On Jan. 25, Brown officially announced plans to become the eighth U.S. college to offer need-blind admissions to international students.
The new policy may lead to a decrease in Brown鈥檚 acceptance rate, according to Sara Harberson, a former associate dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania and founder of the private college counseling service Application Nation.
Brown 鈥渨ill be admitting some high-need (low-income) international students in Regular Decision who presumably will get offers from other elite colleges that have been need-blind (for international students) for a long time,鈥� Harberson wrote.
鈥淚f Brown offers better financial aid to international students, then (the students鈥�) likelihood to enroll may be higher than it currently is,鈥� she added. 鈥淲hen yield increases, the college doesn鈥檛 have to admit as many students to (fully) enroll the class.鈥�
Dean of Admissions Logan Powell noted that there are two factors changing the admissions process for the class of 2029: a return to standardized testing and need-blind admissions for international students. 鈥淚t is still too early to speculate about the admit rate given that one of those two important factors is still to be determined,鈥� he wrote in an email to The Herald.
The Herald took a look at Dartmouth鈥檚 admissions data to examine the potential implications of Brown鈥檚 new admissions policy.
In 2008, Dartmouth implemented need-blind admissions for international students of the class of 2012. The policy was reversed in 2015 due to a lack of financial resources, according to .
In the early 2000s, Dartmouth tended to accept between one-fifth and one-sixth of applicants. After the 2008 policy change, the acceptance rate dipped to 9.44% in 2010. But when the school reversed need-blind international admissions in 2015, its acceptance rate to 10.5% for the class of 2020, with 2,176 students admitted.
In 2022, Dartmouth implemented need-blind admissions for international students, starting with the class of 2026.
Since then, the college has had 鈥渃onsistent record-high numbers of international students apply to Dartmouth,鈥� Lee Coffin, Dartmouth鈥檚 vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid, wrote in an email to The Herald.
The number of international applicants also significantly when Dartmouth went need-blind in 2008. In 2007, 1,974 international students applied to Dartmouth; the number jumped to 2,678 in 2008.
At Dartmouth, first-year Aryanna Ram said that need-blind admissions were a 鈥済ame-changer.鈥�
鈥淣ot that many schools are internationally need blind,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o if you require substantial financial aid as an international, there are limited options.鈥�
Harberson said shifting to a need-blind policy for international applicants will likely change the geographical composition of admitted international students, but will likely not affect the overall percentage of international students in the admitted pool of students because colleges typically limit this proportion. Penn, for instance, limited international students to between 11-13% of the admitted class when Harberson worked in its admissions office, she said. According to Powell, Brown has 鈥渘o artificial caps鈥� on admitted students.
鈥淥ur expectation is that the international student body will become more socioeconomically diverse, but that the share of international students within the total undergraduate population will remain similar to recent years,鈥� Powell said.
Approximately 11% of Brown鈥檚 class of 2027 admitted applicants were international students, The Herald previously reported.
From 2017 to 2021 鈥� the years before Dartmouth's return to international need-blind admissions 鈥� 11-15% of the admitted classes consisted of international students. After the shift to universal need-blind admissions, the percentage of international students admitted in 2022 remained at 15%, the upper bound of this range.
At Brown, President Christina Paxson P鈥�19 P鈥橫D鈥�20 has placed a large emphasis on how universal need-blind admissions will benefit the composition of the undergraduate population.
鈥淭he University is at its very best when we welcome and support students from the widest possible range of backgrounds, experiences and viewpoints, who learn from each other on campus and generate new understandings and insights in an increasingly complex world,鈥� Paxson in the Jan. 25 statement announcing the admissions policy change.
Currently, the majority of international students in Brown鈥檚 undergraduate population are China, Canada, India or South Korea.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a really big step in the right direction,鈥� Anaya Kaul 鈥�25, who co-leads Students for Educational Equity, wrote in an email to The Herald. 鈥淗opefully this diversifies the pool of applicants and admits which will only add to the Brown community.鈥�
鈥淢aking Brown an affordable choice for extraordinarily talented international students from every income level is nothing short of transformational,鈥� Paxson said in the Jan. 25 press release.
