Receiving a rejection from Brown can be a gut punch. Students who apply Early Decision to Brown tend to pick the university for very specific reasons, and there may not be another school of Brown’s caliber that fully fits the bill. But Brown isn’t the only strong school with a completely open curriculum, so there are options and we’re going to help you see them, pursue them, and receive an acceptance letter. First, let’s do a bit of an autopsy of your Brown rejection.

When reviewing applications, Brown strongly considers whether, above and beyond your grades or scores, you are a good fit for the particular education they offer. So, a rejection from Brown ED doesn’t necessarily mean that you are not qualified to attend Brown, but it does mean that something in how you presented your application didn’t connect strongly enough with them for admissions to offer you a spot in the Class of 2029, or even a deferral.

How do we know this without knowing you, or even seeing your application? Well, it all distills down to statistics. Brown has, in recent years, deferred between 15% and 30% of Early Decision applicants. For the Class of 2028, of Early Decision applicants were accepted. The overall acceptance rate for the class, after the regular decision round, was only 5.4%. Deferral statistics were not immediately released, 19% of Early Decision applicants were deferred for the Class of 2027. 68%, or the sizable majority, were rejected.  

In order to be accepted ED, you need to have the grades, the scores, and the story. The story isn’t just one magical formula, but typically is mix of your background, your passion, and your vision for the future at Brown and beyond. Students who are deferred in the Early Decision round typically have the grades and the scores, but their story is incomplete. The application readers aren’t feeling it fully, but they still want to give the application a chance, and maybe some post-deferral updates will make a difference.

If you are rejected, though, it means that the weak spot on your application could have been anywhere, or even everything. Your grades may not be up to par, scores you submitted may have undercut a strong transcript, your recommendations weren’t compelling, the stories you told didn’t connect, or maybe it simply did not seem like Brown was the best fit for what you want to pursue. This can be overwhelming because it doesn’t give you direction. But there are things that you can do to strengthen your application for the regular decision round regardless of where your weak spot was.

If all of this is overwhelming, contact us. We help students write applications that spotlight their strengths.

The idea of going back to the bones of your college application, like the main essay, may seem crazy right now, but stay with us. You’ve got this.

Reevaluate Your College List

First, you need to go back to basics. You don’t need to throw out your college list, but you do need to reevaluate it with an eye towards being realistic. You have one more round, and you do not want to leave the college application process feeling like you don’t have a great option. To ensure that you have choices, your college list must be balanced. Start at the foundation, with your safety schools. In today’s era of miniscule acceptance rates, there really is no such thing as a safety. However, there are schools that, based on your grades, scores, prospective major, and profile, you are very likely to get into. You must have 3-4 of these schools on your list.

Next, it’s time for the targets. Target schools are schools that you have a strong chance of getting into, but that you can’t be too confident in. Your grades should be in the top 50% of recently accepted students (use the Common Data Set as a source for this), and they should be schools you are a strong cultural fit for as well — namely, what you like they like.

Finally, you have your reaches. When picking 2-3 reaches, we would caution that you should take Brown as a cautionary tale. You may have reached too far with Brown, so aim for reaches with, at minimum, slightly higher acceptance rates.  

Rework Your Common App Essay

A stronger main essay wouldn’t necessarily have changed the result with Brown, but it possibly could have. We’ve found that exceptional Common App essays can be gamechangers, especially at highly-competitive schools. Start by reading our Guide to the Common App Essay for 2024-2025. Then, we suggest reading a few successful Common App Essays. These essays epitomize what we advocate for in an essay: narrative, personality, and often a creative use of format or structure.

Consider Early Decision II

Once you have a new version of your core essay, it’s crucial that you seriously consider an Early Decision II option. Early Decision II is now your most powerful tool in the admissions process, and picking an ED II school can be a big choice. We recommend using it strategically by selecting a school that is between a target and a reach.

Also, Supplements Are Sort of a Science

We haven’t forgotten about your supplements, and neither (hopefully) have you. Each supplement — yes, even the 3 word ones — needs to be treated like a miniature essay. Do not repeat stories within a supplement. Do not reuse supplements thoughtlessly. Do speak to the specific offerings and areas of focus for each school. Take your time to craft essays that are clearly targeted towards each school, and it will pay off in acceptances.

A rejection from Brown is most definitely a bummer, but the best thing you can do now is learn some lessons and put them into practice.

Bouncing back from an early rejection can send students into a tailspin. We get them back on course. Email us to learn more.