Brown University

1. Background, identity, interest, or talent: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
2. Facing adversity: The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
3. Challenging an idea: Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
4. Gratitude: Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
5. Personal growth: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
6. Intellectual curiosity: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
7. Topic of your choice: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The Common App enforces the length inside the application. For Common App applicants.

1. "There is something distinctive about Brown students. It is a blend of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and humility. A commitment to collaboration. An openness to new ideas and perspectives. A desire to make the world better. And it is resilience: the ability to recover and thrive after experiencing difficulties." From President Christina Paxson's 2025 Convocation Address. How will you use these characteristics or others to shape your approach to the Open Curriculum? (250 words)
2. 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. (250 words)
3. If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (150 words)
4. 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. (150 words)

Questions 1 and 2 are 150-250 words each; questions 3 and 4 are 100-150 words each.