Hello all, I was accepted to a couple of schools and the decision basically came down to Brown vs. Georgetown (College), and I’d love your help on this difficult decision.
Here are a couple of details about me: I’m very interested in political science (NOT IR, which is why i didnt apply to SFS), but maybe will go the STEM route, maybe both, I’m not sure.
Brown:
Pro: It’s a better school as a whole, so i’ll have a wider option; a LOT of my friends are going there; open curriculum; student atmosphere; “Ivy” reputation
Con: It’s in Providence, which is NOT DC; not a lot of internship (but i might want to go into academia??); mostly just the location
Georgetown:
Pro: Great political science program, one of the top in the country; Location: it doesnt get better than DC to study government; more internship opportunities
Con: If i go to georgetown and dont do political science my conscious will kill me so i am relatively limited on my options for majors; the rest of the fields arent as strong as brown; 2k more expensive every year (which is really nothing but after 4 years that’s 8k which is still relatively considerate); the curriculum forces me to take religion classes
Why would your conscience kill you if you went to Georgetown and didn’t do political science? Georgetown is an excellent school that is good for a lot of things and there’s a lot more to DC than politics and government. It’s a large city with a relatively diverse economy.
You don’t even sound like you are 100% settled on your major, which is one reason I think it’s a bad idea to choose an undergrad college based on major. College students change too often, and there is so much more to your college experience than just your major (which only makes up about 1/3 of your classes, which in and of themselves are only one part of going to college).
Which school do you prefer, irrespective of major? It sounds like you prefer Brown all other things considered, and really only like the idea of Georgetown for the political science and the location in DC (which also seems to be tied to political science for you). Where do you think you’ll have the best experience? Where can you really explore your interests?
It sounds like you’re leaning to Brown. It’s also cheaper, which is really nothing to sneeze at.
Many internships are over the summer so being in Providence should not be a deal breaker at all. From your own pros and cons, I’d say Brown is the better fit for you as well as being a touch less expensive.
How do you feel about Brown’s open curriculum, OP?
Do you feel like you want the responsibility and freedom that it entails, or would you rather be led more in a traditional curriculum?
I ask that because the open curriculum seems to be a major selling point for Brown, but it’s probably not for everyone.
That aside, both are excellent. But nit-picking, as we do on this site sometimes (you did ask. hehe), Brown is probably a little better than Georgetown overall – not much, but a little bit. And you’d be saving $8k.
So pending your thoughts on “open vs. more traditional” curriculum, it sounds like you must decide if DC is worth saying bye bye to the $8k and Ivy cachet. Maybe the “open vs. traditional” answer will settle it for you.
Obviously, visit both schools if you have not already to get a feel for which might feel more like home.
In case anybody looks to this for an update - i ultimately committed to brown. Since the two schools were tied in just about everything in academics, I made the decision based on the “feel” of the campus as well as the people.