<p>ok, obviously, I’m posting in the Brown forums so I’m assuming ya’ll are a little biased</p>
<p>anyway, I’m at a tossup (assuming I get in both, otherwise the decision will be easy )</p>
<p>I like
-chill atmosphere (where people actually relax)
-nice, friendly people where people help you out
-yeah, I work hard but I don’t want to spend my life studying, so the adacemic scene
-looking at medicine as my profession, I think Brown is more English/History/etc?
-safety in the city/campus (okay, I’m a wimpy girl who doesn’t kow how to fight)
-to learn with dynamic professors who know you personally</p>
<p>I dislike
-drug usage
-cheaters, hyper competitive people who stoop below ethics</p>
<p>I like the open curriculum, since at my HS we never got to pick any classes so I got stuck taking really lame classes I had no interest in (not so much the class itself but the crappy teachers -cough art and us history cough-)</p>
<p>Brown. Do it. I've never visited Duke as I wasn't planning on applying there, but my sister visited during her college search. She said that it seemed more cold/formal than a lot of the schools she had visited and that people were a bit obsessed with the sports scene.
The people that seem happiest at Duke seem to be the ones that planned on going there since birth. Still, I do have friends that are happy there.</p>
<p>Brown seems to fit better into the things you like.
Brown is actually a great school for premed students- biology is one of the most popular majors, and Brown is one of the "top five colleges in the nation in the percentage of its applicants accepted to medical school" according to the admissions site.
Duke is more suburban than Brown, so it's probably safer, but the area of Providence where Brown is located is pretty tame.
Brown doesn't seem to have students hyper-competitive with one another, but everyone here seems to either be naturally smart or willing to work hard.
Drug usage will happen at any college, and Brown sometimes has a bad rep about drug use- a poll by the daily newspaper showed that about a third of Brown students had tried marijuana, for example- but you won't be exposed to any drug use unless you plan to be. Frat parties are easy enough to avoid.</p>
<p>I may be a bit biased, but if you get in to both, GO TO BROWN!
If you can, visit both colleges before making a decision- that's what really helped me decide to apply early to Brown.</p>
<p>i think the work/life balance was perfect at brown, even as a pre-med--in fact, i never felt like a typical pre-med
because of the open curriculum everyone chooses classes/activities that are consistent with their identity--so what you do academically, extracurricularly, and socially blend together nicely
i got to know most of my fellow pre-meds through the pre-med classes we all took together. it was fun and collegial and in the end, most got into fantastic schools
i would definitely highly recommend brown</p>
<p>Wow...you're in the exact position I was in on May first last year! I had basically narrowed my list of colleges down to Brown and Duke and in the end, I chose Duke after a lot of tears and agony (literally). I see you didn't post in the Duke forum, so I'm going to reply here, and no, I am not going to shamelessly root for Duke and shun Brown because honestly, as much as I love life here, I still wish I could have had the change to experience Brown life too.</p>
<p>Anyway, all I want to say is that I've found the people here very warm and friendly and not at all cold/formal or whatever..but then again, Brown's people are probably also like that. Everyone here's chill and relaxed about grades. We have class rank, yes, but the thing is that half the student body doesn't realize it. No one cares. But...Brown's probably also like that. Duke's student body is more or less half premed. EVERYONE is aiming for med school; everyone seems to be a bio or psych major. Is it like that at Brown? Apparently, from what people are saying.</p>
<p>Basically, what I'm saying here is that the things you want can probably be gotten at either school. What you need to think about is who you want to become. I've changed a TON at Duke (I'd never so much as watched a college basketball game before coming here and now I'm completely obsessed with basketball, I've become a MUCH nicer person, I've learned to appreciate people so much more than I ever did in high school, I've learned to relax about grades and about life in general, and so, so much more). Would I have changed had I gone to Brown? Definitely, but maybe not in the same way. I think what you need to do is visit both schools, talk to random students you see (I know most Dukies would be pretty chill about that if you were to talk to them), and just see how people are at both schools. Ask them what they do for fun, what they do/don't like about their schools, see if something that they don't like is going to be a problem for you too. </p>
<p>Anyway, just my two cents. I'm not sure if it'll help you that much because I'm typing this up in the middle of studying for finals and my brain is basically shot...good luck!</p>
<p>thanks wow, friendly people from both. I didn't post in Duke forum cuz I don't want to be those people who are like "omg should I go here -post in every IVY league board- and annoy people"</p>
<p>I will be unable to visit both due to time/money and distance. basically I'm won't visit til AFTER I'm accepted (If I am) so yeah</p>
<p>but thanks you very much all of you -bows- ^^ your comments are very helpful. Maybe I'll even see you guys in person one day (hehe)</p>
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