<p>I've been contemplating for the past two weeks whether I should go to Brown or Dartmouth. I'm in love with both of the schools and I can't seem to make a decision. Any advice would be greatly appreciated !!!</p>
<p>They are such distinctly different schools, on so many levels – remote vs. urban; more preppy and greek life vs. reputation for quirky; more structured curriculum vs. more open curriculum.</p>
<p>As has been suggested to other students torn between two choices – try on the decision of first one school, then the other. Wake up, and that day, you have decided to attend Dartmouth. Spend the whole day in that decision – how do you feel? Excited, regretful? What are you excited about? Then reverse it the next day, try on Brown as your school. Same questions. Could help you sort out your conflicts.</p>
<p>As a parent, I cannot resist the money question – if one is significantly more affordable than the other, that is an important factor. </p>
<p>One thing always to consider is each school’s relative strengths in your intended major.</p>
<p>As far as Brown being in an urban environment, well yes, Providence is officially considered a city. But College Hill certainly is separated by topography and distance from the commercial center of Providence and constitutes its own little college town.</p>
<p>As far as Brown being quirky, as in “characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits”, well I would like to know what those traits are. Maybe “diverse” would be a better word than “quirky”. </p>
<p>All things being equal, I would just choose the school where you feel is the best fit. Academics are great at both but as Midwestmomofboys detailed, there are definite differences between the schools in terms of location, student body, curriculum, etc…</p>
<p>I think with half of Dartmouth’s undergrads in frats and only 10 percent at Brown there is going to be some cultural differences in student life. Otherwise they may really be more alike than different. There is a certain amount of overlap in applicants.</p>
<p>Did you get a chance to visit each? Do you have a proposed major and how strongly attached are you?</p>
<p>For both schools I’d basically have to pay $2000 a year which is pretty good. However, it’s another factor that makes it harder for me to decide between the two. In regards to location, I’ve lived in a city my entire life and I am unaware of how I’d feel like attending a school such as Dartmouth that’s remote. But at the same time I wouldn’t mind giving it a try. I am currently undecided and I’m going to visit both schools this following week.</p>
<p>I have visited both and I still find myself torn between the two.I fell in love with the study body at brown, whereas, in Dartmouth I fell in love with the campus it self. I am undecided but leaning toward econ and business. But I don’t want that to be the determining factor for which school i choose to go to. </p>
<p>I’m sorry your visit didn’t give you some concrete preference or at least gut feel. You are in the same boat and some kids that didn’t have a strong feeling, I have a few of them in my life too, I wish I could just pick for them. So I will just pick for you and say to choose Brown.</p>
<p>You can’t make a bad choice, but IMO, the people you will spend the next four years with are much more important than the physical beauty of the campus. Based on your comments, I’d pick Brown.</p>
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<p>About 2/3 of eligible students at Dartmouth join fraternities and sororities. The fraction overall is about 1/2 because frosh are not allowed to join them. </p>
<p>Dartmouth is known for a major drinking culture and it’s so problematic that its president said the college was"hijacked by extreme behavior." Seehttp://<a href=“Dartmouth President Vows To Tackle Drinking, Sexual Violence, Racism On Campus | HuffPost College”>www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/17/dartmouth-president-campus-climate_n_5169148.html</a></p>
<p>On the one hand, this shows Dartmouth has a big, big problem. On the other, at least they recognize it.</p>
<p>I’m with the poster who said that you should go to where you like the student body. That’s who you’ll be rooming with and with whom you’ll be attending classes.</p>
<p>I also agree – go to the school where you click with the student body. Ultimately the campus itself will just become the normal scenery. Much more important to live with, study with, and form friendships with people who you feel will be the better fit.</p>
<p>However, at the same time Dartmouth has stronger alumni connections as well as with its D plan you are able to build up your résumé would I be limiting my opportunities if I chose brown ? </p>
<p>Let’s keep things in perspective.</p>
<p>It is true that a large proportion of D students are in frats. On the other hand, it is also true that frats at D are very open, vary widely, and many are very much unlike frats elsewhere. There are many, many students at D who chose to pledge who would not consider it elsewhere. As for the drinking culture, frankly, I doubt that it is any worse at D than it is at a host of other schools. The difference may be that the last president of D and this one are actually addressing it. It seems that the will is there to do something.</p>
<p>I think that there is something to be said for the opportunity to spend 4 years of your life in an idyllic setting like Hanover. D is consistently rated as having the best undergraduate teaching. You’ll have the rest of your life to live and work in cities. The D plan and the seamless study abroad program make it easy to spend a term in international or major cities here, and build your resume.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Brown is obviously also a great school with its own character. You really can’t go wrong in this choice. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
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<p>Some of the college characteristics associated with higher drinking include being small, rural, residential (versus commuter), coed (versus all women), white (versus black or Asian) students, fraternities and sororities, and northeast region. Dartmouth happens to hit most or all of these (particularly the very high fraternity and sorority participation rate, though perhaps less so for the race / ethnicity, being 51% white), so a student not interested in a drinking culture should investigate carefully.</p>
<p>Perhaps the student should also investigate the infamous rape case at Brown where the unconscious female student and her friend “pre-gamed” by doing 10-12 shots of vodka before going out to a fraternity to socialize. If that incident had hit Rolling Stone recently, you would find many people here claiming that “everyone” at Brown was a drunk and sexual assault was rampant. (I actually know people who prefer to maintain that Brown has no academic standards, since so many classes are pass/fail, everyone is a druggie, and heroin use is rampant. It is obviously a wildly exaggerated stereotype.) On another thread, someone is asking whether it is true that at Sarah Lawrence “lesbian aggression” is common, and the men are mostly gay, making it a bad environment for hetero females. And of course, we have the popular stereotype of “Bezerkley.”</p>
<p>I abhor binge-drinking and its effects on people, but I have become heartily sick of the schadenfreude directed at Dartmouth these days.</p>