<p>So I live in North Carolina, born and raised a tarheel. My whole life I’ve pretty much had my focus on UNC until I came to CC. To be honest with you, I really thought it was about my only option. I got on here, found a couple schools I liked, looked through as many schools as I could, and in the end I always come back to Brown and UNC. The Brown Viewing Book simply amazed me and got me hooked. And I’ve read through this forum front and back looking at all of the perks and (are there any?) downfalls of Brown. I think at this point I am leaning towards Brown, if I can get in of course. I just have a few questions.</p>
<li><p>Just how great are the Science and Math programs and Brown. More specifically, is there a significant advantage over UNC in Physics, Math, Biology, and Chemistry?</p></li>
<li><p>How is the weather? Would someone who thinks cold is 50 degrees be able to make it through?</p></li>
<li><p>How is the Financial Aid? Can anyone else with under 100,000 give a glimpse into what they received?</p></li>
<li><p>I’m a big sports fan, particularly basketball, and it is a factor in my decision. Is there some sort of sports scene at Brown that I could find a niche in?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The main thing I like about Brown is the open curriculum. I want to pursue as many areas of study as possible and some which I may not get the best grades in, but I truly love to learn to learn. From reading around this seems to be the main goal of Brown. Learn because you want to, not for the A. The amazing academics are a huge draw-in as well. It seems like Brown is a jack of all trades in all the academics I would like to pursue. From what I've read the social life sounds amazing as well, and I definitely go for work hard play hard. I like to have a choice in what I want, and I think Brown gives this more than any other school. I like small classes, but not overwhelmingly so in which every class is 5 kids.
UNC, the most important thing I am not liking right now is the 82% instate population. Yes, I am instate as well, but I would be the only guy around here that would be going. I am afraid I will get there and everyone will have their preset friends for life and it will be an uphill climb to get myself involved socially. What I love about UNC though, is the campus, the athletics, the school spirit, and sadly the cost. I can get obsessed with UNC basketball at times, and I know I would fit in with the school pride.
So I am torn...I feel I would fit in equally well with both schools, despite the obvious differences. But I realize I would leave each school tremendously different.</p>
<p>I'm also debating between UNC and Brown and I have similar opinions regarding both. I'm from out of state, but I disagree with the "uphill climb" socially. Yes, the majority of people attending arrive with a group of friends from high school, but there are many ways to get involved (clubs, work study, etc) and everyone is very friendly and open to meeting new people.</p>
<p>Brown has pretty strong athletics but low school spirit. And, jeez, it's practically free for you to go to UNC. Not so much with Brown, but I don't know much about financial aid.</p>
<p>If you want to get a feel for the campus, I recommend YouTubing theU.com - Brown University. I nerded out and spent about an hour watching all of the videos for the colleges I was applying to...</p>
<p>the weather is not so bad, to be honest. i came from a tropical country, so going to the northeast was a huge adjustment.. but it was a quick one. i found other things to do (studying, for instance) when the weather does not permit going outside. then again, weather is never a huge factor for me in picking a school.</p>
<p>also, i don't think sports is a big thing at brown. as an extension, from my observation brown students don't wear their school pride on their sleeves.</p>
<p>not sure about how brown compares with UNC in the sciences, but i know that the fields you're interested in are excellent at brown. i might be able to speak with more granularity around the mathematical sciences if that is where you think of heading into.</p>
<p>I've lived in California all my life, and I'm currently a freshman at Brown. So far I've been getting along fine in terms of weather (although the worst is yet to come). It was a little traumatic to have to buy boots and a coat for the first time ;) but I wouldn't let weather be a showstopper for you.</p>
<p>I was not too impressed with the financial aid. My family is low income but with savings in the bank, and while they did give some aid, we're still expected to cover a lot of the tuition.</p>
<p>I am a science concentrator, but since I'm a freshman I can't say too much about the programs, although the bio and chem professors I've had so far have both been wonderful.</p>
<p>Other than people who are actually on varsity teams, it doesn't seem like people are really into sports, although I personally don't really care about sports, so I'm rather oblivious to that kind of thing.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about UNC, so I can't offer any comparison. However, the TA for the bio class I took last semester did undergrad at UNC and is now in a PhD program at Brown. I could PM you her email if you'd be interested in talking to her.</p>