Brown v. Wellesley v. Northwestern

<p>Hey guys so I have narrowed down my last three to these three schools, and I would love some feedback. I am not sure about my major yet, but I’m very interested in foreign languages, linguistics, and also mathematics. In terms of general school quality (which all three are superb, but some comments would be nice), and strengths of these specific departments, and quality of undergraduate experience, what would you guys suggest? Any thought would be appreciated. Thank you so much!</p>

<p>Foreign languages? If you are intrested in that, i assume you want to either work abroad, or with foreign people - purely for this reason Brown is better because first of all, unlike the other two, its existence and position is general knowledge - and also to foreigners “ivy league” means a fair bit.</p>

<p>Also, Brown’s mathematics (esp. applied) is fantastic.</p>

<p>Aside from the studies, have you thought about whether or not you’d be happy in those places for four years?</p>

<p>Wellesley is a completely different place than Providence. In other words, Providence is much more interesting.</p>

<p>As someone who studied for many years in an all-female environment, you should ask yourself whether you want to commit to four years of single-sex education. That being said, you WILL see boys if you want to, but they are not easily accessible. I knew that I wanted out when I applied to college, which is why all my schools were co-ed. If you’ve already done single sex, you know what you’re getting into, but if you haven’t, think carefully about it.</p>

<p>Wellesley is pretty good in math. They don’t have their own linguistics department, though. However, you can cross-register with MIT, which will give you access to plenty of linguistics classes. Obviously, if you want more advanced math, you can also go to MIT.</p>

<p>Brown’s math isn’t great (though our applied math is very good). Linguistics is good, though it airs on the theoretical side (then again, if you like math, maybe that’s a draw!). PM me if you want more info.</p>

<p>I really like Wellesley’s campus. Keep in mind that Wellesley is very suburban, and you’re still a train-ride away from downtown Boston, so it’s not trivial to get there.</p>

<p>Thank you everyone so much for your replies!</p>

<p>My son visited Brown this week and he sounds like he’s in love. He exchanged several jokes with the math professors that only a geek could love (or perhaps even understand). Then someone showed him TWO ways to calculate pi. Then he somehow ended up becoming part of a private 3-person tour of the science and engineering building. Professors kept popping up and offering to unlock doors so that his small group could see inside the various facilities, rather than chasing the group off and telling them to get back to the main event. Unbelievable!</p>

<p>Northwestern doesn’t stand a chance anymore, even though my son’s been accepted to their elite Integrated Science Program (ISP) and offered a position as a Dean’s Scholar.</p>

<p>From what I’ve been able to gather, based on my son’s report, is that Brown is quite an amazing combination of laid-back easy good humor and highly challenging academics.</p>