<p>I literally never thought I would be making this post, but here goes. I've been in love with Brown since the beginning of my junior year, and when I visited it last August I fell even more in love. I'm from a small hicktown in Pennsylvania but it's less than 10 minutes from Harrisburg, so I've spent a lot of time there and have known for a while that I want to go to college in a small city. I loved Providence, the open curriculum really appeals to me, and I'm into the less competitive atmosphere, smaller size, and a lot of the extracurriculars there (I'm a band kid, and their marching band and klezmer band would definitely be things I'd want to get involved in.) However, I spent yesterday in Ithaca and was really surprised. I only really applied to Cornell because of their linguistics program and because my parents wanted me to, but the size of the school and "isolation" kind of turned me off. When I visited I was pretty overwhelmed by its size but I actually really liked Ithaca. The college town area was really cute and I was taken aback by how beautiful the area was. Although I love smaller cities, I'm an outdoorsy type and love hiking, biking, rock climbing, just being outside in nature, etc. And their linguistics program is a lot better than Brown's. But I didn't like how Cornell felt like it's own little world with pretty much all university buildings on the campus and how you had to drive way down to actually get to downtown Ithaca. So now I'm kind of having a dilemma hahaha. If any current or former students could chime in that would be awesome, but does anyone have any advice for me to consider? I guess I would like to know how small Brown feels and how big Cornell feels (when you're a student) and how practical it would be to get to naturey areas often as a Brown student. Should I put most of my consideration on the strength of the program I want to study? How isolated do Cornell students feel, do they spend nearly all their time on campus or head to downtown Ithaca often? Are Cornell students really more down to earth than Brown students (and are Brown students really elitist?) I would just appreciate any sort of advice... thank you!!!</p>
<p>Also I guess I should mention that financial aid is kind of important but my dad hasn’t gotten our IDOC stuff in yet because the taxes weren’t due yet. Which is really irritating, because I’m concerned that I won’t have FA info by the time I need to decide. Also that Cornell is about 4 hours away and Brown is around 6 and a half, I’d like to be sort of far but I’m worried that the length of time public transportation from Brown would take wouldn’t allow me to get home too often.</p>
<p>The hardest part for us concerning Cornell has been the drive to and from. Since you’re from the Harrisburg area, it won’t be a problem for you! Ithaca is a great college town. The kids DO use the bus system to get around and it takes them to town, the mall, wherever they want to go. You get a free bus pass freshman year, so you’re sort of forced to get acquainted with that. Yes, Cornell is large. however, the 7 colleges make it an exciting place to be. You can take electives in anything from animal science to the study of wines. This is the reason my S picked it. You’re around kids from all over the world. We’ve found it to be a very friendly, accepting place. Academics are stellar, university administrators and professors are great. We don’t know about Brown bc our son is an engineer and Cornell was the obvious choice. You love the outdoors - Ithaca should be high on your list!</p>
<p>I think your post summarizes the situation pretty well.</p>
<p>You perceive Cornell has having the better department; though I assume that Brown’s is pretty good. I don’t think anyone could say that Brown is a BAD choice academically in any department.</p>
<p>Otherwise, it really comes down to finances and intangibles, and no one can decide that for you.</p>
<p>Ithaca is well known as one of the loveliest college towns. Providence can’t touch it and is rather dreary. Your description of yourself makes it sound like Cornell would be a better fit. I do think that Brown is more academically laid back if that is important to you. Talking with students there they seem to embrace the credit/no credit option and use it with a frequency unseen by the other Ivys. Brown students will tell you that this gives them to comfort to explore outside their areas of strength. I never thought that was a concern of mine at Y and I think it would naturally cause someone to put in a little less effort in those classes. Brown students on the whole are pretty happy with the place.</p>
<p>These are peer institutions and I think you would have success getting them to match FA offers if that would otherwise hold you from matriculating to the one of your choice.</p>
<p>Let’s face it–you really can’t make a serious mistake here. Both are great schools. But despite both being in the Ivy League, they are pretty different places. Brown feels more like a big liberal arts college than the research intensive university which it technically is. Cornell feels more like a top notch public flagship university—closer to U Michigan or Cal than Brown or Dartmouth. It becomes pretty subjective—some like one more than the other. But it really doesn’t matter what anyone other than you and your parents think is best for you. </p>
<p>As to the outdoor kind of stuff–Ithaca is clearly in a more beautiful area geologically than Providence. That said, there is a lot of great outdoor stuff to do within a short distance from Brown. What Ithaca (and Harrisburg for that matter) can’t offer is proximity to the OCEAN. Rhode Island is small but it has over 1000 miles of beautiful coastline. Rhode Island has no mountains but the White Mountains of New Hampshire are only two hours away.</p>
<p>Brown offers much easier proximity to things than Cornell. Providence is on the Northeast Rail corridor which makes all of the major East Coast cities easily accessible. Boston is a hour away by frequent commuter trains (@ $9).</p>
<p>As to the student bodies–I suspect that Cornell’s College of Arts & Sciences and Brown are drawing from a pretty similar applicant pool so I really don’t see a major difference there. The contract schools at Cornell are going to have a higher percentage of New Yorkers, and attract somewhat of a more diverse population than A&S does. I suspect that difference may be what you noticed.</p>
<p>Reply # 6 seems to be subtly unjust to Cornell. I don’t speak as an expert, but rather as a parent who has had 2 kids seriously consider Cornell (one currently deciding).</p>
<h1>1) Not only is Cornell in a breathtakingly beautiful natural area, but it has a sizable population of students who are interested in taking advantage of it’s outdoor recreational opportunities. Brown’s student body is just not as oriented towards that…not that there won’t be anyone who might be interested in planning a hiking trip to the White Mts with you, but I don’t think it’s going to be a top campus activity. Relative to the other worthy and far closer distractions available at Brown, a trip to the Whites is just not going to be close to the top of too many lists.</h1>
<h1>2) The ocean. The ocean in RI is unswimmable without a full wetsuit from sometime in Oct. to June.</h1>
<h1>3) Cornell is more like a flagship state school, especially the contract colleges. Really? This sounds more like mild snobbery than anything else. Cornell does have a different style from Brown- some might say, less hipster, more preprofessional. Some might say, amazing diversity of practical and intellectual education being pursued. Also, what exactly is “a diverse population”? Not enough Hollywood offspring? Too many engineers? I don’t know - anyways, from the OP’s self-description, I’d say Cornell sounds like a good bet.</h1>
<p>I guess I should elaborate more on why I like Brown so much - and I am still leaning towards Brown, Cornell has just made more of an impression on me than I ever expected it to. As much as I love the outdoors, I feel like being somewhere isolated like Ithaca might make me kind of depressed in terms of not being able to get out and around as much, but that possibly being at Brown will make me kind of depressed in terms of being away from nature too much (even though I thought Providence was a really green, beautiful sort of city). The free RIPTA rides that Brown offers is something that I do plan to take advantage of though, if I do end up going to Brown. I found Cornell’s size really daunting, and there isn’t much about the school as a school that I’m attracted to over Brown, it’s just the beauty of it that I found appealing. On the other hand, Brown’s “eccentric, individual” sort of flair is right up my alley because I’m more of an artsy type and I consider myself somewhat unique (I play accordion and have an obsession with amusement park history). I’m also extremely liberal and just overall find Brown’s atmosphere more homey. My common essays were all sort of geared in the direction of Brown and so was my counselor’s recommendation. I guess the idea of HAVING to take a bus to get off campus is something that kind of turns me off about Cornell, but walking down can’t be TOO much of a problem. And the proximity to the ocean was another major selling point for me about Brown - as long as there’s water near me I’m the happiest person ever haha, and the Rhode Island beaches look beautiful although I didn’t get the chance to visit them. Basically the only thing that I really love about Cornell that Brown doesn’t have is all the outdoorsyness, but the overwhelming presence of it has kind of made me stop and consider that Cornell might be a good option. As a sidenote, I actually don’t really prefer snow but figured I could suck it up for college, and I absolutely love rain and it seems like Providence gets more rain and not as much of the snow that Ithaca does. I don’t know if I’m getting cold feet and freaking out just because it’s so close to the point where I have to make such a big decision haha, but I’ve been so obsessed with Brown for so long and have never found Cornell all that appealing until now. It’s just stressing me out a little hahaha</p>
<p>Sorry about the length of my posts - thank you all for reading them and for your input!!!</p>