Expert guidance provided by Mike Kleynman (PhD in English, 10+ years’ experience coaching admissions) and reviewed by Kevin Wong (co-founder PrepMaven, 20+ years’ experience coaching admissions).
Last year, Brown’s admissions office accepted only 5.65% of applicants! That means if Brown is your dream school, your application needs to be seriously impressive to stand a chance.
Fortunately, at PrepMaven, we’ve helped thousands of students craft compelling college application essays. It doesn’t hurt that many of our expert tutors have been admitted to elite schools like Princeton, Brown, and Harvard themselves, and so they know exactly what works.
In this guide, we’ll break down how to write the Brown supplemental essays for the upcoming admissions cycle, explaining how to maximize your chances of acceptance.
As you read on, check out our free resource linked below: it contains real, successful examples of supplemental essays written for Ivies and other top schools–including real essays that got students admitted into Brown!
For this admissions cycle, Brown has 4 required supplemental essays and one optional Video Introduction.
Here are all of the essays, prompts, and word counts for Brown’s supplementals:
Essay Prompts:
“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? (150-250 words)
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. (150-250 words)
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. (100-150 words)
If you could teach a class on any one thing, whether academic or otherwise, what would it be? (100-150 words)
Below, we’ll dive deep into how to approach each of these supplemental essay prompts and the optional video introduction, laying out the tips, tricks, and strategies to help your essay stand out from thousands of others.
We’ll also be taking a look at real sample essays that got students admitted to Brown and breaking down what allowed them to succeed.
As you read on, we’ll often be encouraging you to spend time looking through as many real supplemental essays for Ivy League schools as possible. Writing is easiest when you have a model!
Below, we’ve collected over 50 real supplemental essays that got students accepted to Ivy+ schools (including Brown). You can download that collection for free by clicking the link below.
Before You Start: Insider Tip!
As a high schooler, it can be hard to have a sense of a college’s reputation, or of how the college thinks of itself.
But here’s a crucial insider tip on Brown: of all the Ivies, Brown is the one with a reputation for exploration, creativity, and quirkiness. You might say it’s the “weird” Ivy.
It’s something they pride themselves on, and you’ll score bonus points with admissions officers if you show that you’re able to pick up on this!
How to Write Brown’s First Essay: Academic Interests
Brown’s first essay prompt might not look like it, but it’s really just a classic “why major” essay, on which we’ve written a comprehensive guide here: How to Write the “Why Major” Essay.
But because Brown doesn’t do traditional majors, they want you to focus your essay instead on the Open Curriculum. At heart, this doesn’t change much: you still want to write this essay about your academic interests.
The key to doing that is to answer three key questions:
What specifically are you interested in?
Why, using specific details from your life, are you interested in that subject?
How, using the Open Curriculum at Brown, will you pursue that subject?
If you’ve already written a Why Major essay for another school, you should be able to save a lot of time by reusing the basic structure of that essay, and simply replacing the school-specific portions.
If you don’t already have a template, here’s what it should look like:
Start with a brief anecdote from your life or academic question that interests you.
Start by telling a story!
The anecdote should show where your interest comes from, the moment you realized you wished to pursue this subject, or simply dramatize an important learning experience related to your chosen field of study.
You can use this portion of the template for any school that asks a Why Major supplemental.
Use that anecdote to launch into a discussion of why the subject matter interests you/why you want to pursue it as a major.
Whatever your major, you need to convincingly convey your passion for a particular subject to the admissions officers at Brown.
Do so, and they’ll be far more likely to see you as someone who will seriously pursue your interests–which is, of course, what they’re looking for.
As with the anecdote, you can reuse this portion of the essay for any school with a similar prompt.
Explain how you’ll use the Open Curriculum at Brown to pursue your academic interests.
Note that while many schools ask a version of this question, Brown is one of the few that directs you to write about a specific program at Brown: the Open Curriculum.
Then, make sure to connect what you like about the Open Curriculum with your own interests and story. Below, take a look at a real example that one of our tutors wrote to get accepted into Brown:
In second grade, I dreamed of writing cookbooks in space. Unable to pick a career—author, chef, astronaut?—I combined my options and disregarded everyone who told me that this path was unrealistic, detecting no reason to limit my interests. As I’ve matured, neuroscience has become my focus, but I will always be fascinated by more subjects than I have time to explore.
When I first visited campus, I instantly recognized that intellectual curiosity in Brown’s students. Everywhere, they spoke with animation, genuinely excited to learn from each other. I long to participate in these conversations, and after learning about the Open Curriculum, I know that Brown will broaden my horizons unlike any other school.
Therefore, beyond a concentration in neuroscience, I would study literature through Brown’s Open Curriculum. A current student spoke so highly of his French Novellas class that I would love to pursue a similar opportunity in Spanish. I hope to study abroad to further immerse myself in language and culture. Stemming from my interests in astronomy and neuroscience, I am fascinated by existentialism and hope to take classes in philosophy to further explore the big questions of the universe. Also, I would take classes on gender and sexuality to connect with queer students like myself and better learn to be an advocate, an activist.
At eight, I could not accurately predict my future, but I did anticipate that my unquenchable thirst for knowledge would only grow. Brown’s Open Curriculum is well-suited for the philomath I’ve always been.
In the meantime, you can find over 50 additional real supplemental essays for free below!
How to Write Brown’s Second Essay: Community
As you can probably tell by the prompts, this essay question really wants you to reflect on how your background will contribute to a strong community at Brown.
To a large extent, the advice that we give for the Common App personal statement also holds true for this kind of supplemental: be specific and tell a story!
The good news is that you don’t have to write about a particular identity for this essay to be effective.
In fact, one of the best ways to approach this Brown supplemental is by writing about a meaningful community you’re involved with.
That could mean a number of things: it could be a religious or identity-based community. But it could just as easily be a community you’re part of through sports, extracurriculars, or your interests.
The key to this essay is to show Brown how you’ve been a good community member, and how you’ll be a good community member at Brown.
Here’s the magic formula for this first essay:
50% personal anecdote about your background/community involvement
50% discussing specific community initiatives you’ll engage with at Brown
Of course, the best essays play with this formula and tweak it to suit the writer. But you can use it as a starting point for crafting this supplemental.
Here’s a real example of an essay one of our star tutors wrote for this prompt that got them a Brown acceptance letter!
“Why won’t she ever talk to us?” my teammate asked me. “She’s so obnoxious.” During my junior year field hockey season, such comments were frequently directed towards one player who kept to herself during practice. Thinking she was rude and unfriendly, my teammates ostracized her, pushing her out of drills and excluding her from team activities. However, as we attended church together, I knew that she was neither rude nor unfriendly—she was extremely sweet but struggled with her self-esteem, which prevented her from connecting with others.
I recognized that my teammates had misjudged this player, and as junior captain, I would use my influence to be her advocate. Whenever anyone complained to me, I stressed her kindness and asked them to encourage her, as she would gain confidence if we fostered a supportive environment. I also ensured that she attended team bonding events.
Eventually, the team dynamic shifted: rather than pushing her out of drills, our teammates cheered her on and inspired her to participate. Her confidence gradually grew as a result; soon, she was playing in varsity games. When she scored her first goal, we exploded with excitement, and she beamed with pride.
By using my leadership role to promote empathy, I changed the way that this girl was perceived, broadening the perspectives of my teammates. This experience solidified my long-held belief: we can only become more inclusive once we put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, as there is always more to a person than what meets the eye.
We won’t tell you it’s easy to write supplemental essays this successful for schools as selective as Brown.
How to Write Brown’s Third Essay: Joy/Extracurricular
Brown’s third supplemental essay asks you to write about something that brings you joy, but you can really use this to write about any extracurricular event you’ve been involved with.
That’s a good idea because you’ll likely have to write about that for other schools, so you can easily reuse any “extracurricular” essay for this Brown prompt.
Ultimately, two things count with this essay in particular:
Show, don’t tell
Convey passion
Naturally, you want to pick the most interesting extracurricular pursuit to write about, but so long as you engagingly show us what doing that activity looks like, you’ll be in good shape.
Not sure what that looks like? Great news: one of our very own tutors wrote the below essay and got accepted into Brown. Read it, re-read it, and take careful notes: this is what works.
And, if you want to work with a college essay expert like the one who wrote this essay, contact us.
Every August, I spend a week at Drew University through my internship at The Writers Circle (TWC), and it’s my favorite week of the entire year. TWC’s Summer Intensives hold all-day workshops for teenage writers, and when I’m not coordinating field trips, resolving technology issues, or leading class discussions, my days are filled with poetry lessons, peer critique activities, and lunchtime ultimate frisbee competitions.
Ever since preschool, creative writing has been my passion. I initially wrote to reflect upon my experiences and communicate effectively with others; I love the nuances of language, and creating images with careful precision helps me to be present and mindful.
While writing is still important to me for these reasons, through TWC, I found community. When I joined the Summer Intensives in 2016, it was the first time I met a group of people who shared my passion, and I felt seen. Over the following years, I formed my closest friendships. The supportive environment of TWC empowered me to be my most authentic self, someone unafraid to pursue what she loves. When I stand at the podium during our group readings, I feel so alive—like I’m doing what I was made to do.
My friends also taught me that my writing is meaningful—I have the power to evoke emotion, to change the perspectives of my readers. In this way, my time at TWC made my long-held dream come true: even in a small way, my writing can impact the world.
If you click the link below, you’ll find over 50 real essays that earned acceptances to Princeton, Harvard, Brown, and other Ivy+ schools!
It’s a free resource, and we can’t stress its importance enough. You can’t write a winning essay without first reading as many of them as possible!
Plus, all of the essay writers are our own tutors, so you can have a sense of just how talented our essay coaches are.
How to Write Brown’s Fourth Essay: Teaching
Brown isn’t the only school to ask a question about “designing a course of your choice.” Other colleges, notably Northwestern, also ask a version of this question.
So, what do they really want you to do here?
Easy: they want you to show that there’s something that you’re passionate about and that you really know something about it.
In other words, what they are looking for here is both passion and depth. One without the other won’t cut it. If you seem like you don’t care about this subject or if you seem like you don’t know very much about it, Brown admissions officers will treat that as a negative.
Here’s what you can do to make sure that this essay works:
Make the subject of the class narrow. Not sure how specific you need to be? Here’s a tip: look up past course syllabi for upper-level electives from Brown or other Ivy Leagues. Don’t bother looking at foundational or “101” classes: find the really niche, upper-level ones. Your class should be that specific.
Include specific authors, works, projects, or labs. Don’t just say you’ll be reading “20th-century literature,” for example. Instead, name-drop the books or authors that you know. The same goes for science: you need to demonstrate that you actually have an idea of what you would assign the class.
Have a clear purpose/goal for the class. It doesn’t need to take more than a sentence, but you should explain why this class is important and what you want students to take away from it. That’s where the passion comes in!
If you’re finding it hard to satisfy those three points off the top of your head, it means you probably need to do some research before writing this essay.
Here’s the easiest way to do that: look at real course syllabi from elite universities and use those for inspiration. Don’t copy them, but use them as the basis for your own course description, which should reflect your interests and goals.
What about the Video Introduction?
Many students forget all about the fact that Brown asks applicants to submit a roughly 90-second video introduction.
This video introduction is not required, but we strongly suggest that you submit it. Brown’s admissions department notes that they “encourage students to submit one when possible.” That means it matters! Your goal should always be to go above and beyond in your applications, and the video introduction is one place to do that.
This doesn’t have to be a fancy production, and you don’t need to have great video editing skills. The best path is a simple, straightforward video in which you tell the Brown admissions officers something interesting about yourself.
Here are a few words of warning:
Do not do this completely off the cuff. You need to plan out what you’re going to say. Otherwise, you’ll likely come off scatterbrained and ill-prepared, which are not qualities likely to appeal to admissions officers.
But also do not read a pre-prepared script. If you just write out exactly what you’re going to say and then read it (or even if you memorize it word for word), you’ll come off stilted and robotic. Nobody like that.
Be careful with jokes. Being funny is great (and taking risks is important), but if you plan to be funny, make sure you run this video past at least a few adults. What’s funny to a high schooler might be cringeworthy or embarrassing to someone a bit older.
You should absolutely run the video by multiple adults you trust. We usually don’t recommend having anyone but an expert review your college essays, but the video is different.
Because all that matters is that the video presents you as someone who is likable and mature, the people around you can give you a pretty good sense of whether the video is successful or not.
Next Steps
Once you’re ready to start writing supplemental essays for Brown and your other schools, we have two main pieces of advice.
First: read real, successful sample supplemental essays that helped get students into elite schools like Brown.
Most people don’t really know what colleges like Brown actually want from the supplemental essays, and the best solution is to spend lots of time reviewing successful sample essays. We’ve collected over 50 of these essays in the free resource below.
Second: get expert help. Whether you’re a brilliant writer or just an okay one, you’ll benefit tremendously from the advice of someone who’s already successfully navigated the high-stakes college application process.
Unfortunately, not all college essay tutors are created equal: picking the right one can be the difference between getting into your dream school or just wasting your money.
That’s why we had our experts come up with the definitive ranking of the 15 Best College Essay Services, evaluating everything from tutor credentials to customer reviews. Check out that list, and make sure you only work with the best.
And when you’re ready to work with our team of college essay experts–who earned admission to elite schools like Princeton and Brown before undergoing a rigorous training process–contact us to get matched with a tutor!
Mike Kleynman is an expert test prep tutor (SAT/ACT/LSAT) and college essay consultant, with over a decade of experience and industry-leading results.
With average final scores of 34+ on the ACT and 1500+ on the SAT, nearly all of Mike’s test prep students score in the top percentiles. They also routinely earn admission to the most selective universities: just last year, Mike had students accepted to Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, UC Berkeley, USC, and Carnegie Mellon. The average final LSAT score of his students is over 172, and his law school application coaching students have been accepted to Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Law.
