<p>So i have about one day to choose between Brown, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I’m leaning toward Columbia right now, but I wanted to give you Brown people a chance to change my mind. The problem is I really don’t know much about Brown, other than what i could glean from the CC forums, some friends who went to ADOCH (I couldn’t go because I had a concert), and doing a tour and info session. So it’s up to you; convince me.</p>
<p>p.s. my major is poli sci/international relations, if that helps</p>
<p>Columbia.</p>
<p>If you went to ADOCH you’d be even more convinced.</p>
<p>How can we convince you if we don’t know what’s causing you to lean one way and not our way? How can we convince you if we don’t know what it is you want out of college?</p>
<p>Brown is an awesome place for the right person. We shouldn’t even attempt to convince you otherwise until we think you’re that person. So tell us, why do you want to go to Columbia over Brown? It may make sense for you to be at Columbia, or it may be built upon a false impression.</p>
<p>Funny Jumbos, I met many students who want to come to Brown because of their ADOCH experience. Welcome to why CC is not useful-- people still think their singular experience is translatable to everyone.</p>
<p>oh right, sorry. I had a whole explanation that I posted on the columbia boards, but forgot to re-post it here. here it goes:</p>
<p>For a while I was leaning Columbia, in fact I was more or less sure that that was where I would be going, but after going to both the Columbia and dartmouth admitted students’ programs I started to worry that Columbia might just be too big and impersonal. Dartmouth has this really great sense of community and school spirit that i just didn’t get at Columbia. On the other hand, Columbia is a much more intellectual environment, at least that’s how it seemed to me, which I liked. I love NYC (I live in NJ just a half hour away so i’m there all the time), but I can’t help wondering if I would be happier at a school with a little bit more of a campus feel, like dartmouth, although I worry that dartmouth might feel a little isolated and depressing during the cold, dark winter months.</p>
<p>I haven’t really had a chance to visit brown, but one of the kids I met at columbia said that he went there after Columbia and loved it, and that he might be going there next year instead. Although I love Columbia’s core, Brown’s open curriculum doesn’t particularly bother me much either, and from what I understand the people are all really great and they all really love Brown. I just didn’t feel that much enthusiasm from Columbia students. i feel like their enthusiasm is more for the city and for their academics than for their school community.</p>
<p>Well that may be true about Columbia-- I’m not sure but that seems to match my outsider’s perception. At Brown, we definitely have a sense of community, but we’re not constructed like Dartmouth. It’s impossible to define “the culture” at Brown because it’s neither pervasive nor singular. Brown students love our school as an institution, and we love our peers and our professors who make that institution work. We fundamentally feel that what we do here cannot be replicated anywhere else and that a lot of the structural elements that exist stand on the strength of our human and social capital.</p>
<p>The Open Curriculum removes the singular, unifying course experience, but opens up a new, unifying, course selection and exploration experience. Every is deeply interested in what everyone else is doing because it’s so unique and stand out from their own goals and endeavors. We all learn a lot from each other and have an extremely collaborative environment-- not just for course work but for learning about professors, courses, research, service, and various other opportunities at our disposal.</p>
<p>We’re really a medium between Columbia and Dartmouth in that we have the resources of an urban center (not quite NYC, although Boston is a quick train ride away) and we have our tendrils all over different programs throughout the city, while at the same time Brown is its own place, its own campus, its own culture and identity that students associate themselves with more than they do the city of Providence.</p>
<p>Since you’re only in Jersey, it’s about a 3hr straight shot up 95 for you to visit. I would have strongly recommended at least stopping by on our campus to take a look one last time before making your choice, but at this point you’d have to miss school to do that. It really is an easy overnight trip (I drive from LI all the time).</p>
<p>I think we may have the things Columbia feels like it is lacking to you, but I’m not sure what needs to be done to push you over the edge of deciding that those concerns really are going to make or break your decision.</p>
<p>i loved how you registered in december
but your username is so
apropos</p>
<p>haha well when I registered i was scrambling to finish all my applications at the last minute :-p</p>
<p>If you really want to decide between Columbia and Brown, you should skip school and go visit Brown tonight or tomorrow. Otherwise, choose Columbia and don’t look back.</p>
<p>We spent three nights at Cornell. The campus was beautiful and the food was great. D tried really hard to like Cornell. But she couldn’t. We then drove to ADOCH the next day. D later told us that she fell in love with Brown 10 minutes after she got in to the door in that cold and rainy afternoon. We visited Brown before (last summer). D didn’t have that feeling at all because no students were around at the time. It’s the community that made the difference. You will know if Brown is right for you when you get there.</p>
<p>I did go to visit brown a few days ago, but it’s nigh impossible to get a good feel for the school from a simple tour and info session. I have only a few hours to decide, so it looks like Columbia might be it.</p>
<p>I love Brown, but I love Columbia more.</p>
<p>I would go to Brown if I were you.</p>
<p>I just chose Brown over Columbia you should too lol.</p>
<p>I would go to Columbia if I were you–although it is probably too late.</p>
<p>Why count out Dartmouth… I’d say Dartmouth would give you the best college experience. Read this excerpt from College ******* - a guidebook made by students for students:</p>
<p>"Well, there you have it. Dartmouth students are among the happiest in the land. And with a gorgeous campus, delectable food, spacious dorms, and a vibrant party scene, why shouldnt they be? There are certainly a host of minor drawbacks to attending school in Hanoverisolation, no parking, and no more rope swing. However, unique positives like the study abroad program, top-notch academics, and numerous outdoor opportunities blow these negatives out of the water for most students.</p>
<p>Dartmouth students have perhaps the strongest love for their school of any college kids in the country. Such passion is what motivates alums to trek to Hanover for big weekends and party like teenagers, long after their heyday has passed. Dartmouth is a friendly, magical place, providing the vast majority of its students with a genuine Ivy League experience. The Ivy League diploma that youll earn in the end certainly doesnt hurt either."</p>
<p>I had all of these as choices and chose Dartmouth because community and a LAC like experience mattered most to me. Best decision of my life. It looks like the OP wants community, but prefers an urban area. I think Brown is a great balance between both, that’s why I suggested it as the choice.</p>