Brown or uPenn? [chemistry, pre-med]

College Search & Selection
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21

My kid is a senior at Brown and choose Brown for this exact reason. He visited during an accepted students weekend and found the kids to be smart, “chill”, friendly and academically ambitious towards specific areas of interest. Every kid had a story of how the OC allowed them flexibility they took advantage of.

Four years later he absolutely believes it was the right decision for him. He has enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere, sense of community and mutual support from students and faculty.

He similarly was concerned about academic rigor but has realized flexibility doesn’t translate to easy. Actually to the contrary. Because he was able to choose the vast majority of his courses, he was extremely engaged and held himself to a very high standard. Of course not every kid approaches it that way but the OC allows you to dictate how broadly or deeply you want to pursue an interest.

Penn is an outstanding school and undoubtedly you could and or would thrive and be happy there. I have nothing bad to say or even a point of comparison. I can only share that my kid doesn’t regret in the least his decision to choose Brown having been confronted with the same decision.

Either way good luck and please ask if I can answer anything specific.

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22

It’s always a little sad to be rejected when you ask for something, and this is not even specific to the two colleges being discussed. Also you would like to make the decision, not have it made for you, as others have suggested. In this case, it’s two excellent choices, but it doesn’t always work out like that.

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I’m biased: my D is at Brown and I like it more than I like Penn, largely because I like College Hill much more than I like West Philadelphia, and I like Providence overall more than Philly.

With that said:

I have no idea which one is harder and whatever difference there is in that area is probably unimportant. The ranking and rigor difference between these schools is negligible, and I wonder how anyone can really assess whether one is harder than the other with any real degree of precision. But maybe Penn is harder. If you believe that, and it matters to you, then there you go.

The winters in Providence are no worse than in Philly; not sure where you got that impression. In fact, in my time there, winters have been great. Providence is right near the ocean, which has a moderating effect on weather.

There is plenty of partying at Brown.

Good luck. Can’t go wrong with those choices IMO.

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