Representing the ILC

The majority of the Summer@Brown students that I have talked to have been to a number of summer sessions at Ivy League schools, yet of the thousand participants, there are 160 scholarship students. Tonight I met about 15 students that are involved in scholarship programs such as Joyce Ivy Foundation, Sophia Academy, Mind Matters and several other organizations. (Other organizations not represented include: Jack Kent Cooke, KIPP Schools, Schuler Family foundation, Providence St. Mel, The Young Women Leadership Foundation, Mission High School, HighSight, PRISYM, Blackstone Academy, Inman Page Alumni Association, Memphis Prep, Dynamy, Global Learning High School, Street Squah, Dryades YMCA, Bronx Insitute, Cristo Rey schools, Steppingstones, Summer Search, Link UnLimited, Nobel Network, Partners In Health, Global Youth Leadership, The Met School, Hope High School, University of Chicago Lab School and still others.)

Dean Rose split off the group of students into two groups lead by some scholarship college students. Each of us wrote what he found interesting about Brown, what he found difficult and what he wanted to ask the students. After reading off the feature that interested the student, the Brown students proposed solutions to the difficulties of Brown. We did not get to the questions, but I think most of the students received their answer when the Brown students told us about their experience in college application.

The next step after listening to the Brown students is to prepare for applications. I have all the help I need from my Brown Mentor, Grace, Amy, my RA, the students from tonight, my High school teachers, my parents, my peers and my councilor. I am fortunate to have so many people that I can ask questions to—it is part of the ILC to not only allow to students to visit an Ivy, but have the resources to get in as well. Now it is my turn to evaluate myself to find what school compliments my qualities. Brown is my first choice in college right next to MIT. What assures me in my answer is the familiarity of the campus; I can picture myself at Brown with an accepting, diverse student body, but not the Brown that I am currently attending—as I am told by current Brown students that the culture is entirely different. Everyone I have spoke to has also said any school will morph a student into a particular type of person; it is a daunting choice just like the science of choosing a name that may influence a baby for the rest of his life (reference to Freakonomics).