Guides · Updated 4 November 2026

Brown Video Introduction: Length, Deadline and What to Say

Brown University does not offer admission interviews for first-year or transfer applicants. Instead, Brown Undergraduate Admission encourages you to submit an optional personal video introduction of no more than 90 seconds by 4 November for QuestBridge and Early Decision or 7 January for Regular Decision. You can upload your video for free through the Brown Applicant Portal, or submit via Glimpse or InitialView.

Why Brown uses a video introduction instead of interviews

AdmitMock is an AI mock interview app for Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL and US college alumni interviews: an AI interviewer asks the questions out loud, follows up, and shows you what to fix.

Brown Undergraduate Admission does not offer interviews as part of its admission process for first-year or transfer applicants. Instead, Brown encourages applicants to submit a brief personal video introduction to ensure equity across the entire applicant pool. For the undergraduate Class of 2030, Brown received 47,944 applications and admitted 2,687 students, an acceptance rate of 5.6 percent (including 889 students admitted through Early Decision). Replacing interviews with a self-submitted video ensures every candidate has the exact same chance to be heard directly by the admissions committee.

While supplementary materials are optional and neither required nor expected, Brown actively encourages the video introduction. It gives you 90 seconds to share who you are and why you are interested in attending Brown, in your own voice, beyond what is already in your written application.

If you are also applying to other Ivy League universities that still conduct live conversations, you can prepare with our guides to the Harvard interview, the Yale alumni interview and the Princeton alumni interview.

Length, opening line and technical rules (90 seconds, not 2 minutes)

Your Brown video introduction must be no more than 90 seconds long. Older guides and blogs still cite an outdated two-minute limit, whereas Brown's current official limit is strictly 90 seconds. You must record at a natural speaking pace, and Brown explicitly instructs applicants not to use software to speed up their audio or video to fit more content into the time limit.

Brown does not evaluate videos for production quality. Simple and unrehearsed is fine, and you are also welcome to be creative. Before you record, make sure your video follows every official rule from Brown Undergraduate Admission:

• Maximum length: No more than 90 seconds (60 to 90 seconds if you submit through Glimpse).
• Mandatory opening line (first-year applicants): Begin with you in front of the camera saying, "Hi, my name is [insert name] from [high school]." After that opening line, what you say and how you say it is up to you.
• Mandatory opening line (transfer applicants): Begin with a short clip of you in front of the camera saying, "Hi, my name is [insert name] from [name of college]."
• Orientation: Record in landscape (horizontal) orientation so admissions officers viewing on a desktop computer do not have to turn their heads to the side.
• Framing and device: Sit in front of your phone, tablet, laptop or camera and speak directly to the audience. Make sure you are clearly visible and audible.
• Dress code: Dress casually, just as you would for a normal school day or school event.
• Speaking pace: Speak at a natural pace without audio or video speed-up tools.
• Final check: Check the lighting and listen to your recording from start to finish before uploading. Once you upload to the Brown Applicant Portal, click preview to verify that your video appears properly before hitting continue to submit.

Brown video introduction deadlines

Your video introduction is due shortly after your Common Application deadline. Once you submit your Common Application, Brown sends access to your Brown Applicant Portal on a rolling basis. Because you cannot upload your file to the portal until your login credentials arrive, Brown encourages you to record your video in advance of the deadline so it is ready to upload straight away.

Early Decision applicants submit their Common Application by 1 November and their video by 4 November, while Regular Decision applicants submit their Common Application by 5 January and their video by 7 January. Even though the video upload option remains available on the student portal after the deadline passes, you must upload by the dates below for guaranteed consideration in the admission process.

If you are also submitting other optional materials alongside your video introduction, keep in mind how Brown handles the rest of your file. Accomplished musicians and visual artists among first-year applicants can submit portfolios through SlideRoom in the Common Application without waiting for Brown Applicant Portal access, and must create their SlideRoom account and submit on or before 4 November at 11:59 p.m. EST for Early Decision and QuestBridge Match applicants, or 7 January at 11:59 p.m. EST for Regular Decision applicants. Transfer applicants do not have a visual art supplement option, though transfer music supplements are due via SlideRoom by 2 October 2026 at 11:59 p.m. EST for spring entry and 3 March 2027 at 11:59 p.m. EST for fall entry. Auditions and portfolios are neither required nor reviewed for Dance and Theatre Arts and Performance Studies. If you have completed an advanced academic paper or significant research project, you can upload the document or abstract directly to your Brown Applicant Portal with a brief note explaining the dates, whether you worked independently or on a team, and any external recognition.

How to submit your video (3 official options)

There are three official ways to submit your first-year video introduction. Brown's Office of College Admission states that it has no preference for which method you choose.

If you are a transfer applicant, you submit by logging into your Brown Account Portal and uploading either a video file or a link to your introduction, then clicking PREVIEW before hitting CONTINUE.

What to say: Brown's official prompts and how to avoid repeating your essays

Brown states that there is no specific topic or format they hope to see in your video introduction. No two Brown students have the same story, and the admissions office does not expect any two videos to be the same either.

If you are applying as a first-year student, Brown provides suggested prompts you can choose from:

• "What do you love about your neighborhood or hometown?"
• "Share a time that you were moved by music or art."
• "How would your friends describe you?"
• "Describe how you were influenced by a book that changed your perspective."
• "Talk to us about a meaningful family activity or tradition."
• "In what ways are you similar to or different from your siblings or friend group?"
• "Tell us about your favorite time of day."
• "Highlight any topic of your choice that will allow us to get to know you better."

How to avoid repeating your Common Application essays (and transfer topics)

The goal of the video introduction is to tell Brown more about yourself beyond the information already provided in your application. For the 2026 to 2027 cycle, all first-year and transfer applicants already write four required essays on the Common Application: shaping your approach to the Open Curriculum (150 to 250 words), how an aspect of your growing up has inspired or challenged you (150 to 250 words), a class you would teach on any one thing (100 to 150 words), and something that brings you joy (100 to 150 words), plus an extra 650-word essay if you apply to the Brown|RISD Dual Degree Programme.

Before you pick your video prompt, lay your four written essays next to your video notes. If your fourth essay is about baking sourdough bread with your grandmother, do not use your 90-second video to talk about that same family tradition. Pick a prompt that reveals a completely different side of your daily life, personality or intellectual curiosity.

You should also think about how your video connects to the academic environment you will join on College Hill. Brown has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6:1, 100 percent of faculty teach undergraduates, and 69 percent of undergraduate classes have fewer than 20 students. Because classes are discussion-based and collaborative, using your 90 seconds to show how you talk through an idea, connect with your neighbourhood or reflect on a book gives admissions officers a direct glimpse of the voice you will bring to a small seminar.

If you are applying as a transfer student, Brown suggests sharing your academic interests, your connection to a family member or individual who has influenced you, your experience with the community you are from, or anything else you would like the committee to know.

90-second script-planning worksheet and timed practice run

Because you cannot use software to speed up your audio or video, 90 seconds passes quickly. Speaking at a relaxed, conversational pace means your script needs to stay concise and focused from the mandatory opening line to your closing sentence.

Use our four-part worksheet below to plan your talking points so you do not sound over-rehearsed or get cut off at the 90-second mark:

• Part 1 (Mandatory opening): Look straight into the lens in landscape mode and say, "Hi, my name is [insert name] from [high school / name of college]."
• Part 2 (The concrete hook): Name the prompt or object you are sharing and put the viewer in a specific moment or place (for example, your favourite time of day at your kitchen table, or a specific corner of your hometown).
• Part 3 (The personal story and how you think): Explain why this detail matters to you. Focus on one small story that shows how you interact with friends, family or ideas rather than listing school clubs that are already on your Common Application activity list.
• Part 4 (Why Brown): Connect that side of your personality to how you want to learn, collaborate or contribute on College Hill, leaving a brief buffer at the end so you finish cleanly before the 90-second limit.

How to do a timed practice run before you film

Reading notes silently in your head always feels faster than speaking out loud to a lens. Before you record your final 90-second take, do a timed practice run where you speak on camera without reading from a page. Practising out loud in your first run gets the nervous energy out of your voice, shows you where you naturally ramble, and makes trimming your story down to a crisp 90 seconds much easier.

Follow these practical steps during your practice and filming session so your final submission goes smoothly: First, prop your laptop, tablet or phone horizontally at eye level facing a natural light source, and record a short test clip to verify that your microphone picks up your voice clearly without echo. Second, write three or four short bullet points on a sticky note placed right next to the camera lens rather than typing a word-for-word essay on your screen, so your eyes stay connected with the viewer rather than darting back and forth across a page. Third, record two or three unedited takes in casual school-day clothes, listen back to each take from start to finish, and pick the one where your voice sounds warmest and most natural. Finally, save your chosen video file in advance so that the moment your Brown Applicant Portal login credentials arrive by email, you can log in, upload the file via the sidebar link, click preview to confirm playback, and hit continue to submit.

If you are also preparing for live college interviews where you need to ask thoughtful questions at the end, read our guide to questions to ask your alumni interviewer. Practise your interview out loud on AdmitMock.

Practice question

Official Brown prompt (questions in this style): Tell us about your favourite time of day.

Example written by our team. The applicant is invented. "Hi, my name is Maya Lin from Oakridge High School. My favourite time of day is 6:15 in the morning, right when our local community radio station switches from automated overnight jazz to the live morning broadcast. For the past two years, I have been the junior sound board operator on Tuesday mornings, which taught me how much I love bringing together neighbours who would never otherwise cross paths, and why I want to explore urban studies and audio storytelling through Brown's Open Curriculum."

It opens word-for-word with Brown's required introduction, picks one concrete 6:15 a.m. scene that does not repeat the standard Common Application essay prompts, and connects a personal habit directly to Brown's Open Curriculum at a calm, natural speaking pace.

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