Completing the Application
Frequently asked questions about completing the application
Every component of the application conveys important information, but your academic accomplishments as a high school student will have the most influence on our admission decision.
Please report your problems using the Applicant Help Center on the Common Application site. Additionally, the Common Application has the answers to many technical issues in their online Knowledgebase, available through the Applicant Help Center.
Once you have submitted your Common Application, you will receive access to your Brown Applicant Portal from us within 48 hours via email. You will use your Brown Applicant Portal to check the status of your application.
The application fee of $75 is due when you submit your application. On the Common Application, you may use a credit card to pay the application fee, or you may request a fee waiver.
As part of our commitment to make a Brown University education accessible to students from all income backgrounds, Brown is making automatic application fee waivers available to more students. Brown will automatically waive the application fee for any student who is enrolled in or eligible for the Federal Free or Reduced Price Lunch program (FRPL), as well as students who are enrolled in federal, state or local programs that aid students from low-income families (e.g. TRIO Programs). Additionally, Brown will automatically waive the application fee for any student who belongs to a Community Based Organization or College Access Organization that promotes educational opportunity for low-income students.
Applicants to Brown who meet any of these requirements should select the "Brown Specific Fee Waiver" in the "Brown Questions" section of the Common Application. Applicants who do not meet these specific requirements but believe they may qualify for a fee waiver may select the same options in the Common Application supplemented by a fee waiver request. We will accept fee waiver request forms from College Board or NACAC, or school counselors may email a letter of support directly to documents@brown.edu.
Regardless of your citizenship status, if the fee will present a considerable financial hardship for you and your family, you may ask your school counselor to submit a Fee Waiver Request.
It is your right to view such documents if you are admitted and ultimately enroll. You also have the choice to waive that right, which your recommenders might appreciate as a sign of trust, and we appreciate as an indication that the recommender is providing unfiltered observations.
To update your email address or password, please log into your Brown Applicant Portal. To update your address, please email us.
If you have already submitted your application and would like to make a correction, please email admission@brown.edu from the email address used on your Common Application. If you are not able to email your requested change, you may also fax your request to 401-863-9300. If faxing the corrections, please include your full name, your Common Application ID and your signature.
For first-year applicants (including those who have been admitted Early Decision), the Mid-Year School Report should be submitted as soon as your first semester or second trimester grades are available and no later than February 23. If you are not given Mid-Year grades or evaluations (e.g., home schooled students, non-U.S. schools), please include a note explaining your circumstances under the “Additional Information” heading on the writing section of the Common Application.
For transfer applicants, the Mid-Term Report should arrive as early in April as possible. Brief progress reports from individual professors are welcome if your school does not provide mid-term grades or evaluations.
Your counselor must submit the Final School Report and final transcript as soon as possible, and no later than June 30. These documents may be submitted to us through the Common Application website. It is your responsibility to ensure that this is completed by your counselor. You will not be permitted to enroll unless we have received a final transcript.
We do not advise students as to which classes to take prior to their admission to Brown. We believe that this is a choice that each student must make based on what is best for you. If you do choose to drop a course or change your course load at any time during the application process, it is your obligation to update your application accordingly.
If you have already been admitted, however, you must maintain the course load that you submitted with your application material. If you want to make any changes to your course load after you have been admitted, you must contact our office in writing and request permission. All requests will be reviewed by the Board of Admission.
While disciplinary action does not automatically disqualify students from consideration for admission, we do want to understand the circumstances and your perceptions of any such action. If you have such circumstances to share, we will ask for a written explanation as part of the application process.
We do not consider information on criminal history during our initial round of admission application reviews. Only upon selecting a pool of admitted candidates do we learn whether you have reported a criminal history.
With this approach, information on misdemeanor or felony convictions can inform, but not determine, admission decisions. It ensures that applicants are evaluated based on their academic profile, extracurricular pursuits and potential fit - not criminal history - and enables us to continue to review this potentially important information.
Ultimately, our goal is to make an informed decision about what is best for you and best for Brown.
We do not retain admission documents from previous years, and ask applicants who are reapplying to Brown to submit new materials. However, we do retain official College Board and/or ACT scores that have been previously submitted, so these do not need to be sent again.
A student may submit only one type of application to Brown in a given year. For example, students who are denied Early Decision from Brown are not eligible to reapply during Regular Decision, and students may not apply as both first-year and transfer students in the same year.