<p>So, I got into Brown a few days ago and I am extremely happy. It was very unexpected though for lack of a better word, and prior to hearing from Brown I was happily heading to Wesleyan in the fall. I just wanted to know if anyone could give me an idea as to how the two compare, since Wes was my dream school for quite a while and I’m yet to see Brown in person yet. My intended major is international relations. Thanks tons!!! :)</p>
<p>Brown and Wesleyan are very similar in terms of their approach to academics and the types of students on campus. Here are some of the differences from my personal perspective – </p>
<p>Brown is larger and has more students. So ask yourself whether you are interested in a smaller more intimate student body, or a larger one with more options for friendship groups and perhaps more variety (or more impersonal, depending on your point of view). </p>
<p>Brown is in a small city, with all the pros and cons that brings. The East Side is vibrant; Thayer Street has many neat stores that cater to college students. Providence is the state capital, which means access to state government, state and federal agencies, a statewide newspaper. There are a range of neighborhoods, from very rich to very poor, and ethnic diversity. Middletown is a much smaller town – and I was not impressed with its downtown, it seemed pretty quiet to me. I doubt you will find the diversity in Middletown that you would find in Providence. But if you like and value small-town life (and I live in a small town, so I’m not being negative here), and don’t want a city experience, then Middletown is probably a great place. </p>
<p>My last one is purely speculative, so I am open to being corrected – I think Brown emphasizes the sciences more than Wesleyan. I think you will run into more engineers and computer scientists and physicists at Brown. I don’t know anything about the IR program at Wesleyan; Brown’s is excellent.</p>
<p>Both are great schools. Congratulations! Obviously you should visit.</p>
<p>I agree that you should try to visit. My daughter had the same (wonderful) two choices four years ago, and it really came down to subjective reaction to the environment of the school. I have to also say that Brown’s being in the Ivy League probably did play a part in her decision, but we all knew at that time that she would get a fabulous education at either school. She loved the atmosphere on Brown’s campus and the city of Providence itself, as fire says is lovely. So she chose Brown and I know she feels that it was the right choice for her. She is a concentrator in the humanities, so if the sciences are your interest, I would look into what fire says at the end of her post. What a nice dilemma, and congratulations on these great acceptances!</p>
<p>Brown is a little more mainstream socially than Wes, which is more quirky and more of a hispter school. Brown is clearly pretty liberal, however I think its more balanced overall.</p>
<p>The overall setting is very similar: old college greens with lots of eclectic and modern architecture and an immediate sense that there is commerce nearby. Things do quiet down kind of early in Middletown, so if you’re the sort of person that requires a lot of foot traffic after dark, Brown might be the better place. But, then again, the odds that someone would walk from Brown to downtown Providence after dark are just as slim. A car would come in handy at both schools.</p>
<p>And, I forget which poster raised the point, but, I think the odds of bumping into a science major would probably be higher at Wesleyan because 1) relative to other LACs, it’s awash in research money and, 2) because it is smaller than Brown people tend to have friendships across departmental lines and even among other graduating classes.</p>
<p>“the odds that someone would walk from Brown to downtown Providence after dark are just as slim”</p>
<p>I don’t know what the comparison point is, but my friends and I walked down the hill after dark plenty often.</p>
<p>“because it is smaller than Brown people tend to have friendships across departmental lines”</p>
<p>In my experience, the barriers between departmental lines at Brown were zilch. My friends had a wide, random smattering of concentrations, and I think that was true throughout.</p>
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<p>How long did it take?</p>
<p>Forget about downtown Providence – I’m comparing downtown Middletown to Thayer Street – and Thayer St. runs right through the campus, pretty much.</p>
<p>But if you want to go to downtown Providence, walking can take 10-30 minutes, depending on where you are on campus and where you want to go downtown. There are busses, too.</p>
<p>No, Wesleyan doesn’t have 7,000 student customers to draw a lot of t-shirt and souvenir shops close to campus. That’s one of the trade-offs of attending a small college. But, there is a bar scene for those who are interested, and a very active indie music scene (hence, the hipster label) on the weekends.</p>
<p>Defensive much? Here’s a (slightly outdated) walking map of Thayer St.: <a href=“Physics | Brown University”>Physics | Brown University; . Care to point out all the t-shirt and souvenir shops?</p>
<p>Beadworks
Second Time Around (obvious vintage clothing store)
Rock Star Body Piercing (needs no explanation)
Ragtime Vintage Clothing Store (off Euclid Street)
Condessa Tarot
Smoke Shop
Allegra Print and Imaging (corner of Waterman)</p>
<p>Go to Brown.</p>
<p>Also, having a car at Brown is really prohibitive. Parking is very scarce and RIPTA (buses) is free for Brown students. Older students have cars, sure, but probably not as many as at some other schools, maybe more at Wesleyan. I think administration discourages cars.</p>
<p>johnwesley, half of what you list are neither t-shirt nor souvenir shops. My point was that your implication that Thayer is just a land of crap is just make-believe. Your inflated but short list does nothing to support your claim; most of what’s on Thayer is restaurants, bars, useful merchants, and the like.</p>
<p>There are also two other areas close to campus – Wayland Square and Wickenden St. –
that have resturants and bars. As fireandrain said, the appropriate comparison is between downtown Middletown and areas like Thayer, Wayland Sq, and Wickenden. Providence is a major I-95 megalopolis city with a population of nearly 200,000 in the city proper, and trying to compare it to Middletown doesn’t really make sense.</p>
<p>I know some extremely happy students at Wesleyan, and don’t mean to diss Middletown. For many students, Middletown’s vibe and Wesleyan’s size is just right for them. There are colleges located in places much more remote and quiet than Middletown. The OP asked for a comparison of the two schools, and I tried to provide it without being too subjective. If a student craves an urban environment and an active commercial center near the school, Brown works better. OTOH, if a student wants a major metro center that’s active 24/7 with numerous theaters and museums and shopping options, they should go to a school in NYC or Chicago or Boston.</p>
<p>I’ve been visiting Thayer St. for 30+ years now, and I would NEVER describe the merchants as “t-shirt and souvenir shops.” You really have no idea what Thayer St. is like if that’s how you describe it, or you have no idea what an area filled with “t-shirt and souvenir shops” is really like.</p>