2020-2021 Brown (Alpert)

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i wasn't able to find this on the admissions site, but do they allow pre-II update letters?
 
Hi peeps, I’m a first year med student at Brown just popping in to see if anyone had any questions. I also would like to encourage everyone to stay hopeful, I didn’t get an II until December 7th and it was the second to last interview day of the cycle.
 
Bond-HydrogenBond said:
Hi peeps, I’m a first year med student at Brown just popping in to see if anyone had any questions. I also would like to encourage everyone to stay hopeful, I didn’t get an II until December 7th and it was the second to last interview day of the cycle.
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Hey Bond-HydrogenBond, would you happen to have any insight on Brown’s post-interview acceptance rate? Some sources say it’s close to 75% but that doesn’t seem right! Thanks
 
2.9GPA said:
Hey Bond-HydrogenBond, would you happen to have any insight on Brown’s post-interview acceptance rate? Some sources say it’s close to 75% but that doesn’t seem right! Thanks
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Yeah, I thought that was high too but adcom clarified it's not 75%. I think it's that high due to PLME, etc.

Adcoms clarified initial post-interview acceptance is 1/3, which eventually rises to 1/2 after waitlists
 
Does anyone know when people who have interviewed should expect to hear back? I think they told us 11/23 on the interview day, but MSAR says 11/16. Thanks!
 
premed14141414 said:
Does anyone know when people who have interviewed should expect to hear back? I think they told us 11/23 on the interview day, but MSAR says 11/16. Thanks!
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If they said 11/23 then that's probably when. I interviewed recently and they told us a date in December so sounds like each interview day has a specific day they can expect to hear back
 
ricetomed said:
Sure other better places await you. Do you mind sharing your stats? Trying to figure out what outcome I should expect.
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3.98/3.95 GPA. 506. Took my MCAT in July after it was cancelled 3 times due to COVID. A few days before my MCAT my Grandma suddenly died from a stroke. Thought they would take that into consideration...
 
Anon_medgirl said:
3.98/3.95 GPA. 506. Took my MCAT in July after it was cancelled 3 times due to COVID. A few days before my MCAT my Grandma suddenly died from a stroke. Thought they would take that into consideration...
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I'm so sorry 🙁 the COVID delays were rough enough and to have that on top of it?! I'm sure there are other schools that would be more forgiving
 
Thank you. Yea, I mean my GPA is pretty significant considering I was a student-athlete and captain during college while also volunteering. Schools say they are holistic, but they'd rather take someone who has a high GPA and MCAT over mediocre stats. It's unfortunate. Especially when you think about who can afford the best resources to study for the MCAT and those who do not have to work full-time while studying for the MCAT. Or those who had a significant adverse life event before their MCAT exam. The MCAT is one day of your life. Your GPA is at least four years of your life. It shows a significant trend.
 
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Anon_medgirl said:
Thank you. Yea, I mean my GPA is pretty significant considering I was a student-athlete and captain during college while also volunteering. Schools say they are holistic, but they'd rather take someone who has a high GPA and MCAT over mediocre stats. It's unfortunate. Especially when you think about who can afford the best resources to study for the MCAT and those who do not have to work full-time while studying for the MCAT. Or those who had a significant adverse life event before their MCAT exam. The MCAT is one day of your life. Your GPA is at least four years of your life. It shows a significant trend.
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What was your major though, was it a science major? I'm surprised at the discrepancy.

Anyway, the majority of applicants this year seem to believe in holistic review
 
ChicagoBob said:
GPA and MCAT.
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Hmmm well maybe because my seemingly healthy grandma had a hemorrhagic stroke in her pons and I watched her breathing slow as they took her off the vent days before my MCAT. I was sick to stomach for weeks. I don't think my mind was in the right place. My last AAMC practice exams were a 521 and 519, in testing conditions (including wearing a mask).
 
Anon_medgirl said:
Hmmm well maybe because my seemingly healthy grandma had a hemorrhagic stroke in her pons and I watched her breathing slow as they took her off the vent days before my MCAT. I was sick to stomach for weeks. I don't think my mind was in the right place. My last AAMC practice exams were a 521 and 519, in testing conditions (including wearing a mask).
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You don't need to explain yourself to people like this. Your 506 is fine. So is a 520. I hate when people say stupid stuff about MCAT/GPA relation lol.
 
floridaheatkills said:
You don't need to explain yourself to people like this. Your 506 is fine. So is a 520. I hate when people say stupid stuff about MCAT/GPA relation lol.
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Thank you. Chicago Bob's confusion about the mismatch between my GPA and MCAT is clearly insensitive to the fact that I lost my Grandmother days before my MCAT. I mean who would perform at the best of their ability if they lost someone they are close to. Especially in an unexpected and traumatic way.
 
Anon_medgirl said:
Thank you. Chicago Bob's confusion about the mismatch between my GPA and MCAT is clearly insensitive to the fact that I lost my Grandmother days before my MCAT. I mean who would perform at the best of their ability, if they lost someone they are close to, days before their exam? Especially in an unexpected and traumatic way.
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kind of irrelevant but a 506 isn't even bad so the fact you were able to pull a 506 after that is crazy impressive too!
 
Anon_medgirl said:
Thank you. Chicago Bob's confusion about the mismatch between my GPA and MCAT is clearly insensitive to the fact that I lost my Grandmother days before my MCAT. I mean who would perform at the best of their ability, if they lost someone they are close to. Especially in an unexpected and traumatic way.
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I'm honestly really impressed that you were even able to take the MCAT at all after that happened. I'm so sorry for your loss! You're going to be a great doctor and you will end up exactly at the school where you're meant to be! Good luck 🙂
 
ChicagoBob said:
What was your major though, was it a science major? I'm surprised at the discrepancy.

Anyway, the majority of applicants this year seem to believe in holistic review
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I would also like to mention that the difference between those who said "A little, but it's mostly about the stats" and "Largely, stats are just a part of holistic review" would not be statistically significant if I ran a model.
 
Alpert's admissions process has shifted to prioritize super high MCAT scores in the past few years. They jumped from a median MCAT of 512/513 when I was an undergrad to 517 in a single year and it has remained steady.

They were even under fire from their own student body for leaning on the PLME program to get URM students into the student body. You aren't wrong in that their holistic review is a little disingenuous.
 
I was trying to better understand the situation and try to help you not blame the system like I did before when I thought it was all about stats but don't now. I know it sucks to think that the system is cold and ruthless. But in doing so it came off as rude and I apologize for that and for your loss.
 
ChicagoBob said:
I was trying to better understand the situation and try to help you not blame the system like I did before when I thought it was all about stats but don't now. I know it sucks to think that the system is cold and ruthless. But in doing so it came off as rude and I apologize for that and for your loss.
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Not blame the system vs. blame themselves? Lol?

Anyways, we love to see growth. Thank you for your self-reflection.
 
borrawin95 said:
Alpert has shifted to prioritize super high MCAT scores in the past few years. They jumped from 512/513 when I was an undergrad to 517 in a single year and it has remained steady.

They were even under fire from their own student body for leaning on the PLME program to get URM students into the student body. You aren't wrong in that their holistic review is a little disingenuous.
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I'll apologize again, but I'm going to have to defend Brown because I think it sucks to resent the system and schools (if it's not true). According to their website, their MCAT increased by 1 point from the past 3 year averages. That's pretty much in line with the MCAT increases nationally, and says more about how competitive the process is. A 515 two years ago is probably the same percentile as a 516 now (93rd). The process has just gotten so much more competitive.

I know, I was there a few months ago when I was resentful at the system for prioritizing stats, but I have since changed my mind and that has made my perspective better. I know it won't help in how you feel now, but it might down the line, and things might change this cycle.
 
ChicagoBob said:
I'll apologize again, but I'm going to have to defend Brown because I think it sucks to resent the system and schools (if it's not true). According to their website, their MCAT increased by 1 point from the past 3 year averages. That's pretty much in line with the MCAT increases nationally, and says more about how competitive the process is. A 515 two years ago is probably the same percentile as a 516 now (93rd). The process has just gotten so much more competitive.

I know, I was there a few months ago when I was resentful at the system for prioritizing stats, but I have since changed my mind and that has made my perspective better. I know it won't help in how you feel now, but it might down the line, and things might change this cycle.
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It was between 3 & 4 years ago then because they made a very clear 4-point jump. (I'm non-traditional so it was when I was there as an undergrad). Their data does seem to differ from the MSAR which is weird.

I understand what you're saying but I disagree with your approach.

The system prioritizes stats. We can be resentful of that and that is okay. However, we need to understand that we are operating in the system that prioritizes stats and base school-lists, expectations, etc. based on that.
 
borrawin95 said:
It was between 3 & 4 years ago then because they made a very clear 4-point jump. (I'm non-traditional so it was when I was there as an undergrad).

I understand what you're saying but I disagree with your approach.

The system prioritizes stats. We can be resentful of that and that is okay. However, we need to understand that we are operating in the system that prioritizes stats and base school-lists, etc. based on that.
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I definitely think some schools prioritize stats solely (WashU, UChicago, NYU come to mind). But I don't think Brown is one, they are just very particular about their non-PLME students. They want to balance the trads, so they look for very, very non-trad people to complement them, and they only interview like less than 4% of their applicant pool. If they wanted to make it about stats, they could get to 518-520 if they wanted to. However, schools like them have a MCAT and GPA evaluation where they think people can do well. Holistic review does not mean stats are ignored, and yes unfortunately for some MCAT is weighed more than GPA because it's standardized. But hey, this cycle is funky and once all the high stats IIs have gone out and those people start rejecting IIs and As, maybe more IIs will come out later in the year.

EDIT: another way I like to think about it is most schools weigh stats like applicants weigh prestige/ranking. They are probably both similarly correlated with outcome. But there's a reason more people apply to Brown than BU. Despite Brown being a less known medical school, applicants seem to love the "Ivy status".
 
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