial views, for while schools do
support free speech, there are limits within which they operate. Try to find unique
viewpoints, as the worst thing you can be in this essay is boring. If the perspective you
bring is one shared by a thousand others, what value do you bring that they do not?

The author in the example above does a good job of sharing a more unique
perspective. While cross country is a fairly common sport, the way it impacts the
author, and what she learns from it, are more unique. The lesson is perhaps cliche, a
focus on the journey rather than the destination. The activity is common as well. But
the combination of the two is unique, and not something seen often. This uniqueness is
what Brown is looking for, and helps your essays stand out amidst their thousands of
peers.