<p>How beautiful is the brown campus compared to other ivies? (I really liked princeton’s campus) how big is the campus compared to other ivies?</p>
<p>the beauty question is a tad relative.</p>
<p>in terms of campus size...much bigger than columbia, much smaller than cornell (the two extremes). </p>
<p>in terms of beauty, it's subjective but i love the campus. there's a great mix of architectural styles (romanesque, classical, georgian, modern), open greens, courtyards, statues...in the backdrop of a historic city.</p>
<p>here is a thread with pictures
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=382021%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=382021</a></p>
<p>It's a lovely campus in general, particularly the small central quad, known as the "green." I am very familiar with it. The buildings are not nearly as ornately-constructed or as architecturally-renowed as their counterparts at HYP, particularly outside of the central quad, as you might expect, but compared to the other Ivies, it is pretty nice. The major exception is the school's library - it is called the "Rock" with good reason. Size-wise, Brown is pretty compact in terms of where the undergrad dormitories are situated - not as dense as Yale, but not nearly as spread-out as Harvard or Cornell.</p>
<p>Even though, I will not be applying to Princeton (they don't offer my major) it was a beautiful campus in every sense of the word. However, when we visited Brown I was appalled by how dirty and unkept the campus was. When we were there the "green" was looking a little brown (no pun intended). Because of all the hype, I was surprised at how I felt there, insisting to my parents that we didn't need to take the tour and it was time to head on up to Boston. I had seen enough. No such luck, they didn't listen to me. My brother and I suffered through the whole tour as the smell of too many clove cigarettes wafted through the air. That seems to be the favorite cigarette of the feminine students who attend there. They also seem to enjoy wearing tights with big wholes in them. I am not sure why. Maybe they feel like rebels or something. (Did you ever hear the one about the naked frat party that was in the newspapers? Check it out.)In my opinion, it is a mistake to apply to colleges that you have not visited yourself. There is no one who can really say how you will feel once you step onto the grounds. Brown looked like crazy art school goes ivy. I also wasn't very impressed with the surrounding areas. And, my family still jokes about the universities strange fascination with the Duncan Doughnuts Center. When my friend went their for the high school summer writing program, he said it was the most boring place he had ever been.</p>
<p>Cameron, most colleges look a little run down in parts, unless they have an HYP-sized endowment. You're talking about hundreds of buildings and acres that have to be maintained on a very limited budget. Going inside the buildings is a better indicator, but you have to remember that there is usually a mix of renovated and unrenovated facilities. Also, facilities and nice plantings are not what is really important in terms of getting a good education.</p>
<p>I have no idea what either of you are talking about. </p>
<p>My visit to Brown last spring showed me a beautiful campus with vibrant colors from the trees and the grass around campus. No scents of cigarettes whatsoever (unless walking next to someone who was smoking), and the only traces of brown was the buildings - are you sure you were looking in the right places? Cameron, you are simply restating tried stereotypes, and you sound ignorant.</p>
<p>And to say that you need funding comparable to that of Yale or Harvard or Princeton is facetious and irrational. Plenty of schools around the country get less funding than HYP and their campuses are just as well-kept. In fact, I've yet to tour a college that looked "run down at parts." Now you're just taking silly potshots at schools that aren't Yale all the while trying to talk up HYP. (Seriously though, if you add an E to the end of that you'll finally get it right.) But I guess that's what we expect from you, posterX</p>
<p>I only know three Brown students who have ever gone down to the Dunkin Donut Center which basically is just one arena type setting in Providence that we don't care about at all-- far from obsessed with it.</p>
<p>Beyond that, nothing Cameron said reflects any of my experiences being a Brown student for two years now except for the brown grass part-- over this last summer there were constantly dug up patches of the various greens since we've been updating our utility pipelines. Areas at a time were decimated while students are not on campus to keep everything up to date. We spent 40mill this summer just on upkeep type work. In fact, if you visit a school during the heart of hte summer and there isn't construction going on that's a BAD sign.</p>
<p>Well, I've just put in my first two days at Brown and have spent hours and hours walking campus so far. No holy pants. No run down buildings. No brown grass. There is construction though. I've been nothing but impressed and overwhelmed.</p>
<p>And holy crap the squirrels are HUGE</p>
<p>I wasn't saying that it was the worst place ever. What I meant to say is that for me it wasn't a good fit at all. I am sure that many of schools I am interested in are not the right fit for other students. And, by the way, I did visit the campus. It was in April. These were my own experiences. If others see Brown differently, that is fine. I was only surprised because all the hype surrounding the university gave me a higher degree of expectation. Maybe, as my dad said, it just wasn't where I am supposed to be. By the way, we have travelled to almost every major university and college on both coasts. So, I do have a pretty good idea of what I like. As far as the professors go I don't know them. It would be unfair to of me to judge their abilities based on my feelings about the campus. However, it is really important for me to go to a college that feels like home. And I am sure that not a soul cares about my not applying. Students who want to go there aren't going to be deterred by my experiences. You probably all think that I am a fool. It's alright. What I was trying to say is that one should visit a college before they decide if it's their dream school. I have visited over 100 campuses with my family for many different reasons-not all for college search purposes. If it makes you feel any better I didn't like Dartmouth any better and I have good friends who love it there. It's too isolated for my tastes. For those of you who love Brown. I apologize for offending you. After-all, I am just one young high school junior out of thousands who want to attend your university. I don't know everything.</p>
<p>Brown is one of the top universities in the country and the buildings are commeasurate with that status - as I said above, it is a lovely campus. But there are still enormous differences between the schools with endowments of $2 or $4 billion and the ones with $12, $20 or $30+ billion like HYP. Since their older buildings were also generally constructed when those universities had more money, they are also more ornate or architecturally distinguished and have better resources inside. I've been inside hundreds if not thousands of university buildings around the country, due to my work, and can say that with all honesty. Another way to look at it, though, is that Brown's buildings are generally better-kept and better-built than buildings at schools that only have endowments of a few hundred million, e.g., most state universities. And that's leaps and bounds of places that only have say $20 million - many those smaller, newer colleges have buildings that resemble the postwar Soviet architecture in Novosibirsk. Same goes for the grounds. Just my two cents, but I'll repeat what I said above, there are things more important to a university than how perfect the facilities are.</p>
<p>Cameron-- no one cares if you don't want to go to Brown. What's odd is that you choose your very first post on the message boards here to be about Brown and how just looking at the school you were ready to go to Boston and leave and thought it was a horrible place.</p>
<p>That's not helping anyone in this thread, doesn't give anyone a sense of what the place is like, places your biases clear and upfront, and, well, makes you look like a very bad troll.</p>
<p>I also said that buildings do not determine how talented the professors are. However, I still stand by what I said. There are many lovely college campuses in the United States. I am not considering any state colleges, but I must agree that their settings are usually less than stellar. Most of my dealings with state campuses have involved competitions, or school activities. I have also visited UC campuses, but am not going to apply to any. However, I did like Berkeley's campus. All of the colleges I am interested in are private institutions. And many of them are clean, nice, and well managed, as well as having great professors. However, many of them are smaller than Brown. One of the other criteria I use when looking at a college is what I hear discussed by the students who attend the college. I do this by having lunch alone on the grounds in a busy area. This gives me the opportunity to sit and listen to the conversations, look at what the students might be reading, and try to get a sense of the environment. I need to know if it feels like a place I could belong in. It's amazing what you can learn about what is going on in a college based on the lunch crowd.</p>
<p>Jeez guys, stop being so touchy and give Cameron a break. He basically bowed down and apologized if he offended people. One post isn't going to make or break Brown's reputation. Stop being so defensive. Brown's great but like any college, it is not the end all be all for everyone.</p>
<p>Yes, I see your point. I don't want to be offensive. What I was trying to do, although I can see I wasn't successful in my attempt, was to give my own impressions. But I guess my choice of words was not the best. Please forgive my negative behavior and I will try and use my next post to contribute something positive to the site.</p>