It's that time of the year again, when the leaves are turning and nightmares of rejection are cropping up - college application season. Seniors in high schools across the country and the world are frequenting the Common Application Web site, filling out lengthy supplements and trying to solidify their goals in life, all in the name of getting into the university of their choice.
For those applying early, the first hurdle is about to be crossed. For Brown, the early decision deadline for the class of 2013 is tomorrow, Nov. 1.
The class of 2013 will be the first class to use the Common Application to apply to Brown, a change meant to make the entire process simpler, Dean of Admission James Miller '73 told The Herald in September. However, applicants have expressed some difficulty with the new supplement.
The supplement was "kind of a little bit more than I had expected, particularly the part about a book or project or class that has influenced me," said Lauren Siciliano, a senior at the Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y.
The Brown forum on College Confidential, a Web site where adults and teens alike can swap information and myths about the college process, is riddled with questions about the supplement and extraneous threads about more superficial aspects of Brown, such as a comment by "QuakQuaker" that "Brown and Red really don't go together - what were they thinking?" Early decision applicants have also begun discussing how they will react to the decisions, to be released in mid-December.
One user, "alfredeneuman," wrote, "I know if I don't get in I'm definitely not going to school the next day, and I'll probably watch Office reruns."
Ani Lee, a recruited cross-country athlete and senior at Carmel High School in Carmel, Calif., sent in her application earlier this week. "Hitting 'submit' at the bottom of the Common Application was probably one of the most nerve-racking things I've ever done. I just wanted everything to be perfect, or as perfect as I could make it," she wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
The current class of high school seniors is the largest in the nation's history, according to a September article in The New York Times. But Lee is hopeful.
"Now, I guess I just have to wait; it's no longer in my hands."
