Brown or Oberlin for a hopeful transfer

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I'm a transfer student applying to Oberlin and Brown, among other places, and think I possibly have a legitimate chance of getting in to both, God willing</p>

<p>Originally Brown was my first choice but now I am unsure. So I ask you: which one?!</p>

<p>The things I am looking for are:
Neuroscience
Ceramics
Rugby
Small classes and a broad course selection </p>

<p>Excellent professors that really care about teaching</p>

<p>Large sense of community -- social and academic</p>

<p>A great social life</p>

<p>Flexible curriculum </p>

<p>Work hard play hard (but not work hard play harder)...like go to a party and talk about socrates then get smashed</p>

<p>Research opportunities</p>

<p>Not a feeling of "claustorphobic" or stifled by too small of an environment, or getting really sick of people. </p>

<p>Non-apathetic people; people who are enthusiastic and really care about the world</p>

<p>Really cool and friendly people (especially as a transfer, I need to be able to make friends easily) </p>

<p>Can anyone compare the weather between providence and oberlin?</p>

<p>I'm also worried about the rumored snobbiness, rudeness, and stressed out feel of the north east (I'm from the chill north west, to give you a comparison)</p>

<p>Any thoughts would be fantastically appreciated. Thanks!!</p>

2

<p>Like, really appreciated!! hehehhe... really, you have no idea </p>

<p>:)</p>

3

<p>Oberlin is probably a pretty good fit. Don't know enough about Brown, though my daughter thought they were similar enough to apply to both of them. Some particulars (rugby?) I have no idea; you should ask someone there.</p>

4

<p>I know Brown has great rugby and I hear oberlin does as well. </p>

<p>My concerns about Oberlin are the following: </p>

<p>Its in the middle of no where!! I'm in New Orleans right now so I'm used to an exciting night life. I need to find out more about the social scene
The size: I don't want to feel stifled or feel like I'm in high school, or have course selection limited</p>

<p>The weather. I hear Ohio is very gray and overcast, which is a big problem for me. I live in OR where its like that all the time and I get depressed in the winter. Sunny days make me happy, even if its cold.</p>

<p>there's only a craft center, no real ceramics courses (besides craft center type courses) </p>

<p>But what they do have that Brown doesn't:</p>

<p>Two of my really good friends (one of which I've had a crush on for years...but I really don't want to do the choose a college because of a boy thing because thats, what's the word, PATHETIC), which would really ease the transition</p>

<p>Guarunteed small classes and prof interaction</p>

<p>Really non-apathetic political intellectual people (I don't know how much Brown is like this, however. I'm sure it is, but I dont know if its the same degree as Oberlin)</p>

<p>A really strong sense of community</p>

<p>My kind of people for sure</p>

<p>Winter term, which looks like world-rockable</p>

<p>My concerns about Brown are: </p>

<p>Bigger classes (one of the reasons I want to leave my current school is that the upper level classes are too big (like 100 people, which I think is ridic for a school of only 7000)</p>

<p>The whole "Northeast" thing -- possibly making it harder to make friends
I know its the chill Ivy, but chill for Ivy may be a lot different than the chill I'm used to</p>

<p>I don't know how much community there is
It's hard to schedule ceramics classes at RISD (though it is RISD (read: good))</p>

<p>More rich kids and possibly less of my kind of people...more ivy seekers or preppy kids (god i hate preppy kids). (I'm probably sterotyping here, feel free to shoot me) </p>

<p>What Brown has that Oberlin doesn't:</p>

<p>Family near by
Larger student body
Wider course selection and less prereqs for courses
Pass/fail system
A, B, C, NC system (no minuses, which are the scourge of my existence)
It's been my dream school forever -- it feels weird to give up on that.
A Rugby team that's going to welcome me with really REALLY open arms (I kick a lot of @ss) and have been communicating with them for a year and a half
A CITY!!! (Though not that great of one)
Spirit of learning. Otherwise coolness. I've just always had a fixation on Brown, but now Oberliin is looking like it may possibly be a better fit. </p>

<p>Also, taking as MANY classes as possible is important to me. I know most people at Brown take 4 a semester (at my school its like 5). What's it like at Oberlin?</p>

5

<p>If you like Rugby and nice weather, you might want to try Occidental. I heard they have decent rugby. The current captain of the US rugby team played football when he went to Occidental college. They don't have neurosci, though. Maybe you should check out Emory. That's in Atlanta. Good weather, good athletics, great neuroscience, a pretty liberal student body. No idea about ceramics. That's like the art, right? That's tricky finding both neurosci and ceramics at the same school.</p>

6

<p>At Oberlin I believe they take up to 16 credits per semester, which can be four courses or five, depending on the courses. My daughter took four each of the last two semesters, but will be taking five next Fall. In addition she has been auditing classes each semester and is taking instrument lessons and optional PE classes.</p>

<p>The school is big for an LAC, and I'd guess that the concerns you raised about courses and social life are probably a lesser problem here than at some other places. You might want to review next year's course catalog and Fall class schedule, which are both out now, to get some comfort on this point. And talk to your friends there about the social aspects.</p>

<p>The classes are indeed small and the professors seem to be very good, from the reports I get.</p>

<p>I can't help you with the weather or the location. It's a little over 1/2 hour to Cleveland by car but my daughter hasn't even had time to go there yet.
The location isn't a huge problem ultimately, for my kid at least, because people are typically so busy right where they are. But I'm sure nobody would complain if there were some additional easily-accessible places to go.</p>

<p>My daughter likes the people there. The size of the school probably makes it easier to meet people than at a large impersonal university.</p>

<p>Brown is a great school and if they accepted her she may well have gone there. I don't know if she would have been better off there though, in the end; she seems pretty happy where she is.</p>

7

<p>Yes, yes it is! Emory doesn't have rugby or wheel ceramics (only handbuilding, which is not my preffered area). Occidental is good, but they play DII rugby and gotta have neuroscience my man.</p>

<p>Besides, I haven't applied to those places so it doesn't matter :)</p>

8

<p>thanks for the input, guys!</p>