<p>so im caught between brown and upenn, so can someone convince me why upenn is better cuz i eventually need to decide where to apply ED</p>
<p>First, I’d like to suggest that you only apply ED to a school you really want to go to. A bad reason to apply ED to penn is that “it’s easier to get in…and I’d have a harder chance getting into Brown ED” or vice versa. If you can always imagine yourself thinking what if, apply to that “what if” school. Anyway…</p>
<p>general atmosphere-Brown, when I visited, was very…interesting. They had special rooms with different decibel levels for studying (ie, a room at about cough level, a room completely silent, etc), and different lawns for different causes (ie, one is a lawn to sit on, one is a lawn to throw a frisbee on). That’s straight from my tour guide-that really turned me off, personally, but I know other people would love that. There isn’t anything like at Penn, at least that i know of.</p>
<p>Perhaps I should clarify. I love Upenn, Brown and Columbia, but lately the Columbia core has turned me off. So scratch that. I am not sure if it will help to apply ED to upenn or brown.</p>
<p>well if you end up going to Penn after getting in ED, you really wouldn’t be able to use that username anymore… ahaha</p>
<p>haha. does going ED make THAT much of a difference?</p>
<p>potential major?</p>
<p>Apply ED if you really love Penn, which you should. Brown is a great school, but I ultimately chose Penn over Brown because Brown is too unstructured. Penn has that practicality that is really nurturing and helpful.</p>
<p>english but im also interested in poli sci and bio/environment</p>
<p>I went to Brown for a summer program, and I have to say I like Brown’s campus slightly better than Penn’s. It’s a nice large campus in a city-like environment. Thayer street is a great place to shop/eat. The only downfall is that Brown is on a very steep hill, so it’s very inconvenient if you want to walk to the mall or downtown Providence. lthough there is a bus that can take you to the mall. Plus, I suspect Thayer street can get boring after a few months there. A</p>
<p>Penn, on the other hand, is more city-like. Lot’s of shops and places to eat by campus. And once that gets boring, it’s very easy to travel into central Philly. </p>
<p>Overall, I suggest you visit both schools if possible. If not, try to use Google maps’s street view to see both campuses. Your decision might also be based on your intended major.</p>
<p>^ I like the wording and priority list in the above post. Where to shop and eat first, physical exercise second, and your professional life last. “might” is a nice touch. </p>
<p>Brown and Upenn both offer about the same caliber of education as far as English goes so lets consider Bio/environment. I don’t know much about either of these schools’ strengths in those fields but I’d imagine that Brown is a little stronger because it’s more “liberal art” and Upenn is more “pre-professional”</p>
<p>I like to think that Penn is like a middle ground between brown and columbia. There are gen ed requirements, but compared to Columbia, there really not that daunting. Plus you can pretty much pick and choose in the areas so that’s good. The biggest question you have to ask yourself: what do you really want in a college? Only then could someone convince you that upenn was better than brown. Penn is a much larger school with all (and I mean ALL kinds of people). Their medical school is fantastic, and the hospital is pretty close to campus so if you were into that side of biology it could turn into a potentially sweet work study job. Penn is also big into interdisiplinary majors, so that could be a plus if you wanted to combine, say your poli sci + english + environmental studies. Of course, it would be super easy to do the same at Brown - but still possible at Penn so keep that in mind. In terms of education, in all honesty the quality should be pretty much the same. So def pick on the environment you want. Penn students study hard, but they also play hard. The city of Philadelphia will be a wonderful landscape for you to spend 4 years of your life. Honestly, the immediate area surrounding Penn isn’t terribly crime ridden (I wouldn’t wander around drunk a couple blocks off campus at 3 in the morning though…but you shouldn’t be doing that anywhere). You’ll be safe. If you haven’t yet: VISIT. I spent three days on that campus with my future class mates, and I tell you I knew I was supposed to be there!</p>
<p>good luck with those apps.</p>
<p>
Actually, to get technical for a moment, Penn’s English and Bio departments are generally higher ranked than Brown’s. In fact, Penn’s English department is generally ranked in the top 10 or so in the country, or even in the top 5:</p>
<p>[NRC</a> Rankings in Each of 41 Areas](<a href=“http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html]NRC”>http://www.stat.tamu.edu/~jnewton/nrc_rankings/nrc41.html)
[Best</a> Social Sciences and Humanities Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools)
[Best</a> Science Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools)</p>
<p>Penn’s excellence in preprofessional programs (Wharton, etc.) should not obscure the fact that it also has many top-10 and top-20 liberal arts departments–in fact, significantly more than Brown.</p>
<p>Both schools will provide an excellent undergraduate liberal arts education, but Penn offers the unique advantage–through its vaunted “One University” policy–of allowing liberal arts undergrads to also take courses in its emminent grad and professional schools (Wharton, Law School, Annenberg School for Communication, School of Design, Graduate School of Education, etc.).</p>
<p>The reason Brown has gotten so many more applications is because its curriculum is a JOKE. Nothing personal against Brown students, but “college” means exploration, rigor, and emotion, mixed with fun and excitement.
Brown is a joke because there are NO requirements of any kind, and you don’t even have to receive GRADES.
Really!?!
I mean if that’s for you, by all means take it, but I want my college experience to be a little more… college-y–something I work hard through and gain experience from.</p>
<p>This isn’t to say that the people at Brown are any less intelligent than the people at Penn (certainly not!). It’s just their silly curriculum that is a sad attempt at trying to gain popularity. Certainly going to Brown would be fun and you would learn a lot… but rigorous and emotional? Not so much.</p>
<p>p.s. the above sounds mean… i love brown… but commonnnnn</p>
<p>No reason to bash Brown here.</p>
<p>To the OP: It’s true that Penn generally has more top-ranked departments than Brown, and Penn’s English department is top-5 (tied with Harvard and Columbia). This, however, has little to do with your UNDERGRADUATE experience. If you were applying to PhD programs, certainly it would be something to heavily consider, but at the undergraduate level, the single factor of most significant importance is FIT.</p>
<p>Obviously, Columbia’s core turned you off - you should definitely not apply ED. Think: precisely what about Penn turns you on so much in the first place? What about Brown? Are these things things true, or merely fantastical perceptions? Do some research on wikipedia and the colleges’ respective websites. Then, think: which school would you be most excited to find you were accepted to? This is a very good exercise.</p>
<p>USNews rankings shouldn’t bother you. Although Brown is ranked lower than Penn, Dartmouth and Columbia, its selectivity is understood to be on par with those schools. Graduate school should not be a problem.</p>
<p>is there much of a difference between ED acceptance rate and RD acceptance rate at UPenn?</p>
<p>muertapuebla is totally spot on.</p>
<p>about ED/RD selectivity, they could differ by 10%</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>See this page:</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Admissions: Incoming Class Profile](<a href=“http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/profile/]Penn”>http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/profile/)</p>
<p>For the Class of 2012, the ED acceptance rate was 29.3%, and the RD acceptance rate (including deferred ED applicants who were then admitted RD) was 13.5%.</p>
<p>brown and penn are both wonderful for completely different reasons. if you come to penn and are focused, knowing what you want to get out of it, it’s great. brown, on the other hand, is very liberal and, to me, it seemed almost unstructured. </p>
<p>bio/polisci/english</p>
<p>penn options:</p>
<p>double major in two of those and then minor in the other?
triple major? (very hard but it happens)</p>
<p>also, it seems like you have varied interests such that the penn requirements wouldn’t bother you. for that reason, you might not need the total freedom of brown’s no requirements and you might like the opportunities of penn.</p>
<p>brown is all liberal arts BS</p>