<p>Hey guys.
I can choose between 3 amazing schools and I was wondering if anyone can help me out.
I already made a pro and con list. Probably you can add something or if you think there is something wrong with it, feel free to say so.</p>
<p>Academics:
As I want to study economics and physics, I think should be
1 UChicago
2 Brown
3 UCLA</p>
<p>Reputation
1 UChicago
2 Brown
3 UCLA
(Actually I’m not sure about this one. US News ranks UChicago higher than Brown…
But Brown is Ivy League….
Well on the other hand- Chicago accepts 30% of all applicants- how come?)</p>
<p>Student Body
1 Brown
2 UCLA
3 UChicago</p>
<p>Social Life
1 UCLA
2 Brown
3 UChicago</p>
<p>Nightlife(Clubs)
1 UChicago/UCLA
2 Brown</p>
<p>Housing
1 UChicago
2 Brown???
3 UCLA</p>
<p>Well, I can’t get any further; clearly there is no “winner”. Unfortunately I don’t know that much about the economics and physics department at Brown. Is it good?
Another thing I want to consider are the graduates at each school, since I am 3 years older than my classmates.(Stupid army…)
I think I LOVE the open curriculum and I’d probably choose Brown because of it.
On the other hand I can’t get over the fact that I’d be living in a small city.
I’ve lived in a 200k city before and I really wanted to go somewhere big and a vivid nightlife. (Considering the fact that I am 21…)</p>
<p>the question of reputation will depend on who you are asking</p>
<p>if you plan to get a PhD in economics, Chicago might have the best reputation of any school any where</p>
<p>if you have other plans, or are interested in the opinion of most day-to-day americans, brown enjoys greater prestige by a long shot. granted this may be somewhat unfair, but it is attributable to both the ivy status and the fact that it is three times more selective</p>
<p>@wolfmanjack: Actually yes, but that’s what most international applicants do I guess…
We have never been to a US College and the only way we can tell which one is good are rankings.
That’s not ideal, I know, but there are way to many Colleges in the US…
So in the end you need some kind of guideline to reduce the Colleges.</p>
<p>The public schools are all under-ranked because they take into account things like class size and endowment. The level of education is equivalent, and in the job world other factors will come into play more than a schools rankings. For example, UCLA is better known than the other two, so more employers know it is a good school. </p>
<p>The schools all have similar admissions statistics. UCLA has slightly lower scores because UC-schools focus a lot on diversity, so they admit more students from low income areas and “underrepresented minority groups”. I don’t know what the cost difference for international students is, but if you live in-state public schools are half the cost of private. </p>
<p>Of course, private schools ALWAYS provide better connections than public schools do. That is what you’re paying for really. Although, I don’t know how much connections will help you in physics. It’s probably like engineering where your school doesn’t matter nearly as much as your skill.</p>
<p>I have a feeling UCLA is good for physics, although I would verify that on your own. UChicago is better known for its econ/business and core curriculum. I suspect the same is true of Brown. </p>
<p>I would do some research to see whether paying for private school will really help you that much in physics. </p>
<p>This question is an easy one. Uinversity of Chicago is one of the top non-ivy league schools, but Brown is one of the worst ivy league schools. UoC is prestiguous because it is known for people succeeding after college. I would choose UoC over Brown in a heartbeat</p>
<p>I’m not commenting on the above post because of it’s innate retardation, but I will comment to this, "UCLA has slightly lower scores because UC-schools focus a lot on diversity, so they admit more students from low income areas and “underrepresented minority groups”</p>
<p>“The public schools are all under-ranked because they take into account things like class size and endowment.”</p>
<p>I don’t understand what you mean by “underranked”. Are you saying huge classes AREN’T a bad thing? That smaller classes with personal attention aren’t a good thing? I think school’s with smaller classes deserve a higher rank, especially for undergraduate.</p>
<p>Feiny, you would be one of the few people who chooses Chicago over Brown. Brown absolutely kills Chicago in cross-admits, and has an overall stronger student body, by far. Of the three, I would give the edge to Brown. If being in a 200k city is problematic for you, note that Providence is only like 50 minutes from Boston and about 3 hours from New York. As an undergrad, the research rank of the school’s physics or economics department is less important than doing well and getting your professors attention for recommendations. </p>
<p>The one thing UCLA might have over Brown, depending upon your personality, is better weather and far more attractive women. Neither of those two advantages apply to Chicago, the place where fun goes to die.</p>
<p>I’ll bring up the population aspect, as I always do. Providence itself is less than 200,000 people. If you count all connected cities that touch Providence and form a nice circle around it from a satellite picture the population jumps to about 800,000. Rhode Island population is over 1 million and those leftover from the 175k in Providence aren’t hiding in fields near the border of Connecticut, nor are they in Newport.</p>
<p>UChicago has an excellent Econ program and is ranked higher. </p>
<p>Pinderhughes, that is simply not true. There are many people who have been admitted to UChicago and the Ivy’s and have chosen UChicago over the Ivy’s…If I were accepted into both(UChicago vs Brown), personally I would attend UChicago in a heartbeat. </p>
<p>UChicago has one of best Econ programs in the world and that will only help you feed into graduate school, plus you will have rcvd a fine Econ degree which will be very valuable.</p>
<p>PS Some of the Ivy’s have been ranking lower as their competition is rising. There is a reason that UChicago is ranked higher and it’s every bit as good as those schools. It’s not easy getting those rankings and the Ivy’s have always had the edge because they are Ivy’s, so that should speak volumes about UChicago.</p>
<p>Also UChicago has become known for its “truly” intellectual environment which is another thing to consider.</p>
<p>You will do well in any of the three schools you choose, but personally I would lean towards UC.</p>
<p>d’smom, no offense but it really does seem you are new to this realm. </p>
<p>pinderhughes was referencing cross-admit DATA not opinions. No one said that many haven’t chosen Chicago over Brown, it was said that Brown wins out the most, by a good margin. </p>
<p>You seem to be referencing U.S. News rankings, which, at least to people who are into this sort of thing, really pegs you as a newbie. Namely because those rankings do not really mean to much to many people who are educated, to some extent, in this field of education. If you want to know why I am sure there are threads and threads and threads about it! Personally, I wonder if the recent notions about the sub-elite schools being the new top schools has something to do with the incredible drop in acceptance rates at the top institutions.</p>
<p>Wolfman said: “d’smom, no offense but it really does seem you are new to this realm.”</p>
<p>Wolfman that is offensive and has no bearing or meaning to anyone here. What does it matter if this is my first or last post??? That is a childish statement.</p>
<p>And FYI: my response was with regard to the very first sentence of the post “Feiny, you would be one of the few people who chooses Chicago over Brown”.</p>
<p>I will say it again, that simply is not true. There are many people who choose UChicago over Brown and it’s ranked higher. Their Econ program is one of the finest in the country and you can’t deny that. This person is interested in their Econ and Physics programs and that matters.</p>
<p>Brown is an excellent school. I have friends who went to Brown and loved it. I also know people who went to Chicago and loved it. They are both great, but Chicago has a better Econ program that’s all.</p>
<p>If you come onto a forum populated with people who know better than the average person the downfalls of U.S News and start making statements based on those rankings, that is, rankings most people who put time and effort into learning about rankings and their shortcomings, rankings they don’t perceive as a credible source of information - you will come off as a person who is rather new to this whole arena. You may be, and that is fine. It really doesn’t matter how many posts you have or will have, but rather how much research you have done into higher education and how U.S. News and other rankings systems are formulated, and how colleges can shift numbers around to improve their rankings over time - how much of this you’ve done prior to giving out advice. It’s fine if you want to give anecdotal advice based on people you’ve known, but bringing ridiculous rankings into it the game as a reason to say U of Chi. is better than Brown is ludicrous. Saying Econ is has a better reputation is perfectly fine though. That’s something we can talk about. However, anytime I hear “Brown is the worst Ivy” that person gets an automatic stamp of ignorance in my book. Many other users on this forum, who may not care to say this as bluntly as I will, probably feel the same. </p>
<p>“new to colleges” ?? I’m actually pretty good at “colleges” Jeez.</p>
<p>UChicago consistently loses out on cross-admits with Brown. Admissions at Brown will tell you that and so will UChicago. 7-8 schools account for greater than 80% of the students who are admitted at Brown who choose to go elsewhere, and UChicago just isn’t one of them. While there may be “many people” who choose UChicago over Brown, those people are by far in the minority.</p>
<p>That’s not a knock on UChicago at all and there are many reasons one may fit well there and fit terribly there. It’s fascinating to me that Brown and UChicago are often mentioned in the same breathe because they have such drastically different approaches to education even if they have similar goals.</p>
<p>Again this post was discussing an “Econ” program which UChicago is known for. Don’t lose sight of that. Everyone knows that UC has a far superior Econ program period. There are other reasons that one may make Brown their choice, but when you are choosing btwn an econ program at Brown vs Chicago, I would guess that UC wins hands down. </p>
<p>I asked a bunch of professionals today which school would they attend for an Econ program and each on of them said UChicago. </p>
<p>Again, Brown is a great school, but UChicago has the edge in certain areas and ranks higher. I suspect it will continue to do well. It’s also very well endowed. Better than some of the Ivy’s</p>
<p>woflmanjack said: “If you come onto a forum populated with people who know better than the average person the downfalls of U.S News and start making statements based on those rankings, that is, rankings most people who put time and effort into learning about rankings and their shortcomings, rankings they don’t perceive as a credible source of information - you will come off as a person who is rather new to this whole arena.”</p>
<p>Again you assume quite a lot wolfman. Again you are rude and assume only your rankings i/e cross admit percentages count for anything. </p>
<p>You still have not admitted that UChicago has a far superior Econ program and that was the crux of my basis as I had said in earlier posts. Brown is a great school, but a very different type of school. Regardless of whether you like it or not, UChicago is considered better in that particular field and has had to “earn” its wonderful reputation.</p>
<p>Again, you try to superimpose your position by making your opponent look weak and inferior by insinuating that their experiences or advice lack knowledge or forethought. How arrogant. I speak from experience and laugh when I come across people like you that can’t for one minute admit that a school like UChicago may have an incredible econ program that just may be better than Brown’s. And, again it is ranking higher in certain circles, which whether you or I like it or not has power unfortunately in and of itself.</p>
<p>I never said Brown is the worst Ivy(perhaps someone else here in this thread did), but I will say that Brown does not have the buying or name recognition or power if you will that Harvard, Princeton and Yale have. My son has been looking at Brown and it’s a great school for certain things. I just don’t think it would be my pick for econ when compared to UChicago. </p>
<p>I think the poster wanted to know which was better for an Econ/Physics program correct?</p>
Jeez.</p>