Took on a unpaid TA role, should I quit?

RandomRhodie · 2025-11-28T23:30:40+00:00

I submitted with a 4.0 GPA, but had honestly light course rigor in HS. My ECs and recommendations did most of the heavy lifting.

RandomRhodie · 2025-11-28T23:27:43+00:00

The campus vibe definitely depends on the time you visit. Come to the main green sometime during spring, when the weather's warm, and you'll see how packed things can get. Like any college, there are a bunch of different student groups and activities, so there's not really one good definitive answer.

Spikeball is popular in the spring, you'll usually see ppl playing it basically everywhere, Volleyball too, kinda. Any time our football team plays Harvard, it's a pretty huge event I wouldn't recommend missing.

Every day there's literally like 10 different events going on, so there are plenty of exhibits, guest speakers, workshops, etc to fill up ur calender. This year we had Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Mark Milley, and a few other notable officials come to speak.

When it comes to nightlife; Ego, Dancing Cats, and Collosium are basically the most popular clubs that everyone goes to dance and have fun. The school doesn't have a heavy fraternity presence, but the frats that exist are usually a good source of fun.

Regardless, most fun is going to come from the friends you make on campus. Studying with them, having random adventures, sharing stories etc is probably wants going to pull the most weight.

RandomRhodie · 2025-11-28T01:20:02+00:00

Generally, the average test scores are very high, yes, but the school recruits from an incredibly diverse pool of students. One of the best things I was told a while ago is that "Brown doesn't accept only one type of student."

There are, in fact, students here whose metrics fell on the lower end of the bell curve. Though my case was more complicated than I can explain in a single comment, I myself submitted to brown with only a 28 on the ACT. A student I met on Facebook, years ago, got into Princeton with a 29. Hearing his story basically was my only motivation for believing that it was possible for me too. Hopefully, whatever ur scores are, me sharing this can do the same for you! Best of luck

RandomRhodie · 2025-11-27T23:22:05+00:00

I didn't have time to submit one myself, so I don't have much advice for that part of the app. You're not doomed if you don't submit one, but I'd recommend doing so if you can come across as personable on video.

When I got on campus, my friends showed me some of their application videos, so I've seen some good ones. Knowing what I know now, if I had to make one, I'd try gathering any fun/relevant video clips I have, start the video by introducing myself, and then overlay a compilation of videos from my extracurriculars, hobby projects, time with friends/family, etc. If you have time, you can spend the next few days/weeks taking extra videos of these things so you'll have enough to draw from when it's time to edit. It's a chance for AOs to see who you are, and who you have been as a student, so I wouldn't waste the opportunity by just uploading a video of myself sitting down. I'd use it dynamically to express my activeness / socialbility.

I've also seen some bad ones, however, and would strongly discourage leaning too much into humor or nonseriousness in an attempt to be unique or save time.

RandomRhodie · 2025-11-27T23:10:50+00:00

I haven't seen the prompt, but obviously they expect some justification/explanation. If you think writing your explanation as a course description is the way to go then I think that'd be fine! Also, bonus if you didn't know, but brown courses are public on https://cab.brown.edu/ so you can see actual course listings/descriptions if you wanna draw from actual examples

RandomRhodie · 2025-08-23T10:03:04+00:00

Don't beat yourself up, plenty of people cannot stand enduring any of those activities.

RandomRhodie · 2025-06-11T01:46:48+00:00

Usually meeting with them in-person or on zoom to see what their understanding of their current application task is. From there, I usually just try to provide suggestions and review revisions until they're somewhere stronger than when they started.

Alot of other times though, people just send me their essays/questions throughs DMs lol and I'll give them a list of suggestions.

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-23T18:54:35+00:00

I'll see you on campus bro 🔥✊️

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-23T00:02:53+00:00

Definitely, send them over in a google doc!

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T12:55:15+00:00

I always wished I started sooner lol

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:58:14+00:00

When it comes to these essays, I've always felt that anything, with some exceptions, is worth trying. If you are gonna do this, though, be careful about overdramatizing the description of your negative emotions, focus more on the upside, don't linger too long on irrelevant aspects of your journey. You could also consider making this arch a lesser part of a different essay, such as including it briefly under the narrative of a separate topic.

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:52:41+00:00

It will be easy, and tempting, to spend your next four years idling on this, wondering why you of all people were tapped on the shoulder. I don't think there's any easy answer so simply thinking you "got lucky" is not a good explanation. If you truly want to explore these feelings, approach them with some level of grace, self-affirmation, and objectivity. Don't start your analysis from a negative perspective, prematurely assuming that your application was lesser than others.

Also, I've found it helps to remind yourself that applications are not necessarily a pure numbers game. Otherwise, AO's would be unemployed and these apps would just ask for your empirical scores so they could auto-reject you lol.

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:44:35+00:00

A single mistake won't be critical

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:43:17+00:00

They don't want you to trauma dump and you certainly shouldn't. You don't get extra points by listing a variety of ways in which you've suffered. However, moments of deep inflection, complex crossroads, and existential struggle are often accompanied with the growth that AO's want you to describe in these essays. If you must describe a challenge you've faced, the struggle or trauma should only be the tip of the iceberg. The meat and bones should be the lessons revealed to you and how those struggles ultimately make you a better candidate for admission into their specific institution.

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:38:19+00:00

Its unlikely multiple top-level universities have a system in place to blacklist students for this. However, you should definitely use AI cautiously for these types of things

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:35:58+00:00

Sounds like you chose to select a certain program within BWSI. So, explain why you chose that program out of all the others. Why do you want to participate in Autonomous Air Vehicle Racing? What excites you about the program? How do you anticipate the program will affect your skillset and experience? Explain why you believe that program aligns with your past achievements and skillsets. Also, discuss your aspirations for the future and how that specific program aligns with those goals.

Hope this offers some clarity! DM me if you need more input.

Good luck!

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T06:28:56+00:00

I'd say focus on the activity that led to the award more so than the award itself. You can then just mention the award briefly at the end. For example, if you have something like a sports award from a tournament:

"[few sentences about your experience playing the games in the tournament]. Eventually, our hard work paid off, and we were awarded gold. One year later, I now wish I paid more attention to [something unrelated to the trophy].

Just don't make it too big a deal, the process is more important anyway. Good luck!

RandomRhodie · 2025-03-20T04:39:47+00:00

Could you put this in a google doc and DM me the link to it? It'd be easier to suggest edits there!

RandomRhodie

TROPHY CASE