<p>both brown and columbia are awesome places - that’s safe to say - but for a pro fro, in what ways would brown and columbia be most different? or least?</p>
<p>some things to consider…
-location
-social scene
-personalities of students, professors
-how much the school cares about UG’s
-stepping stone to grad/law/med/etc
-any other aspects!</p>
<p>Ok, as a brown student, and someone who's very good friend goes to Columbia, I feel like I must tell you a little bit about the social scene differences, since that is all my friend and I really compare.</p>
<p>Brown has providence, a dinky little city (i say dinky because I am from NYC, and well, you know there's no comparison). Columbia has NYC. Because NYC is so amazing, many students love spending lots of time out on manhattan, (in fact, many students choose columbia simply to be in manhattan.) I have been at Brown since the beginning of September, and have gone of campus like 4 times. My friend who goes to Columbia goes home very often, dropped off meal plan, and spends his weekends at the clubs. Here is the biggest difference. The weekend social scene at Brown is very much AT BROWN. Frats have parties, your friends will have parties in their room, etc. Providence as a city is not amazing enough to draw kids off campus, whereas NYC obviously is. My friend tells me that other than his secret societies' parties, he has not attended a single party on what would be called "Columbia's campus" He goes out on the town, as do most other students, on weekends. He also says that the campus is just not very friendly. I would say that Brown's campus is rather friendly.</p>
<p>That's my comparison of the social scene at both schools. If you want a campus oriented scene, choose Brown, if you like clubbing in a major city, choose Columbia.</p>
<p>Other stuff I will touch on quickly.</p>
<p>-I doubt there is any real difference between the schools as a stepping stone to some sort of graduate schooling
-Brown has no +/- in its grading, Columbia does</p>
<p>The core at Columbia vs the complete academic freedom at brown is a big difference.</p>
<p>I applied to both Brown and Columbia and when I tell people that they are confused because they say if you would be happy at one of those schools how could you be happy at the other, they are polar opposites.</p>