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This guide breaks down how to get into Brown University, including everything the admissions committee looks for.
If you’re just here for the requirements, click here.
Brown University's acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 is 5.39%. In the admissions cycle, 48,905 students applied, but only 2,638 were admitted.
That means over 94 out of every 100 Brown applicants were rejected. Brown could fill its incoming class more than 18 times with academically qualified students. You need more than strong grades to get into Brown; you must be exceptional.
The Early Decision (ED) acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 at Brown is 14.38%, almost three times the 5.39% Regular Decision acceptance rate. Applying ED to Brown can boost your acceptance odds significantly.
Around 14% of admitted ED students are recruited athletes. Nearly 83% of recruited athletes are admitted during early decision-making. If you're a recruited athlete, your chances of admission are significantly higher than those of non-athletes, making ED a particularly strategic path to acceptance.
Additionally, ED is binding, and Brown wants to see that you’re fully committed to attending if accepted. Use ED only if Brown is unquestionably your first choice.
In a recent Ivy League webinar with Quad Education, Pam Ng, a previous admissions officer at an Ivy League university, explained the advantages of applying for ED at Brown University:
“Early decision does boost you up and gives you better odds because there's a smaller applicant pool and because the universities understandably love the idea of not having to play enrollment management yield games. If they give one admission, they're going to get one student in the incoming class and be done. So for those reasons, early decision can be a really smart way to go.”
Getting into Brown University is extremely difficult. In the recent admissions cycle, Brown rejected 94% of applicants. You need an excellent GPA, superior SAT and ACT scores, and a high school transcript that demonstrates your prowess to even be considered for admission.
We based our admissions difficulty scale on each school’s acceptance rate and how selective it is compared to other colleges. The most selective schools rank as the hardest, and the least selective schools rank as the easiest to get into.
Find out your chances of getting into Brown University with our free five-minute quiz.
Brown University is a highly prestigious school with thousands of applicants who apply and are denied each year. To increase your chances to maximum capabilities, take a look at the statistics below.
The average GPA at Brown University is 4.18. Brown hasn’t published its average GPA, so we’ve provided an estimate based on the CDS. According to the CDS, 89% of admitted students were in the top 10% of their high school class, suggesting you need a high GPA to stand out among applicants. Aim for a 4.0 GPA or above to help demonstrate your academic prowess.
The average SAT score for 2024-2025 admitted Brown applicants was 1540. Aim for a score above 1540 to help your application stand out.
The average ACT score for 2024-2025 admitted Brown applicants was 35. Aim for a perfect score of 36 to demonstrate your ability to outperform other students.
Brown University looks for students who are resourceful with their high school opportunities and have the potential to thrive within Brown’s Open Curriculum. Brown evaluates how well you’ve mastered key learning skills like critical thinking, curiosity, communication, and openness to new perspectives. The admissions team closely reviews teacher recommendations to understand your intellectual engagement, problem-solving abilities, and work ethic.
Brown values all academic factors as “Very Important,” which means nothing should be left out of your application. Brown expects a minimum of four but preferably five AP or IB classes throughout each year of high school, top academic performance, excellent writing, and strong advocate voices in your recommendations.
In a recent webinar with Quad Education, Max Schindler, a former admissions officer at Brown University, highlighted how challenging your courseload should be to get into Brown:
"Make sure you have the hardest course load possible, getting all top grades. The summer before senior year, make sure you have an extracurricular that’s going to make you stand out... It’s not about the quantity of extracurriculars—it’s about you excelling at one or two or three things."
This insight adds clarity to what “Very Important” actually looks like for Brown admissions officers. Brown isn’t just checking for APs and good grades—it’s looking for students who push themselves relentlessly in the classroom and still find time to lead, innovate, or master something meaningful outside of it. And while many top students join a dozen clubs, Brown favors those who demonstrate depth, leadership, or real-world impact in just a few focused areas.
To further highlight this, Brown’s admissions process page highlights, “The most important consideration in the admission process is your high school performance and preparedness.” Brown assesses whether you’ve taken full advantage of your school’s academic offerings when possible.
Here is how Brown evaluates non-academic admissions criteria for each applicant.
Brown is one of the few schools that ranks both Talent/Ability and Character/Personal Qualities as "Very Important."
In another webinar with Quad Education on finding your unique voice, Schindler mentioned the importance of writing your essay authentically:
“In terms of being genuine, it's about keeping your voice, you as a 17-year-old. And it's almost like wearing business casual clothing... it's as if you're raising your hand in class and talking to your teacher. So it needs to sound like you and your genuine voice.”
The non-academic factor that Brown looks for the most is showing who you are beyond the classroom. As Schindler highlights, your essays and recommendations must prove what you've done and who you are. Brown looks for how you express your values, experiences, and ambitions in your essay. Your recommendations should show how you helped your peers, elevated class discussions, demonstrated empathy, or took initiative, even when not asked.
Your essay should highlight everything you’ve done throughout high school, showing you’re a creative thinker, intellectual risk-taker, and entrepreneurial problem-solver.
The ideal Brown applicant:
If you can explain in your essay why Brown’s unrestricted academic structure will drive you to impact the world positively, you’ll stand out to admissions officers. Mention past experiences where you forged your path or questioned conventional learning models.
Brown’s values emphasize producing independent thinkers who are intellectually fearless. This ethos is reflected in its Open Curriculum and echoed by former Brown admissions officer Kayla Kirk, who recently spoke in a Quad Education webinar. She said:
“While I was there completing my studies [at Brown], I began working with the admissions department... getting to look at what separates students who have similar academic backgrounds—what makes one student stand out over the other.”
This is why intersection is critical. If your academic history, extracurricular involvement, and essays all point to a desire for independent exploration and interdisciplinary thinking, you’re reinforcing the story Brown wants to see. And you’re setting yourself apart from other applicants with similar academic backgrounds.
Brown values curriculum autonomy, or complete freedom for students to shape their own education without required core classes. To stand out, applicants must show they can thrive without external structure by highlighting past experiences where they pursued learning independently, made unconventional academic choices, or connected disciplines on their own terms. Brown is looking for students who don’t need a syllabus to tell them what they want to learn and why.
Here are the application requirements Brown University expects from all applicants:
To improve your chances of getting into Brown University, consult the Brown University admissions consultants at Quad Education. Our former admissions officers have over 15 years of combined experience helping students craft the perfect Brown application to maximize their chances of acceptance.
Here are some other ways to boost your chances of getting into Brown:
Brown wants to know what you will do with academic freedom. Use your essays to map a self-directed learning path, tying it to your goals. Mention specific courses, professors, or research labs from Brown's catalogue that match your goals.
For example, if you're passionate about the intersection of neuroscience and political decision-making, you could mention taking Neurobiology of Learning and Memory alongside The Politics of Health Care Reform, and pursuing research through the Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences (CLPS) Lab. Showing how you’ll intentionally navigate Brown’s academic freedom tells the admissions committee you’re ready to thrive in a highly self-motivated environment.
In Quad Education’s college essay webinar, Kirk highlighted the importance of research in your video introduction:
“Look up their course catalog within a department that you might be interested in, drop the name of that class, and drop the name of a professor whom you saw on the website. Look at some of the professors who are working in a field that you're interested in, and you might find projects that they've worked on or articles they've published.
Brown’s two-minute video introduction is optional, but it is an excellent opportunity to add depth to your application. Since Brown marks character and personal quality as “Very Important” in the CDS, the video introduction could be another opportunity for you to show your personality, characteristics, and voice.
Don’t mention anything that’s already included in your application. Brown highlights that this video introduction should only provide new information about you.
Use as many video clips of yourself as possible in the introduction. And if you don’t have many video clips, you can easily turn Live Photos into short videos.
The whole point of the video intro is to give admissions officers a feel for who you are, not just as a student, but as a person. It doesn’t need to be overly academic or polished. For example, you could talk about your favorite book while layering in hiking clips, playing with your pets, and spending time with friends. This provides the admissions officers with a genuine sense of your personality.
Brown values depth over breadth. Instead of joining 10 clubs, ensure you have a handful of meaningful extracurriculars, as Brown values what you’ve done in high school. Lead a research project. Launch a nonprofit. Intern in a lab. Then connect it to how you’ll thrive at Brown.
Brown’s admissions team uses a contextual admissions model to evaluate your application based on what was available to you. A student who built a tutoring program in a low-resource school may stand out more than a student with 10 APs and a summer at a top school.
Ask teachers who can speak to both your academic abilities and your character. Letters that say you’re "smart and hardworking" won’t look good. Letters that communicate you "change class conversations" will look good.
Ng, an Ivy League admissions expert, discussed the importance of carefully considering your recommendations in Quad Education’s Ivy League webinar.
“Spend time asking the right teachers to write your letters of recommendation, as well as your counselor at school. These very much enhance your application and can give us a sense of who you are and offset or give context to your grades and your extracurriculars, and tell us anything else that maybe you didn't reveal in your portion of the application.”
Early Decision can boost your acceptance odds. The ED acceptance rate at Brown University is 14.38%, compared to the regular decision acceptance rate of 5.39%. But only apply to ED if you’re 100% sure it’s the school you want to attend.
If you have exceptional talent in visual arts, music, dance, or research, submit a portfolio. Only do this if the work is polished and deeply relevant to your academic narrative.
Yes, Brown University accepts transfer credits but doesn't assess them before acceptance. No specific credit agreements exist, and credits from correspondence, online, summer courses, or AP tests aren't recognized. However, liberal arts courses from accredited institutions are transferable. Use the online tool to check transferability and course matches.
A 3.5 GPA is likely not enough to get into Brown University. Nearly 90% of applicants in the recent admissions cycle were in the top 10% of their graduating class, so aim for a 4.0 GPA or higher.
To stand out in the Brown University application process, aim for a 4.0 GPA or higher. Brown looks for your talents, motivation, and drive. Standing out requires exceptional qualities that reflect your character, aligning with Brown's pursuit of bringing students together in creative ways.
You should begin preparing for Brown University as early as 9th grade. Start by enrolling in advanced coursework, building strong extracurriculars, and developing a clear academic interest. By junior year, focus on maintaining excellent grades, taking the SAT or ACT, and deepening your personal narrative through leadership or independent projects. Begin writing essays and researching Brown-specific programs in the summer before senior year. Brown’s 2025 Early Decision deadline is November 1, and 2025 Regular Decision is January 3, so have all materials ready well in advance.
You can submit additional materials with your Brown application, but you don't have to. However, we always recommend going above and beyond. Use the Brown Applicant Portal to share additional information or documents such as a research paper or abstract you've written, a creative writing sample, or a visual art or design portfolio.
Before applying to Brown, we recommend you take an informed and honest look at your academic profile. After reading this article, you should better understand how to get into Brown University.
Book a free consultation with a member of our team today to match with an expert Brown admissions counselor. We have over 15 years of combined experience helping students get into Brown on their first attempt.
