<p>My best friend is major in chemistry and he received the offer from UFL and Brown. The rank of the chem. department of UFL IS 36 and Brown is 58. Definitely, Chem. Department of UFL is bigger and better than Brown. However, we all know Brown is one member of IVY and it is famous. Which one should he choose? Thank you!</p>
<p>I'm a chemistry concentrator and well, you know what my choice was/is. There are MANY reasons to choose Brown, all of which have nothing to do with the chem ranking.</p>
<p>You should know, all of our professors have PhDs from top ten schools in chem and we have literally some of the best professors for teaching I've ever come across-- at Brown and elsewhere. Brown's low ranking for chemistry is because of the graduate school, not the undergraduate experience, and the graduate school is lower ranked mostly because of size and our focus on teaching when hiring profs. The result is while we have a lot of high quality research going on (and certainly a few super stars), the department is not designed to maximize output. So what we're doing is very high quality just not published as often as a lot of other schools because we don't have 20 person lab groups working feverishly to get papers out. </p>
<p>My lab group has 2 graduate students and 1 post doc and 6 undergraduates (used to be 3, but since we're all seniors our "replacements" are in lab now). We report directly to the PI. No graduate students are working on my project, it's entirely undergraduate designed and run. I have all the same responsibilities as a graduate student (with lower productivity expectations). That's a pretty unique situation.</p>
<p>Brown doesn't offer research-- we mandate it. One year for all students getting an Sc.B.</p>
<p>We have plenty of other extremely strong programs so that if your friend changes their mind about chemistry, that's not only extremely easy to do at Brown but he/she is more likely to find a home elsewhere here.</p>
<p>Oh, and Brown students who are successful in our program get into top 10 chem programs for graduate school no problem (and that's when the ranking does matter). My understanding is above a 3.5 in science/chemistry from Brown and you are pretty much guaranteed admission into a few top 10 schools for you to choose between.</p>
<p>I understand what you say and thank you very much! I am sorry I have not speak clearly.
what he applied for is a PHD degree. He has finished his undergraduate study and he will go to usa to further graduate study. So what is your advice? which one should he chooses? I will
wait and appreciate your answer. Thank you!</p>
<p>That's hard for me to say without knowing the specifics of the other program. One of the really nice things, IMO, about Brown is that we still have top quality equipment and top quality research happening. It may be harder here to find research you really want to do-- definitely check on potential advisors before coming to Brown because we are a smaller program than most places. The other really nice thing about Brown's program is it's quite small. With about 75 graduate students and 20-25 professors, most lab groups only have a few students so you'll be working quite closely with the PI.</p>
<p>I happen to think it's an advantage that undergrads and graduates are often taking courses together, but that may not be what you want.</p>
<p>It's also important to look at hte course requirements and testing requirements at each school. For instance, Brown doesn't require that someone studying organic chemistry to take PChem qualifying exams before becoming a Ph.D. candidate, some schools require you take exams in all areas of chemistry first. Visit both places and talk to professors and see what environment is best (if this is possible). In all likelihood you'll be living there for 5-6 years so to me comfort is a huge, huge factor in choosing a graduate school in science. You have to be somewhere you'll be happy and motivated to work or you'll never get out.</p>
<p>In the end, doing stand out research is what matters, not the name on the degree, at least between these two schools.</p>
<p>If he got an early decision offer from Brown then he should have pulled his regular decision apps. UF's decision for all students came out on 2/13. He should not be considering either/or - just one- Brown.</p>
<p>ooops sorry-he's a Phd applicant</p>