Brown is an Ivy League university with a strong creative streak. Located in the heart of Providence, Rhode Island, Brown attracts students who want to go far while thinking differently. The university is looking for a diverse transfer student group, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to get in. Most recently, Brown received 3,000 applications for transfer. Ultimately, they accepted only 215 — or 7.2%. Getting in, then, isn’t easy. It’s just about as hard as getting in as a first-year, and a strong application requires strategy and preparation well in advance of pressing submit.
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The Brown transfer application is nearly identical to the first-year application. They don’t ask for explanations for why you want to transfer. Instead, they want to know who you are at your (academically-minded) core. This is nice because it means you don’t need to legitimize your desire to transfer. All you need to do is present your best Brown-minded self. Now, let’s get into the essays.
THE TRANSFER ESSAYS
You’ve applied to college before, so you know how this goes. This time, though, it’s a little different.
First and foremost, length. The first three prompts are their short essays, and they allow for 1500 characters. 1500 characters is a lot. Honestly, it’s too much. Answers that go on too long can ultimately undermine the strength of your application because a broader scope can result in a loss of focus. We recommend using 200-250 words as your guide.
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. (1500 characters)
The is a big deal for Brown. It’s a part of the undergraduate experience that is distinctly different from other top universities, and Brown wants to know that you have truly bought into what they offer and prioritize. Namely, that you can explore nearly anything at Brown. This is, of course, within reason when you take into account that you would be a transfer. If you want to graduate efficiently, you will need to spend less time exploring academically than you would have been able to as a traditional first-year.
Once you explore the curriculum and map out your ideal path, you want to find details to include in this supplement. This should include a class or two that you want to take, a professor or two that you want to study under, and, ideally, an academic program such as a research institute, lab, or field-based experience that you hope to be involved with.
Once you have your research, it’s time to weave your story. Open the supplement with an anecdote that illuminates what you love academically and are hoping to study at Brown. Ideally, this is a relatively small moment within a larger academic passion. For example, if you spend a lot of time on lab work this could be observing something in the lab and then zooming out to share where you want to take this next (and, at Brown). Include your research, and help Brown envision you there on campus.
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. (1500 characters)
This prompt is one of our absolute favorites, and what we love most about it is that it isn’t academic. It’s truly just about joy. For this reason, we advise our students to hold themselves back from making this academic. They don’t want to hear about how much you love a particular academic paper, or how meaningful it is when you volunteer with a charity — even if it truly does matter a huge amount to you. What they want is pure joy.
We’ve seen successful essays in response to this prompt that range from a biology student writing about baking desserts all of the way to a history student writing about long unplugged hikes. There absolutely does not need to be an academic link between what brings you joy and what you want to study. The link that should exist, though, is character-based. This essay should highlight aspects of who you are that are core to your identity and that inform your academic interests and future goals.
What three words best describe you? (3 word limit)
This one is simple. List 10 and pick 3. Try for one earnest word, one academically-minded word, and one fun word.
If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 word limit)
We love this prompt, but most students overlook the fourth word, teach, leading to answers that fall flat. Anyone can dream up a cool sounding class, and that isn’t what Brown is looking for here. They want to know what you would teach, with the skills and expertise you have right now, not after getting a degree. So, what do you know? Maybe you’re really into sourdough, or you know how to change a flat tire super quickly, or you have a special strategy for cooking dinner for a crowd. We’ve had students successfully dream up classes ranging from dinosaur identification to first-aid for first years.
Try to structure your response like a course listing in the Brown course catalog, from a course name to hall assignment and class schedule, to a description outlining learning objectives and maybe a few highlights from the theoretical curriculum.
In one sentence, why Brown? (50 word limit)
This is probably the hardest Brown prompt, and it’s only one sentence. So, why Brown? We recommend focusing on a small reason that speaks to big themes or opportunities. It could be a specific research opportunity, a particular professor, or a core value that you share with Brown.
The URL
Brown invites applicants to submit the URL to an online presence, like a website, blog, or portfolio. This is not required — at all — and you should think really hard about whether to include something here even if you have a significant online presence. Do not build a website simply to have something to put here, and if you have a website or other presence already, be careful about the content you decide to put in front of Brown. They will scroll deeper than you expect. They will look up what that hashtag means.
Okay, probably not. Most of the time, they simply do not have enough time to click through and go down rabbit holes. However, there are always exceptions. You do not want to be betting that they don’t look too deeply.
Standardized Tests
Brown standardized tests as part of the transfer application process. However, we highly recommend submitting strong scores if you have them. Most students who are accepted to Brown do submit scores, and those scores are impressive.
The Brown transfer application is perfectly tuned to highlight how awesome you are. Now, you just need to do the work to make it shine.
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