Brown is the “creative Ivy.” A member of the famed Ivy League, Brown embraces opportunities to approach any subject from a creative perspective — whether it’s overtly ‘artsy’ or not. It’s also the only Ivy League school with a truly Open Curriculum. At Brown, you take what you want, when you want, within the context of your course of study. This encourages both exploration and depth, pushing you to try new things and test your academic boundaries. Brown attracts tens of thousands of applicants from around the globe, and competition for a spot is fierce. The acceptance rate has held at just over 5% for the past two years, for both the Class of 2027 and the Class of 2028.
If you are considering Brown, it’s important to know that they look for applicants who offer both a breadth of experiences and deep curiosity about one or two subjects you are deeply passionate about. They also look for exceptional grades, and SAT or ACT scores to match. Brown reinstated their policy requiring students to submit an SAT or ACT score, as they believe that the scores form an important piece in the application review process. If you want an idea of what to aim for as you study, you can review the most successful score ranges.
In this post, though, we’ll break down something in the application process that you can’t study for: the supplements. For Brown, the supplements make up a crucial piece of the application as they are an opportunity to show how you think, what you are passionate about, and that you have a true enthusiasm for the process of discovery through learning.
If you are considering Brown, contact us. We help exceptional students get into outstanding schools.
The Brown supplement is long, it’s intense, and it really requires time to get right. Plan to start as soon as you read this post (if you haven’t already) — ideally at least a month before the application deadline. If you are already close to the deadline, definitely consider calling in help because while this is your first time doing a Brown supplement, we’ve successfully supported students through hundreds of them.
Resume: First, let’s talk about the resume. Submit one. Yes, it’s optional. Yes, it’s tempting to skip optional things when you’re in the stress of college applications, but you need to do it. We even have this useful resource if you don’t have a resume or want to tailor yours to fit what Ivy League colleges expect. You can use this resume for any college application that requests or allows one, so it’s time well spent!
Website Link: Brown also allows applicants to include a link to a website or online profile that you want them to take a look at. Please, approach this with caution. Social media is not a talent that will play well here unless you have built a following educating fellow teens about fine art or current events or something similarly academic and wholesome. Having dance videos go viral on TikTok does not impress them. Your personal social media accounts are not helpful, but a blog that explores connections between animated films and classic literature might be. If you are going to include a link, and especially if it’s to a website you built, we implore you to ensure it is optimized for mobile and desktop.
Now the questions. Prepare yourself, there are a lot of them.
Brown's Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown. (200-250 words)
As we mentioned earlier, Brown has a truly open curriculum. While many colleges talk about having a flexible academic program, the Brown Open Curriculum is the real deal. For this supplement, they want to see two things. First, they want to know more about what subject or subjects you are most interested in pursuing. But they are also interested in knowing how you’ll embrace the open curriculum to expand beyond the things you already love. Ideally, you’ll frame this supplement within a multi-disciplinary learning moment that shows how you pull on different subjects to find success in real time. For example, maybe you participated in an academic competition that required you to integrate history and science to succeed. A scene of you puzzling through a problem set with your teammates could lead to you talking about the integration of different areas of study and how you’re excited to continue exploring broadly to find deep understanding at Brown.
Remember to include specifics like the name of the concentration you’re most interested in, courses you’d love to take, and a professor you hope to study under. If there is a research program or other opportunity you are excited about, definitely include those details, too!
Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community. (200-250 words)
This is a really interesting question, and it can be fun one to tackle, too — but it can also be intimidating and lead students in a not-so-great direction. First, if something jumps to your mind to write about, start writing. If you aren’t sure about what words to put on ‘paper,’ try recording an audio message of you talking through your idea. Don’t worry about word count, don’t worry about grammar, just write. We call this ‘free writing,’ and it’s an extremely useful tool early in the supplement drafting process.
If nothing jumps to mind immediately, you’ll need to brainstorm. Don’t get too hung up on the word ‘challenged,’ either. Many students are stumped by that, and get bogged down in trying to identify a ‘challenge’ that seems significant enough to spotlight here. Instead, focus on ‘inspired.’ A challenge can inspire you, off course, but so can beauty or triumph or wet grass on your bare feet or watching an older cousin struggle and then thrive or supporting a sibling. There are so many things to write about here beyond ‘challenges’, so explore broadly.
Once you have a topic, you need to remember to incorporate how this will inform the ways in which you contribute to Brown as a member of the community. Be specific here, and set the scene for how you’ll strengthen those around you and build comradery.
Brown students care deeply about their work and the world around them. Students find contentment, satisfaction, and meaning in daily interactions and major discoveries. Whether big or small, mundane or spectacular, tell us about something that brings you joy. (200-250 words)
This prompt is so much fun, but you can risk getting caught up in the first two sentences and left feeling like there’s a huge mountain to climb in this prompt. But there’s not. They want simple. They want human. Most of all, they want to see you. Focus in on the last three words: “brings you joy.”
So, what makes you happy? What, when you do it, makes you entirely and fully yourself. Ideally, this should be outside of the classroom, outside of structured extracurriculars, and be all about passion. It could be an artistic, athletic, or adventurous pursuit, and you need to write about it in a way that communicates your core values and ideals. We find that the best way to do this is by writing a scene, or a specific moment, that shows you in your element. It’s ok if it isn’t ‘action packed’ in the stereotypical sense, as it’s your enthusiasm and joy that brings the excitement.
What three words best describe you? (3 words)
This one is simple, so don’t overthink it. Don’t pick words that you think will make you sound ‘impressive.’ Pick words that will make you sound like you. If you are stumped, try texting a few friends and ask them what words they’d pick for you. Words to skip, though, are ‘intellectual,’ ‘deep,’ or ‘grounded.’
What is your most meaningful extracurricular commitment, and what would you like us to know about it? (100 words)
Meditate on the phrase “most meaningful,” and then think about what you do that contributes the most to others. It should be something you do fairly regularly — not a one-off — and that you’ve been doing for at least a few months. If there isn’t anything in your activities list that fits the bill, there may still be time to add an extracurricular to your schedule that would fit these criteria. Make sure that it makes sense for you, though. Coaching a soccer camp doesn’t make sense if you don’t play soccer, so you need to focus on a meaningful match that gives back to others.
If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words)
This prompt is super fun, and we challenge you to write your response as an actual course description. Give it a title, a description, and even a classroom assignment if you want to study the campus building names at Brown. We advise students to design a course that would fall into the department that their major is in, but that also pulls on a secondary interest that could be academic — but that doesn’t have to be. For example, if you want to study literature but are also really interested in climate change science, you could propose a course on climate change literature.
In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)
This is so short that you have to be extremely strategic. Most importantly, don’t try to do too much. Where most “why us?” prompt responses should include specifics that show the depth of your knowledge of the program, we advise students pick one thing that is very specific to Brown, whether a program or a tradition, and drop yourself into it for a moment.
And that’s a wrap! The Brown supplement isn’t easy, but it offers so many opportunities to spotlight what makes you special. If you plan to apply to the Liberal Medical Education or the Brown RISD Dual Degree Program, remember that there will be additional requirements for those specific programs, which are both extremely selective.
If Brown is your dream school, we can help. Email us to learn more.
