Advice Needed on Yale vs. BROWN?!

<p>i’m still so confused on whether or not to apply early.
if i apply to brown, i will be applying the BROWN/RISD dual program for the arts.
i’m quite interested in the arts, and i absolutely loved brown.</p>

<p>my hesitation is this: i also visited yale, and loved yale also. if there were any two schools i could pick it would be brown or yale, and possibly princeton only for the woodrow wilson school of international relations. but yale was wonderful too, and it has a fantastic arts program. </p>

<p>i have no idea whether to apply ED to Brown, and hold a better chance of getting in.
Or go for the Yale SCEA, because it is riskier?</p>

<p>Please any advice on the two options.
thanks.</p>

<p>If you can't decide, why not Yale SCEA? Non binding, so you know earlier (peace of mind, bragging rights, etc if you get in), and then just wait on Brown. I wouldn't apply ED unless I knew that was were I was going to go if I got accepted regardless of finances and other acceptances</p>

<p>My D applied SCEA to Yale and was deferred and then denied. She applied RD to Brown after that, RD (obviously), and was accepted. She is a first semester sophomore right now, and declared her concentration (major) as Visual Arts at the end of her second semester freshman year. She absolutely loves the school and the department. She can take classes at RISD and will do that beginning next semester. She entered the school before the dual program was initiated. We know several students who were accepted at Brown, rejected at Yale; rejected at Brown, accepted at Yale, and all kinds of other permutations. ED at Brown may be a bit easier than RD at Brown. But if you ED at Brown, RISD has EA, and if you are accepted at Brown but not at RISD, you still have to go to Brown (such a pity :) ). The RISD/Brown dual program is EXTREMELY competitive. Only a small handful of students were accepted this year-- the first-- and there are 18 in the program. You need to be pretty fabulous, and I would guess that you are, given your interests, and even then, it's so risky. SCEA at Yale is very risky. But, if you SCEA at Yale and are rejected, you can still RD at Brown and/or RISD. I would agree with Fanatic, that that option may make the most sense. But all is not lost if you are not accepted there. Good luck!</p>

<p>Don't apply early to Brown unless your ABSOLUTELY SURE. I talked to an admit officer when I was there (spring break), and she said early isn't any easier than regular, the difference in percentage is mostly recruited athletes.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>Concur with the above. As to your last temptation, i.e., Princeton, not a problem because unavailable: woodrow wilson is a graduate school.</p>

<p>@ Caleno: As far as I know, there's the WWS that's graduate, and then for undergrads you can apply at the end of your sophomore year to be in it for your junior/ senior year. At least, that's what the tourguide said when I was there.</p>

<p>Early Decision only makes sense if you know you'd go to Brown no matter where else you were accepted.</p>

<p>I wish we had convinced you we were that "right" for you, but if we haven't, no shame or disadvantage going RD.</p>

<p>know that the RISD/Brown program is perhaps the most selective in the entire country</p>

<p>know that Brown itself has a great art program and you can always cross register. i'm art major, pm me if you want info. </p>

<p>know that you shouldn't apply anywhere binding, even brown, unless you are %100 sure. even if it does boost chances (debatable no matter what admiss officers say)</p>

<p>know that princeton is VERY different from Brown</p>

<p>I'd agree and say to go for Yale SCEA. It doesn't sound like you're 100% sure and you don't want to wind up kicking yourself for whatever reason just in case.</p>

<p>both are great schools with very similar cultures--you can't go wrong, so the first thing i would say is don't stress out too much.
second, contrary to what many people here are implying, you will honestly probably never be totally sure about either place--how could you be, both are great and both have trade offs--so don't stress out too much about this either.</p>

<p>my advice is to go with your initial gut and then see how it all shakes out</p>

<p>thanks everyone. great replies.</p>

<p>above^ why do you say princeton is VERY different from brown?</p>

<p>i know they're dissimilar, but i always thought they were both intellectual exploration types of schools versus the more pre-professional route, for example at Penn. </p>

<p>and I got the feeling from the student body that Yale is quite similar to Brown, would you all agree?</p>

<p>definitely--very similar places
much more so than brown and dartmouth or brown and harvard</p>

<p>yea thought so.</p>

<p>i've always thought brown should be a little higher in the rankings too, i mean it's so selective. but i know rankings aren't based on selectivity.</p>