<p>I just posted this in the UPenn forums, and I wanted a balanced response if anyone would tell me. Thanks.</p>
<p>I was pretty set on Brown until I received the invitation to be a BFS Scholar. Should I give a lot of weight to the BFS program, or is it not enough to overcome my original choice? It’s taken me a lot of time to narrow down the choices of Cornell, Duke, Penn, and Brown, and to be honest I think I only like Brown just a little bit more. What do you thinK?</p>
<p>What are the perks of BFS?</p>
<p>What is BFS?</p>
<p>BFS stands for "Ben Franklin Scholars." It's essentially an honors program at University of Pennsylvania, and it gives you money for undergraduate research in addition to allowing you to take special "BFS Seminar" classes. I can't tell if it's just a gimmick to get accepted students to go there or if there is actually some merit to it. I think also the BFS programs give you "connections" within the university, and help you with housing, letters of rec, etc. What do you think, do you get those same oppurtunities at Brown anyway?</p>
<p>Hmmm.... I really can't think of anything at Brown that undergrads could have but don't. (Does that make sense? lol) There is lots of advising and support for premed, prelaw, scholarships, etc, so letters of rec shouldn't be a problem. As for housing, it's random for frosh, and, after that, everyone enters a housing lottery (in which sophomores get screwed over, apparently ;)) ...So nobody really gets priority within a class. There's definitely lots of opportunities for research here. dcircle can probably tell you about his experiences. (He got to do research with a Nobel Laureate!) And classes... I think they're all special at Brown!</p>
<p>Anyway, good luck! (But I hope you come to Brown!)</p>
<p>Unless it saves you money, I think Brown gives you the same.</p>
<p>I don't see how it can save you money, because Ivies can't give out merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, didn't remember that. Yeah, if you were set on Brown before, I'd say this doesn't make all that much of a difference.</p>
<p>hey Rabo, did you ever finish those essays for our advisors? I still have to do them! Gahhh!</p>
<p>Oh oops, sorry for the hijack! =P</p>
<p>Hehe, yeah, I did. Mine, I feel was pretty generic. I don't think my adviser will really be able to tell anything significant about me at all. That's ok. My stunning good looks and flamboyant personality will win them over where my writing skills failed.</p>
<p>I guess I'll write mine tomorrow... It'll probably be really haphazard. "Last month, I wanted to major in [fill in the blank], but now I want to major in [another blank]. I'm not sure why, though. I mean, besides for the fact that [insert major here] is a cool-sounding word. As for my personality and interests? Hmmm, I like to sleep and watch movies. Hah! Now you can easily distinguish me from ever other teen out there!"</p>
<p>Yeah, the question about how your extracurriculars relate to your academic interests I just had no idea how to answer...so I didn't. I probably won't go into any ECs that I mentioned, but oh well. I, at first, thought the question about fears and stuff going in was stupid, but I did realize that I was majorly stressing about only getting to take 4 classes and having to choose and all that, so I figured that worked.</p>
<p>Yea, seriously, how does theater relate to physics?! I'm really at a loss for that one! </p>
<p><em>Calculates velocity as I move around the stage</em></p>
<p>The physics of the sound of your voice! Waves! Are they transverse, longitudinal, etc? (That probably makes no sense, but I don't remember anything about sound waves.)</p>
<p>The intensity of the spotlight! (There's a new slant on fame! lol)</p>