Percentages of students who go on to get PhD’s is a poor measure since in most disciplines the job prospects for PhD’s is not very good. The country is filled with PhD’s who can’t get tenure or find a good job.
It’s not a poor measure for someone who wants to go onto grad school.
Almost anyone can get a PhD and many can’t find a job. Go look at some of the schools listed. This poster is asking about Brown and Amherst. Many schools on the PhD lists aren’t remotely peer schools. Wabash,Beloit,Kalmazoo, and even Reed while a good school is not a peer.
http://hechingerreport.org/oversupply-phds-threaten-american-science/
Many people seem unaware that getting a PhD in most fields is a poor career choice.
The OP specifically asked about preparation for grad school, and how Amherst might rank as a spring board for grad school.
Multiple previous posters stated the obvious. Brown and Amherst are peer schools and among the very best in the world. The truth is that admission to either school is unlikely for an international student. No one can tell the applicant how much need blind or not will effect admission. It’s an unknowable variable. I only commented because the percent of students getting a PhD is not a good way to measure the quality of a school as the list shows. The only thing worse than getting a PhD is law school or vet school.
Not all PhDs are bad, just as not all majors are bad. If you get a PhD in econ, the unemployment rate for such a doctorate is very low (like 2-3%). And quality of school does not equal job outcome in terms of education. Preparation for grad school is preparation in pure academic ability and research potential, something totally different than preparing a person for a job and something that matters more for a person interested in grad school than job preparation
Of course PhD’s from Cal Tech,MIT, or other such schools are very useful degrees but that was never the point made. At any rate all of these posts are far afield from the question asked. The applicant wants to know if his ED is more likely as an international in a need blind school top ranked school. No one can answer this question in a meaningful way. Amherst has a deceivingly high ED admit rate but most of the students have hooks. Statistically Brown is even harder. Unless the applicant has a hook the chance of admission to either is low single digits even assuming the grades/SAT’s are great.
@SAY not at all! I do not mean to strategically select my school on the basis of increased chances of acceptance. The question wasn’t geared in that direction. I was just asking if paying full price for Brown was worth it over financial aid at Amherst (about 50%) in terms of my academic goals.
Being offered a deal for 50% off of the cost of an Amherst education would be almost certainly a better value than going full-pay to Brown. The only way it would not be a better value is if you simply did not like Amherst and loved Brown… which does not seem to be the case.
@prezbucky Yes. The open curriculum is primarily what attracts me to both. I am an introvert and would actually prefer a more (sub)urban school, but I guess financial aid should be my priority. Since I cannot visit these schools, what would make someone dislike Amherst but love Brown?
Well, I can’t tell you why anyone would dislike Amherst – I haven’t read any negative posts about Amherst – but I can list a few reasons why people tend to love Brown, based on posts I have read on this web site:
- The open curriculum
- The ability to take a lot of courses Pass/Fail (this could also be considered a con)
- Some people claim that there is grade inflation
- Some people claim that it's not as academically rigorous as some other elite schools (this could also be considered a con)
- While you would undoubtedly encounter students of all types, as a whole the Brown student body is known for being happy.
Ambitious27 You appear to completely misunderstand your own question about a need blind school. It has nothing to do with figuring out exactly how much aid you will get but rather whether they will consider your need or lack there of when they decide who to admit. At any rate you will never know the answer to your question because it’s unknowable.