On Friday afternoon, Brown University welcomed 906 of its 5,048 early decision applicants to the class of 2029 — the highest acceptance rate in over half a decade.
Credited to a marked decrease in the number of applicants and increase in the admitted cohort’s size, Brown’s acceptance rate soared to levels not seen since the class of 2023.
The class of 2027 remains the most competitive early decision class in history, with the class of 2028 falling in a close second place.
This year saw nearly 1,200 fewer applicants compared to last year, signifying a loss of about one-fifth of the university's Covid-era applicant pool.
Of the applicants, 61.8% were denied and 17.8% were deferred to the regular decision pool. Slightly more than 2% of applications were withdrawn or remained incomplete after their review but before decisions were released, according to University Spokesperson Brian Clark.
“We expected a total applicant pool comparable to the years before the temporary test-optional policy,” said Associate Provost for Enrollment and Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Logan Powell in a press release, citing Brown’s newly-resurrected application requirement: standardized test scores.
The class of 2029 is the first to apply with the reinstated mandatory test scores policy and the second to apply under the Supreme Court’s outlaw of race-based affirmative action. Brown reinstated the test requirement in part because “some students from less advantaged backgrounds are choosing not to submit scores under the test-optional policy, when doing so would actually increase their chances of being admitted,” according to an advisory committee on admissions practices.
Powell said the admitted class “expressed an enthusiasm to embrace Brown’s Open Curriculum and a deep interest in listening to and learning from one another.”
This year’s application pool saw a 22% increase in international students who enjoyed a need-blind review of their application for the first time in Brown’s history. The new Brunonians hail from 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, along with 51 different countries.
Outside of the United States, the top countries represented by the admitted students are Canada, China, the United Kingdom and India. Those were also the top four countries represented by the ED class of 2028. Within the United States, California, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Texas topped the list.
Powell highlighted that “when comparing this year’s pool to the Class of 2024 — the last class admitted before the test-optional policy — it has expanded across nearly every region with a superlative group of talented applicants from across the country and around the world.”
“Extending our need-blind admission approach to all first-year applicants is one of many measures that helps make Brown a more affordable choice for extraordinarily talented students from every income level,” Powell said.
The university also accepted 90 students via Questbridge, a separate application that provides low-income students with a full-ride scholarship to highly selective universities. This year’s cohort marks an increase from the class of 2028’s 64 Questbridge scholars.
Earlier this month, the University pointed to increasing the number of Questbridge applicants as one strategy they intend to rely on to maintain diversity after the fall of race-based affirmative action, The Herald previously reported.
The class of 2028 saw a 40% drop in the share of Black students and a 29% decrease in Hispanic students compared to the previous class.
Twenty two students were accepted into the eight-year Program in Liberal Medical Education, a combined undergraduate and medical school program.
According to previous polling by The Herald, recruited student-athletes make up a large chunk of the early decision class. For the class of 2028, 14% of students admitted early were athletes. The University does not publicly disclose how many athletic recruits are admitted via early decision.
Of this year’s admitted students, 51.9% attended public schools, 35% attended private schools and 12.58% attended religious schools. This is similar to the distribution of the class of 2028.
The percentage of first-generation students remained consistent with last year, as 19% of admitted students have parents who did not attend college. About 65% of admitted students applied for financial aid.
The Herald’s first-year poll found that of the class of 2028, some students indicated that Brown was their top choice but didn’t apply early. Experts said uncertainty around financial aid fueled some of this apprehension in prospective applicants.
“If finances are not an issue at all, then a student can almost always end up applying early decision if their top choice offers it,” Sara Harberson, a former Penn admissions officer who now runs a private college admission consulting company, previously told The Herald. Brown offers financial aid calculators that prospective Brunonians can use to calculate their expected aid offers.
When deciding to keep early decision applications after a lengthy review of the policy, Brown acknowledged that the early decision applicant pool “is less diverse than the RD pool in terms of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status; students who apply ED are less likely to be from historically underrepresented groups or be low-income, first-generation or international applicants.”
But they ultimately decided to continue offering this application cycle given the “overall size and strength of the applicant pool.”
At a December meeting of the Brown University Community Council — a forum of administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni — President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 noted the importance of Brown’s early applicant pool to increasing the University’s overall yield.
Paxson emphasized the role of “identifying really talented students and persuading them to apply early decision, because once they apply early decision, the yield is 100 percent,” she said.
With the first cohort of the incoming class set, Brown’s admissions office is expected to review tens of thousands of regular decision applications submitted by the Jan. 3 deadline.
Talia LeVine is a section editor covering arts and culture. They study Political Science and Visual Art with a focus on photography. In their free time, they can be found drinking copious amounts of coffee.
Ciara Meyer is a section editor from Saratoga Springs, New York. She plans on concentrating in Statistics and English Nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
