<p>Pinderhughes -</p>
<p>You are, of course right about Princeton, which has historically been somewhat sui generus ... "the South's favorite Ivy", etc etc.</p>
<p>I'd say Stanford, too, in addition to H/Y. I think the perception of "laid-backness" on the West Coast at Stanford and the laid-backness of Brown from its open curriculum to its flexible grading policy yields some degree of overlap b/w the 2 schools.</p>
<p>I'm not sure Stanford had a large cross admit pool with Brown.</p>
<p>In order to determine if Brown is used as a "backup" for Stanford, we'd have to see the number of students Brown loses to Stanford. This article basically says Stanford doesn't lose very many, if hardly any, to Brown. But whether the opposite holds true isn't answered by it.</p>
<p>While the number admitted at Stanford and Brown who choose to enroll at one over the other is important, the number applying to both who are turned down by Stanford (with Stanford as their first-choice) only to get into and ultimately enroll at Brown also dictates to what degree a certain school is used as a backup for another.</p>
<p>Common admit stats remain an excellent indicator as to who is a "backup" for whom. Sure, if 80% of 200 common admits choose school A over school B it may nevertheless be true that there were 2,000 cross <em>applicants</em> - but so what? Your backup is where you go when you don't get into your preferred school, and the common admit numbers tell us where the common applicants to school A and school B go <strong>when they have a choice.</strong></p>
<p>That's so weird, I had never heard that before...but Chicago and Brown are my top 2 choices!</p>
<p>They shouldn't be...they are so different! Think about what you really want in a school and that should eliminate one of the two.</p>
<p>No high school senior can know exactly what he or she "wants" in a college, or adequately predict at which place he or she will be "happier" - beyond a clear preference for a big city vs a rural setting, etc. </p>
<p>I always suggest people dhould go to the acedemically strongest school to which they gain admission. Studies show the overwhelming majority of college students are perfectly happy wherever they end up.</p>
<p>Brown and Chicago are a lot more alike than they might appear. Both attract interesting kids who are pro-active about their education (either, by electing to go to a school with no requirements or by electing to go to a school with such an extensive core curriculum). Both are beautiful campuses in cities, are similar in size, and have great reputations in many different fields. Chicago is more "intense" although they both attract smart hard-working students.</p>
<p>Lol, I live brown but chicago=my worst nightmare.</p>
<p>Didn't you go to Dartmouth, slipper?</p>
<p>Does anyone have any feedback on how Brown compares to Dartmouth, Vanderbilt and Oberlin? Any rankings published anywhere for reference? Thanks</p>
<p>Does anyone have any feedback on how Brown compares to Dartmouth, Vanderbilt and Oberlin? Any rankings published anywhere for reference? Thanks</p>
<p>Whoops, typo. I meant I love Brown (and was very close to attending).</p>
<p>slipper1234 --</p>
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<blockquote> <blockquote> <blockquote> <p>chicago=my worst nightmare.<<<<</p> </blockquote> </blockquote> </blockquote>
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<p>Hmm. Interesting comment. Why do you feel that way?</p>
<p>I'm interested in both Chicago -and- Brown. I know that other people are too, for also good reasons. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive!</p>
<p>I've spent alot of time at various colleges.</p>
<p>In my book Brown (and Dartmouth, Stanford, a few others) represent a playful yet intellectual energy. They are environments full of brilliant, big picture thinkers, who love to work on academic interests they love but also know how to have a great time.</p>
<p>In my book chicago has a much more intense, almost mean, energy. Its intensely academic, yet not necessarily big picture intellectual, and fun is almost looked down upon. Its not a relaxed energy. What gets me is that in the end, its not as if chicago does any better in recruiting or grad placement; in fact chicago does much much worse than the aforementioned schools.</p>
<p>I'd rather play, be happy, hang out with brilliant yet relaxed students. Chicago is far far from this in my experience (I grew up in chicago, have been there for 4 days, and know plenty of chicago alums).</p>
<p>brown has one of the strongest undergraduate neuroscience programs in the country. the introductory neuroscience class is so good it is one of the most popular at the university (1/4 of all undergrads apparently take it before graduating). the professors who teach this class also happened to have written the textbook, which is among the most widely used in the world.</p>
<p>it's a small but very strong department. undergrads work closely with highly accomplished faculty including people like John Donaghue (who is running the first human clinical trials in the world with implanted brain chips that allow paraplegics to surf the web and move artificial limbs with thoughts alone), David Berson (who recently discovered the eye's third photoreceptor), and others. i wrote my undergrad thesis with nobel laureate Leon Cooper and had the opportunity to work closely with him for almost three years.</p>
<p>for more info:</p>
<p><a href="http://neuroscience.brown.edu%5B/url%5D">http://neuroscience.brown.edu</a>
<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17629&ch=biotech%5B/url%5D">http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17629&ch=biotech</a>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berson%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berson</a></p>
<p>I would say Brown has the strongest neuro in the COUNTRY. You can PM me for more info. It's really quite amazing. It is a little more focused on neurobio than neuropsych, however, you can do Human Biology Brain and Behavior (which I've switched to) if you want a bit more of a neuropsych</p>