Applying to Brown Early Decision comes with some advantages. The rate of acceptance is higher than in the regular decision round, and you can confirm your plans for college months before the regular decision cycle sorts things out for most students. There’s one other advantage, though, that may feel, in this precise moment, like a set-back: Deferral. Getting deferred by your dream school isn’t the ideal outcome, but it also isn’t the worst possible result. You are still in the game, and in this post, we’re going to break down what you need to know to increase your chances of turning your deferral into an acceptance. We’ll also dive into everything else you must tackle to ensure your entire college application process is a massive success.
First, let’s talk numbers.
The overall Brown acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was 5.2%. Breaking it down, the regular decision rate was actually only 3.8%. The early decision acceptance rate was much, much higher, at 14.4%. In recent years, around a third to a full half of accepted students are admitted early decision. This isn’t reason to despair, however. In the 2023-2024 application cycle, only 16.8% of early decision applicants were deferred to the regular decision round. This continued a trend of decreasing deferral rates, which means that being deferred has become only more meaningful over the past few years. Brown, ultimately, doesn’t prefer to defer students that aren’t accepted. If you aren’t a strong candidate, they just reject you — and they underline this on the Brown admissions website. “We also turn down,” they say, “Early Decision applicants who, based on our experience, would not be competitive in our Regular Decision process.” Students who are deferred, by comparison, “are well-qualified for study at Brown.”
What should you take from this? Most importantly, you should take away that you do, indeed, still have a chance of getting into Brown — and a pretty good one at that. What you do next, though, makes all the difference. Luckily, we’re here to help.
A deferral wasn’t part of the plan. When things go sideways with college admissions, we help students get back on track. Contact us to learn more.
Before you strengthen your Brown application, you’ll need to look at the big picture of your college application process. After all, not getting into Brown early means that you’ll have to do the whole college application process most students take for granted.
Review Your College List
A strong college list is the foundation of a successful application experience. If you don’t pick the right schools, you can’t achieve the optimal outcomes. But what are the ‘right’ schools for you? Well, it’s all about balance. Not every school you apply to should be highly selective, just as not every school should be a safety. We encourage students to apply to a small number of safety or foundation schools, a small number of ‘targets’, and a few reaches (literally, 2-3). Being deferred by Brown confirms for you that it is a reach, but also that it is possible for you to get positive attention from a top-tier school. Use that as the ‘measuring’ stick when determining the rest of your list. Brown is not a target, so what are your targets? Working with a pro can help determine where your favorite schools fit in your list, and if you need to look beyond your initial picks.
Reassess Your Common App Essay
Once you have your college list set, you need to revisit the writing you’ve already done. We get that you don’t want to go back to the beginning — and you may not have to. But you also need to consider the possibility that there’s a better approach to the common app essay for you. Before you make any final decisions, take a look at our 2024-2025 guide to the Common App essay. This guide lays out what, from our experience with hundreds of students on thousands of applications, works. It isn’t always intuitive, and we rarely advise what is ‘expected.’ Being open to new ideas and opportunities for growth in your writing will take you to a new level in your writing for the essay, and then later for the supplements.
Press Submit
Finally, you need to submit. That’s obvious, right? But it also isn’t. Every year we have to coax students to press submit because they think that just one more comma change will make a difference. Generally, it doesn’t. Continually fiddling with your work can even mess it up. So, get to a polished version you’re confident and press submit before second-guessing. Then get back to Brown.
WHAT BROWN WANTS
Brown encourages deferred students to update them about “a significant accomplishment or a noteworthy change,” but they don’t require it. Like many ‘optional’ things, though, we don’t consider this optional. There are two things you need to do, then, to make your application stand out in the regular decision round.
Grades
Your counselor should automatically submit a Mid-Year Report and a Mid-Year transcript so that the application reviewers can see your fall term grades, and any relevant updates from your school pertaining to your academic record. It’s worth confirming with them, in person, that they have done this — just in case. A key reason to do this in person, rather than over email, is that this conversation is also a great time to ask if they would be willing to make an advocacy call on your behalf. They aren’t required to call Brown, and Brown doesn’t expect it, but if your school counselor is willing to call that can make a big difference.
Letter of Continued Interest
The piece that you are most in control of is the Letter of Continued Interest. This is a classic piece of deferral strategy for nearly every college, but students are often flying blind. Brown is kind enough to ask for a LOCI, but they decline to give much guidance as to what they want. Luckily, we know what works.
Your letter should be short, clear, well-edited, and ideally less than 400 words. It’ll open with a short paragraph reinforcing that Brown remains your first choice school, reminding them of what you want to study and why Brown is the best place for your course of study. It should be completely clear from this opening that you will attend Brown if accepted.
Next, you need to update Brown about anything that has happened since you initially applied that you would have included in your initial application if it had happened in time. This could include awards or recognitions, leadership roles, extracurricular or community service commitments, or new responsibilities at home. All of this should be whittled down to less than 5 updates that you spend no more than two sentences on each.
The last paragraph will be a reiteration of the first paragraph. Yes, you just said that Brown if you first choice. Say it again anyway, maybe this time with a cute reference to something you’re excited about at Brown that isn’t academic.
Once your letter is polished and complete, submit it through the Brown Applicant Portal.
Will you get into Brown by writing this letter? Maybe, and maybe not. There is no guarantee. But it’s nearly guaranteed that you will not get in if you don’t take every opportunity Brown invites for you to strengthen your application.
Every year we help students bounce back from deferrals to get into a dream school. Email us to learn more.