When Daniel Svediani ’29 emailed the Office of the Registrar last month to access evaluative comments on his admissions file, he was told that the University no longer had the comments.
Svediani is not alone. For students who want to see admissions officers’ comments on their files, it may come as a disappointment that Brown does not retain these records past the applicant’s admissions cycle, according to University Spokesperson Brian Clark.
Before 2022, students could request to view their admissions records in person, and some students claim to have seen evaluative comments. The University switched to storing records on the Advising Sidekick and Banner portals in 2022, Lisa Mather, senior associate registrar for operations management, wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 allows enrolled students to review their educational records. But records removed or destroyed prior to a student’s matriculation are not covered under FERPA, Senior Fellow at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Dale King wrote in an email to The Herald.
King added that schools are “encouraged” to “destroy items which have fulfilled their admissions-related purpose and no longer need to be maintained.”
“It would appear that Brown University is following this recommended policy for purging information from admissions records when no longer needed,” he wrote.
The University does retain admissions materials submitted by the applicant, including the Common Application, Brown-specific supplements and transcripts, Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
Aulanee Arciniegas-Brillant ’29 said she is grappling with imposter syndrome and wanted to view her admissions file to see why “the admissions officers felt I belonged at Brown” and “how they thought I would fit into this campus.”
Arciniegas-Brillant added that admissions officers’ comments may provide insight into Brown’s values and the deliberate choices it makes when building its student body. This transparency allows students to “evaluate the institution that you’re a part of.”
Christine Anyanwu ’29 agreed that seeing these comments may help build confidence but shared concerns that students may use this information to compete against peers. She said that because many Brown students are “gunners,” a term referring to students who are intensely focused on post-graduate employment prospects, they may use their positive feedback to put others down.
Nonetheless, Anyanwu supports students having access to their files so they may be able to “tap into those qualities (the admissions officers liked) and make yourself stand out.”
Betty Zou ’29 similarly feels the comments would be a great resource for students to gain “insight on what they did well or what they feel like they need to improve on.” Zou pointed to a competitive culture within student clubs and wished she could see what made her “stand out.”
Josephine Adebambo ’29 said that after she “bombed a test” she wanted to view her file. “I just need something to soothe my ego,” she said.
Syed Shafin ’29 shared that a peer at Duke University was able to view his admissions file and found that while “it wasn’t all great, it made him more confident in himself.” Shafin works at a college consulting firm and is curious to understand how admissions officers make their admissions decisions.
Liam Kearns ’27 said that many of his friends “struggled to feel adequate or smart at Brown,” and he thought that “showing them why they truly got into the school and what made them special would definitely help them feel more confident in themselves and their abilities.”
As a student admitted off the waitlist, Kearns said that he is “curious what made my app compelling enough but just ever so slightly shy of an initial acceptance.”
“I took advantage of being able to apply test-optional,” Bennett Galin ’27 wrote in an email to The Herald, “and I think it would be interesting to see what effect it had on my application.” He’s also curious to see how his video portfolio — a component of his application he was particularly proud of — impacted his acceptance.
On the one hand, Svediani understands the administration may delete comments because they don’t want students to “create a toxic cycle,” but he also thinks that students may benefit from more transparency in the admissions process.
“In my opinion, I feel like not being able to see (your file), just makes this college thing that much more mysterious and harder to understand,” he said. “I think you have the right to know what people say about you.”
