Brown University Overview

Brown University is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Providence, Rhode Island. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

What Is Brown University Known For?

• Students at Brown may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 7 to 1.
• Students at Brown have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 1%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• Although it may not be available for every major, the doctor's degree is the highest award a student can attain at Brown.
• In 2017-2018, 90% of the faculty were full-time.
• After graduation, Brown bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $67,500 a year. That's about 65% more than their peers at other schools.
• It takes the average Brown student 4.1 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.

Brown University Rankings

We have ranked Brown as #13 out of 2,320 colleges and universities in the country in our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation! Brown also holds the #1 spot on the Best Colleges in Rhode Island ranking.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Brown has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#7	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Doctor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Brown.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#1	Best Computer & Information Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Mathematics & Statistics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Applied Mathematics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#1	Best Information Technology Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best History Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best English Language & Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#11	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Brown has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#1	Best Computer Science Schools	Computer Science Degree
#3	Best Colleges for Mathematics & Statistics	College Factual
#5	Best Colleges for English Language & Literature	College Factual
#6	Best Colleges for History	College Factual
#7	Best Colleges for Computer & Information Sciences	College Factual
#8	Best Colleges for Social Sciences	College Factual

Where Is Brown University?

Contact details for Brown are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	One Prospect Street, Providence, RI 02912
Phone:	401-863-1000
Website:	www.brown.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/BrownUniversity
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/BrownUniversity

How Do I Get Into Brown?

You can apply to Brown online at: https://www.commonapp.org

Admission Requirements for Brown

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	recommended
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into Brown?

If you plan to apply to Brown, make sure you don't wait until the last minute to fill out your application. The school is one of the most selective in the United States and has a low acceptance rate of 8%. If you are admitted, that's something to brag about!

Approximately 46% of accepted students are men and 54% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 10%, and the acceptance rate for women is 8%.

Average Test Scores

About 55% of students accepted to Brown submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 705 and 780. Math scores were between 700 and 790.

Brown received ACT scores from 61% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 32 and 35. Math scores were between 29 and 35. Composite scores were between 31 and 35.

Can I Afford Brown University?

The overall average net price of Brown is $57,870. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Brown, approximately 25% of students took out student loans averaging $8,232 a year. That adds up to $32,928 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Brown is 1.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Brown University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 7,043 undergraduate students at Brown, with 6,735 being full-time and 308 being part-time.

There are also 3,214 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,735 full-time undergraduates at Brown, 46% are male and 54% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Brown University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,040
Black or African American	432
Hispanic or Latino	770
White	2,891
International Students	754
Other Races/Ethnicities	848

Geographic Diversity

Rhode Island students aren't the only ones who study at Brown University. At this time, 49 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 117 countries are represented at Brown. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Canada.

Brown University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Computer Science	185	85	13	283
Economics	162	16	11	189
Applied Mathematics	146	21	9	176
Public Health	58	115	2	175
General Engineering	86	63	20	169
Medicine	0	0	128	128
General Biology	120	2	0	122
Area Studies	89	19	13	121
History	87	16	6	109
Public Policy	36	59	0	95
Entrepreneurial Studies	91	0	0	91
Political Science & Government	72	8	10	90
General English Literature	84	1	4	89
Physics	19	36	13	68
Human Biology	62	0	0	62
International Relations & National Security	61	0	0	61
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	52	0	8	60
Writing Studies	47	11	0	58
Biomedical Engineering	30	18	9	57
Fine & Studio Arts	50	2	3	55
Child Development & Psychology	45	1	1	47
Mathematics	23	8	15	46
Science, Technology & Society	19	23	0	42
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	32	5	4	41
Geological & Earth Sciences	22	14	5	41
Drama & Theater Arts	16	21	3	40
Business Administration & Management	0	39	0	39
Biotechnology	0	37	1	38
Communication & Media Studies	32	2	2	36
Chemistry	11	13	9	33
Sociology	17	12	4	33
Biomathematics & Bioinformatics	9	20	3	32
Mathematics & Computer Science	0	32	0	32
Urban Studies	31	0	0	31
General Education	29	0	0	29
Music	24	0	5	29
Computer Information Systems	27	0	0	27
Ethnic Studies	23	2	2	27
Information Technology	0	26	0	26
Medical Science	0	24	0	24
Philosophy	18	2	4	24
Anthropology	15	6	3	24
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	22	0	0	22
Educational Administration	0	22	0	22
Classical Languages & Literature	19	0	2	21
Cognitive Science	11	4	4	19
Historic Preservation	0	19	0	19
Interdisciplinary Studies	16	2	0	18
Natural Resources Conservation	18	0	0	18
Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	0	7	10	17
Other Social Sciences	17	0	0	17
Religious Studies	11	1	2	14
Behavioral Science	8	5	0	13
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	12	0	12
Archeology	11	0	1	12
Cell Biology & Anatomical Sciences	0	2	9	11
Romance Languages	7	1	2	10
Multilingual Education	0	9	0	9
Statistics	8	0	0	8
Classical & Ancient Studies	1	1	5	7
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	7	0	0	7
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	0	2	4	6
General Architecture	5	0	0	5
Molecular Medicine	0	0	2	2
Engineering Physics	2	0	0	2
Health Sciences & Services	0	0	2	2
Medieval Studies	2	0	0	2
Astronomy & Astrophysics	2	0	0	2
Business/Managerial Economics	0	0	0	0
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	0	0
South Asian Languages	0	0	0	0
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	0	0	0	0
Museum Studies	0	0	0	0
General Psychology	0	0	0	0
General Social Sciences	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	2,097	846	353	3,296

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Ad Meskens under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.