Do younger siblings have an advantage when applying to a highly selective college their older sibling is attending or has attended in the past? yes, with one important caveat. they must be applied in the early decision or early action round, not in the regular decision round. At most highly selective colleges, if these younger siblings decide not to apply early to the institution they attend or their older sibling attended, they will lose those sibling bonus points in admissions. And all of this brings us to an editorial written by a current Brown student, Mark Liang, in which he powerfully articulates in the pages of “Brown’s Daily Herald” why Brown should admit his little sister. is an excellent editorial that highlights some of the inequities in the highly selective college admissions process and doesn’t speak so subtly to the advantage of family connections to a college.
a plea from a brown student to brown admissions
liang writes in her article for “the brown daily herald” titled “let my sister in brown,” “I didn’t apply early decision, but I have a modest proposal for the admissions office: please, please, let my sister, joyce shao-wei liang, aries, would-be sagittarius, and current high school senior, turn brown. why? simply because. after all, since when does brown need clear reasons for making her career decisions? Admission? Sure, there are a lot of non-academic intangibles that could affect your acceptance, but then again, Brown has always made it clear that those intangibles aren’t important factors in admissions, so why should we worry?”
and from there, it gets concise. There’s this zinger: “I mean, it’s not like Brown ever considered legacy status, sibling or otherwise. nepotism absolutely does not exist in any form within the hallowed halls of this university!” and this one: “and we know that my sister’s decision to apply to brown early won’t matter at all, because when has early decision affected people’s chances? the admissions office website clearly states, ‘the admissions board makes the same decisions under the early decision as it does under the regular decision plan.’” road. money is a social construct and has no role to play in any decision this university makes.”
an ill-advised editorial about a brother’s admission
Liang’s editorial is hands down the best editorial we’ve read in a college newspaper in 2017, and as our readers know, we read a lot of editorials about the college admissions process. his writing is pointed, biting, and the piece is not only well-crafted, but it all turns out to be true. Of course, as in any highly selective institution, there is nepotism at Brown. of course, inherited state matters. Of course, the early-to-brown decision candidates have a distinct advantage over the regular-decision candidates. Of course, money is a factor in admissions decisions – colleges aren’t really blind to need.
but why did liang write this editorial now in brown’s student newspaper? why here, why now? as he shares, his sister is currently set to be admitted in the early decision round in brown. Calling the admissions officers about the hypocrisy of the entire process won’t help his sister’s admissions case. We hope this article doesn’t hurt her sister’s admissions case because if her sister is anything like her brother, she’s smart, funny and insightful – she’d be everything brown should be looking for in applicants. . And yet, if her sister, Joyce Shao-wei Liang, was our student at ivy coach, we would never have allowed her older brother to write this article. no way. We would have censored it. Hopefully, for Mark’s sister’s sake, the Brown Admissions Office is extremely conscientious and self-critical.
Do you have any questions about admitting younger siblings? Let us know your question by posting it below. We look forward to hearing from you!