Brown asks first-year applicants for three essays of 200-250 words each plus three short answers (a 3-word answer, a 100-word answer, and a 50-word answer). All of it runs through the Common Application, and the supplement is required for everyone, with extra essays layered on if you apply to the PLME medical program or the Brown/RISD Dual Degree. Brown is test-required for this cycle, so an SAT or ACT score is part of the file.
The core challenge is range. Brown wants to see you think broadly (the Open Curriculum is the soul of this school) but it also asks you to be playful and specific in very tight spaces. You have to sound intellectually serious in the academic essay and genuinely human in the joy essay, and you have to nail a one-sentence "Why Brown" without sounding like a brochure.
01Intellectual self-direction. The Open Curriculum has no general-education requirements, so Brown is betting on students who can steer themselves. The strongest essays show a mind that connects fields nobody told it to connect, not a student waiting to be assigned a path.
02Specific joy, not performed passion. Brown's third essay literally asks what brings you joy. They reward writers who can be small, odd, and honest about delight, rather than dressing every interest up as a world-changing mission.
03Community contribution that is concrete. The background essay asks what you would bring to College Hill. Brown wants a real, nameable contribution (a perspective, a practice, a way of organizing people) rather than a promise to be diverse and engaged.
04Compression. With a 3-word answer and a 50-word 'Why Brown,' Brown is testing whether you can make every word carry weight. Tight, surprising, exact writing reads as a sharper mind than padded prose.
4 prompts for Brown, each broken down with annotated examples.
Academic Interests (Open Curriculum)200-250 words
Brown's Open Curriculum allows students to explore broadly while also diving deeply into their academic pursuits. Tell us about any academic interests that excite you, and how you might pursue them at Brown.
Background & Community Contribution200-250 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.
What Brings You Joy200-250 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.
Short Answers (Three Words, Teach a Class, Why Brown)3 words / 100 words / 50 words
What three words best describe you? (3 words) / If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100 words) / In one sentence, Why Brown? (50 words)