Admission Requirements Brown University

Admission Requirements Brown University

The admissions process at Brown University is designed to be a transparent and highly personalized experience.

When applying to Brown, you’ll need to fill out the Common or Coalition Application.

The Common Application is a non-profit organization that offers a single application to over 700 participating colleges and universities in the United States, as well as 400 international institutions. The Common App is used by applicants to Brown University, Rhode Island School of Design, and University of Rhode Island.

The Coalition Application is a collaborative effort between seven member schools who have joined together to create an online common application for their admissions process: Bowdoin College; Colby College; Hamilton College; Middlebury College; Pomona College; Scripps College and Swarthmore College. The Coalition only accepts one essay from its applicants—one that asks you to share your perspectives on meaningful experiences that have shaped who you are as an individual—a topic known as “Your Story.”

You will also submit one essay of 250-650 words through the Common/Coalition Application and two short responses, one for each of the following prompts:

You will also submit one essay of 250-650 words through the Common/Coalition Application and two short responses, one for each of the following prompts:

Imagine you were given $1 million dollars to spend on your education. What would you do?

Describe a time when you experienced failure. How did you react? What lessons did you learn?

The short essay is important because it gives admissions officers additional insight into your character and interests beyond what’s reflected in grades and test scores alone. The essays are used to evaluate applicants’ writing skills, ability to think critically about themselves, openness to new ideas, willingness to engage with others from different backgrounds, as well as their potential for success at Brown University.

Along with your Application for Admission, these required essays help us become acquainted with you in ways different from courses, grades, test scores and other objective data.

In addition to your application for admission, Brown University requires two short essays. The first is a short essay that asks about your interests outside of academics. This essay can be about anything you find meaningful or interesting—from sports to music to volunteer work—and it doesn’t necessarily have to be something of which you are particularly proud. You may want to use this opportunity instead to share something that isn’t necessarily typical of what students typically write about in college applications (we know how much high school students love talking about themselves!).

The second essay is more traditional: the “Why Brown?” essay. This one asks why our university appeals specifically to you and what makes us special compared with other colleges and universities (or even other schools within the Ivy League). We encourage applicants who have visited our campus or who have had interactions with members of our university community through programs like admitted student weekend or Big Sister/Little Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Providence, Inc., an organization Brown partners with every year as part of its commitment toward diversity efforts on campus, especially those related directly through mentoring services offered by our institution’s Center for Advising & Academic Success.”

While much thought and care is put into creating each question, there is no wrong answer; we are more interested in learning more about you and how you’ve arrived at this point.

While much thought and care is put into creating each question, there is no wrong answer; we are more interested in learning more about you and how you’ve arrived at this point. We ask questions to learn more about your passions, interests, values and goals. In addition to your answers to the questions posed in our application portal, we invite you to share with us your perspectives on meaningful experiences that have shaped who you are as an individual. Sharing these stories can help make our community feel more connected with one another by highlighting both commonalities and differences among our students’ backgrounds and cultures.

In order to best support all applicants in writing their essays for admission at Brown University, we encourage applicants to read the essay prompts carefully before beginning their essays so that they understand what we are looking for from them at this stage of the application process.

The additional short essays prompt you to share your perspectives on meaningful experiences that have shaped who you are as an individual.

The additional short essays prompt you to share your perspectives on meaningful experiences that have shaped who you are as an individual. Your answers should be personal and thoughtful, expressing how the experience has helped shape who you are today. We encourage applicants to think about the following questions:

What is your best “ME” story? (Remember this is a chance for you to share what makes YOU unique.)

Describe something that happened in high school or college that profoundly changed how you think about yourself and how others perceive you.

Brown wants to hear about what excites you.

Brown University wants to know what excites you. They want to hear about the passions that drive you, the things that intrigue and fascinate, the challenges that inspire and energize.

Brown looks for students who have demonstrated an ability to think independently and creatively, who have a passion for learning, who take initiative in their work, who are committed to helping others and improving the world around them; these are all qualities we value highly at Brown.

Brown is an excellent choice for those who want a small liberal arts college with big name recognition. Brown has a great reputation for its academic excellence, but it also has smaller class sizes and more opportunities for hands-on learning than many other schools with these types of programs.