filed under Brown | Local Media | Local Yokels
“Rhodies” have an edge in Brown admissions
5:08PM ON
04/04/2008
BY
Ari Savitzky
What are Rhodies? People from the short-lived Republic of Rhodesia?
Anyway, if by “Rhodies” the Brown Daily Herald means “Rhode Islanders” then good on Brown.
The state is the 43rd most populous in the country, but the fifth most common home-state for the class of 2011. About 4 to 6 percent of Brown students hail from the Ocean State, despite the state accounting for only one-third of 1 percent of the country’s population, according to the Office of Institutional Research and the U.S. Census Bureau.
Do Rhode Island applicants have a home-field advantage?
“All other things being equal,” Dean of Admissions James Miller ‘73 said, “being from Rhode Island will tip the balance towards that applicant.”
Miller, who said there is no policy, formula or quota concerning Ocean State applicants, compared the advantage of being a local resident to that of a top legacy applicant. “We feel an obligation to the state, and students and families from the state,” he said.
“We want to be good citizens of the state, to educate the best students from the state,” he added.
This helps explain why they have coffee milk in the dining halls.
Other points of interest: a) local private schools, like Wheeler, my Alma Mater, send a buttload of students down the street to yon Brown:
These Brunonians are not alone. At The Wheeler School, a private school on the East Side with about 335 students in the ninth to 12th grades, 16 members of the class of 2007 moved down the street to Brown. This was by far the most common choice among Wheeler seniors, according to its Web site, followed by Boston University and the University of Connecticut, which matriculated nine each.
At Moses Brown, a private school located across the street from the Olney Margolies Athletic Center, Brown was the second most common college choice among its class of 2007. And at Lincoln, Brown tied for first with Boston College among last year’s graduates.
b) The large number of Rhode Islanders may be in part explained by laziness:
Proximity was a selling point for Jeff Knowles ‘10, a Middletown native, when he was applying to colleges. “I just didn’t feel like going on a long college tour,” he said.
c) Seriously, though, no one says rhodies. Maybe it’s ok to call RI Red Hens Rhodies, but not people. And, for the record, it’s also ‘Lil Rhody and not ‘Lil Rhodie.
April 5th, 2008 at 2:01PM
matt Says:
Also, isn’t it generally “Li’l”?
[Reply]
April 5th, 2008 at 8:11PM
Ari Savitzky Says:
I wrote ” ‘Lil ” but it’s a good question. Seems like ” L’il ” has GOT to be wrong though.
[Reply]