<p>I plan to pursue either some field of Biology OR International Relations (I enjoy far too many things and am extremely indecisive). I also plan to take as many years as possible in Mandarin or Korean, then studying abroad my junior year. Which school do you think would be better for my mixed interests?</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the assistance.</p>
<p>I think quality of academics is not where you’re going to be able to differentiate super meaningfully between the two.</p>
<p>They do have distinctive campus cultures, curriculum, etc, and I think looking at those features will help you distinguish a lot better than strength in biology or IR and availability of language.</p>
<p>Being at Brown, I can say that the two concentrations you listed are our two more popular for undergraduates and that we offer both Mandarin and Chinese.</p>
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Well I’d make fun of you for this, melody, but damned if I know which end is up on a microscope ;)</p>
<p>“Chinese” these days most often refers to Mandarin (pu tong hua). I think you might mean Brown offers Mandarin and Cantonese?</p>
<p>qualitatively about the same. Where do u see yourself? A small city in Rhode Island? Or a middle-ish city?</p>
<p>The students are very different in ways as well. Penn tends to be more Pre-Professional while Brown is more artsy.</p>
<p>Brown for a great undergrad experience. Go to U Penn for graduate school. That’s where they are really good.</p>
<p>Quaint, artsy College Hill in colonial Providence or… a sketchy area in Philadelphia ? Make sure you visit. Get a feel for the campus, the students and the environment.</p>
<p>MyOpinion, your views are so based in exaggeration, it’s hard to take you seriously. Undergrad at both schools is phenomenal. At this caliber, fit, location, finances, etc, should be the most important factors.</p>
<p>at brown, you can easily do both biology and international relations and nobody will bat an eye. in fact, you will probably find several students doing the same thing and several advisors willing to help you combine both into an exciting and unique career (for example, brown has an amazing international health institute that pays for students to do cool global health projects abroad [International</a> Health Institute](<a href=“http://bms.brown.edu/ihi/]International”>http://bms.brown.edu/ihi/)).</p>
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<p>Actually, I meant Korean… I had a long day yesterday. Of course I know that Mandarin and Cantonese are separate languages and there is no “Chinese” really, and if anything, that’d be Mandarin, the more widely used and more “official” dialect.</p>
<p>Bah.</p>
<p>Brown is a good choice for undergrad in those fields.</p>
<p>they’re completely different schools! two different ends of the spectrum among the ivy leagues.</p>
<p>brown-intellectual exploration</p>
<p>penn- pre-professionalism</p>
<p>i’d choose brown anyday, but that’s just because i love learning for the sake of learning.</p>
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<p>Yay stereotypes!</p>
<p>Puh-leeze. Both people exist at both schools, otherwise Goldman Sachs would not waste time recruiting at Brown, and Penn would not waste time having, say, a sociology department…</p>