Brown University supplemental essays
Brown University asks for four supplemental essays in 2026-27, plus more depending on your college or program. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
Early Decision closes November 1, 2026 and Regular Decision closes January 5, 2027. The prompts carry these limits: 150-250 words, 100-150 words, 250 words, and more below. Every Brown University prompt is printed on this page in full, with its word limit and who has to answer it, checked against the college’s own admissions page.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 1, 2026 |
| Regular Decision | January 5, 2027 |
Checked against admission.brown.edu/apply/how-apply. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The essays, 2026-27
Required · 150-250 words
"There is something distinctive about Brown students. It is a blend of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and humility. A commitment to collaboration. An openness to new ideas and perspectives. A desire to make the world better. And it is resilience: the ability to recover and thrive after experiencing difficulties." From President Christina Paxson's 2025 Convocation Address. How will you use these characteristics or others to shape your approach to the Open Curriculum?
Essay 1 of 4. Opens with a quoted passage from President Christina Paxson's 2025 Convocation Address, reproduced here in full.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired · 150-250 words
Students entering Brown often find that making their home on College Hill naturally invites reflection on where they came from. Share how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you, and what unique contributions this might allow you to make to the Brown community.
Essay 2 of 4.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired · 100-150 words
If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be?
Essay 3 of 4.
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required · 100-150 words
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.
Essay 4 of 4.
Short answer. Paste it on the homepage and we will read it.
Required (PLME applicants only) · 250 words
Why medicine?
Program in Liberal Medical Education applicants only, in addition to the four essays above.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired (PLME applicants only) · 250 words
Why PLME?
PLME applicants only.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired (PLME applicants only) · 250 words
Tell us something about yourself, beyond your interest in medicine, that you think will make you a great doctor.
PLME applicants only.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this promptRequired (Brown | RISD Dual Degree applicants only) · 650 word limit
The Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program draws on the complementary strengths of Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to provide students with the opportunity to explore and engage with diverse spheres of academic and creative inquiry. Considering your understanding of the academic programs at Brown and RISD, describe how and why the specific blend of RISD's experimental, immersive art and design program and Brown's wide-ranging courses and curricula could constitute an optimal undergraduate education for you. Reflect on how you might integrate or synthesize content, approaches, and methods from these two distinct learning experiences. Additionally, how might you contribute to the Dual Degree community and its commitment to interdisciplinary work?
Brown | RISD Dual Degree Program applicants only, in addition to the four essays above.
Get a free read on this essayPaste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.No draft yet? Pick a topic for this prompt
Your Brown University checklist
Four supplements, all required. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 1, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
- Supplement 1Required150-250 words
- Supplement 2Required150-250 words
- Supplement 3Required100-150 words
- Supplement 4Required100-150 words
- 4 program-specific promptsOnly if you apply to the college or program it names. All printed in full above.
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Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
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Getting into Brown University
Brown University admits 5.4% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1510-1580 on the SAT and 34-35 on the ACT.
About 1 in 19 applicants are admitted, at a college of 7,226 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1510 | 1540 | 1580 |
| SAT reading and writing | 740 | 760 | 780 |
| SAT math | 770 | 780 | 800 |
| ACT composite | 34 | 35 | 35 |
What SAT score do you need for Brown University?
A 1580 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1540 at their midpoint, and a 1510 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 34, 35 and 35. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for Brown University?
- Brown University sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1510-1580 on the SAT: a 1510 sits at the 25th percentile, 1540 at the median and 1580 at the 75th. A score at or above 1580 is a clear strength in the application; below 1510 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures Brown University reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for Brown University?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 34-35 on the ACT, with a composite of 35 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 34. Reported by Brown University to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for Brown University?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for Brown University is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that Brown University admits 5.4% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into Brown University?
- Brown University admits 5.4% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 19 applicants. At that rate no set of numbers makes admission likely, a perfect one included, because the college turns away far more qualified applicants than it takes. Strong grades and scores get the application read; the essays, the recommendations and what you have actually done decide it from there.
What Brown University costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
Brown University essay questions, answered
- Does Brown University have supplemental essays?
- Yes. Brown University asks for four supplemental essays in 2026-27, plus more depending on your college or program. Every prompt is printed in full on this page. Word limits: 150-250 words, 100-150 words.
- How many essays do you write for Brown University in 2026-27?
- Four supplements, plus the Common App personal statement. Some applicants write more, depending on the college or program.
Schools with similar admit rates
Brown University admits 5.4% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (4.5%), Princeton University (4.6%), Northeastern University (5.2%), Dartmouth College (5.4%), University of Pennsylvania (5.4%), Duke University (5.7%).