Brown or Chicago?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>All of the college decisions are out (at least from all the colleges I?ve applied to) and I?m having a tough time selecting a college. Out of all the colleges I have been accepted at, the two colleges that I?m most interested in are Brown University and the University of Chicago. I?m also leaving Cornell University open for consideration, but only if someone can tell me something fantastic about Cornell.</p>

<p>I?m an international student from India hoping to study Philosophy with a little bit of Physics at college. I?m an average student (at least I will be at any of these colleges) with quite a strong interest in academics. I?m not very much ?into? partying, though an odd party every few weeks or so is always fun, It?s more important to me that I make good friends. I?d like to go somewhere with a very friendly and open minded student body with a good intellectual atmosphere.</p>

<p>The idea of a smaller college is more appealing for me ? this is why I?m going to turn down the large state universities I got accepted at (and maybe should turn down Cornell for the very same reason?) I would like a nice community-like atmosphere which includes not only the students, but advisors and professors as well. It?s very important to me that I foster good personal relationships with my advisors and maybe the professors too (but the advisors are more important).</p>

<p>From the beginning of the application process, I felt a good connection with both Brown and Chicago. They?re both peculiar universities which don?t tend to attract everyone. They have something quirky about them which I can?t quite put my finger on ? but I know I?m intrigued.
In the end it is probably going to come down to the difference between a demanding core curriculum and a complete lack thereof. Although my gut instinct tells me to go with Brown and its open curriculum, I can?t help but wonder if Chicago?s expansive core would do me a whole lot of good?</p>

<p>Any advice is appreciated. Thank you very much.</p>

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<p>If you think your interests might take you towards engineering, then I would strongly recommend taking Cornell. Cornell has a good engineering school while (as far as I know) Brown, apart from Computer Science is not so good in engineering.</p>

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<p>My interest in philosophy may take me towards engineering?
No, I'm quite sure I don't want to study engineering.</p>

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<p>well few might acknowledge it, very few might know it, but Brown is Brown .and Brown is supposed to have a very good engineering faculty, and a very good Sceince program, of course the CS is very good too.
But think about it, brown gives you the freedom of studying international relations along with engg , can you do that at cornell?
If you are llooking for a very good base, a solid engineering/sceince foundation but want to go into other areas as well (like me) , Brown is the place. lets say you want to do business after engg, Brown has a 100% acceptance rate to top business schools in the world.and if you still want to do research etc..then Brown 's open curriculum and world class proffesors will help you.
so the decision is upto you
these are the reasons i am choosing brown, so it upto you.
People who have been rejected by MIT engineering/science go to Brown engineering.
Iknow people who have been rejected by Brown who have got into MIT.
So make an informed decision</p>

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<p>and Badman is asking for advice, and i am in a position to give some!! WOWO i cant belive this!!
badman remember desperation....?</p>

<p>1)have my typing skills improved?
2)notice any more changes?</p>

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<p>I chanced on this thread and I am not very computer savvy. Please forgive any protocol lapses. I am the father of a senior who got into Brown, Columbia, Duke and UPenn. His college app process was ruined by private school counselor who "guaranteed MIT" "he is a shoo in" "I know Marilee Jones, we are friends". And us idiots didn't dare cross her. son did not want MIT. He has a breadth of humanities interests and sciences, 2 languages to AP level, Asian, Indian American, wanted Pton, now waitlisted at Pton. That is one bad story. Now, please help. He is not sure about which college. Fairly certain about enggr, mech or elec, perhaps aerospace. Did not get into Cornell, that is because he went there last summer but did not apply early, his school has terrific admit rate to Cornell, they must have sensed he won't come. He is also interested in classics, medieval studies, hence the Pton interest and the Columbia Core curriculum interest. I have heard Brown is very difficult to get into, how about columbia, what does Brown look for and Columbia? What do you mean by 100% admit rate to bus. school, son has that as possible future interest, how can any school have 100% admit rate? Thanks.</p>

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<p>"My interest in philosophy may take me towards engineering?
No, I'm quite sure I don't want to study engineering."</p>

<p>Well I really don't know much then. Look at their respective curriculums, your purpose in pursuing philosophy, whether you want to stay in the academia or not, accessibility of professors, etc.
Open curriculum is of course a major advantage of Brown which means you can delve straightaway into what you like.</p>

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<p>Hey sid_galt</p>

<p>youre going to brown for sure? I have being trying to comb the whole place for indian accepttees!.</p>

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<p>Most likely. Although I am waiting for the final decision on my USC scholarship, I doubt I'll go anywhere else except Brown. So it's 99.99% certain for me.</p>

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<p>This is a tough thread to tackle. I'm always surprised at how many cross-admits there are between UChicago and Brown-- two schools that cannot be any more different in culture and mindset, truly. I think that you'll get personal attention and community at both, but are you looking for a campus that prides itself on it's requirements, it's rigor, the fact that people loathe their work load and that everyone has a sense of, "surviving" college, or are you looking for a place that prides itself on the independence of it's students, the happiness of it's students, the fact that many Brown students become entrepreneurs because nothing so traditional fit their mold, etc.</p>

<p>Brown's engineering program is fine, but is definitely not as strong as other schools with more of a focus in engineering. Actually, from an engineering/business perspective we offer one of hte best programs and that's what we're known for (for the second person who asked in the thread). It's not really a business degree, we don't have any preprofessional concentrations other than engine and public health, more of a management theory background...</p>

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<p>@modestmelody: You have any idea of the computer science program? Based on surveying the web and Brown's curriculum it seems pretty strong with a good reputation but now I'm not so sure.</p>

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<p>MODESTMELODY-may i know what you mean by "from an engineering/business perspective we ofer one of the best programs?"</p>

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<p>I am now a rising sophomore at Brown.
I also had to decide where to go between UChicago and Brown.
I was pretty much on the side of UChicago cause I visited there and it was really good. However, anyhow, I headed to Brown, and I've never regretted that I am at Providence.</p>

<p>As somebody posted, the most important point of Brown is that you can study whatever you want without any restriction, and the atmosphere of this campus will make you happy even though you have a lot of work.
Good luck!</p>

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<p>Ramaswami... Columbia College had an 8.9% admit rate this year, the lowest in the ivy league. In fact,the lowest in any ivy league HISTORY. Columbia is extremely hard to get into. Go to Columbia.</p>

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<p>


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<p>I am also quite sure that whichever college I end up selecting, I'll be very happy and do very well there. And I'm also quite sure that whichever college I select, I'll always have that "what if?" feeling - simply because I like both colleges so much.
Sigh.....</p>

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<p>Truazn, while that may be true I'm positive that admit rate is not a reason to go to a school.</p>

<p>Sid-- Brown has the first undergraduate program in computer science started by the second CS PhD in the country. Andy (Andres Van Dam) still teaches the Intro programming class. Recognize the name Andy from Toy Story? He was named after this professor.</p>

<p>CS at Brown for undergraduates is probably top 2 along with Stanford, IMO. The teaching and resources are both excellent and you'll work on a level you won't find at many schools. By the end of intro programming students with 0 programming knowledge are able to write final projects you wouldn't believe. I chose to program the game Othello-- all the graphics working with any combination of human and three levels of computer AI players in Java. CS at Brown is simply fantastic.</p>

<p>kARTH-- check out Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship <a href="http://coe.brown.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://coe.brown.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>.................


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<p>Everything corranged said about UChicago can be applied to Brown-- except that Brown expects you to be responsible enough to determine what knowledge you want to have as part of your core and well-roundedness. It empowers you to say that one thing is more fascinating and engaging than another to you without pigeon-holing you into the idea of a constructed, similar intellectual. Common experience through a rigid is not the only way to foster an intellectual atmosphere or camaraderie.</p>

<p>Brown students DO NOT ATTACK YOU FOR YOUR POLITICS. Anyone writing what he wrote about Brown and how students will respect or not respect your ideas is simply wrong.</p>

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<p>Sir, Truazn, is your data true and accurate? Acceptance rate can be one factor in that it could, could mean very bright kids. Of course, a high accept does not necessarily mean the opposite, Caltech and St. John's College (very different) have high accept rates but self selected and all that. My son and I believe the core curriculum embodies the medieval idea of a liberal education. A student can take equivalent courses in philos, lit etc at other schools but it would still lack the coherence of the Core at Columbia or U of Chicago. He is leaning toward Columbia. Can you give me the accept rates at Princeton and Harvard and Yale this year? I can't believe they are higher than Columbia's? Is that what you are saying? Thanks.</p>

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<p>the admission rate at columbia this year was ~11%, ~20% for the Fu School, and ~9% for columbia college. harvard had the lowest admission rate, followed by yale. princeton has yet to report.</p>

<p>admission rate is only one factor in measuring selectivity, because as you point out, there is a certain amount of self-selection and over-selection. columbia receives many seat-of-the-pants applications because of its NYC location and the recent trend toward urban campus appeal. MIT receives far fewer, but still admits only 12% because the vast majority of those admitted decide to attend.</p>

<p>yield is the most important number (the number admitted who decide to attend) when determining selectivity.</p>