<p>Can anyone give some insight into how the students at Brown and UPenn compare in personality?</p>
<p>There are approximately 6,000 unique undergraduate personalities at Brown and about 10,000 at Penn. So, for any stereotype offered up in this thread (e.g. “X’s students are more career-oriented than Y’s”), there are about 60 million comparison opportunities to show it’s wrong.</p>
<p>Penn is bigger, with far more graduate students. It has an undergraduate business/finance school, school of communications, nursing school, vet school, and law school. Brown does not have any of that; it often is described as “LAC-like”. Its Open Curriculum, and its relative focus on the liberal arts, are bound to create a somewhat different atmosphere. It is tempting to say Penn is more “pre-professional”. However, they are both comprehensive urban research universities that will attract a wide range of personality types. Penn alumni are as different as Charles Addams and Noam Chomsky. Brown people are as different as George Lincoln Rockwell (founder of the American Nazi party) and Tom First (founder of Nantucket Nectars).</p>
<p>Go visit both schools to see which one (if either) has a campus & atmosphere you like.</p>
<p>^ EXCELLENT response (and one that should be repeated again and again as these types of questions are raised here).</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences, alone, is roughly the same size as Brown’s entire undergraduate student body, and Penn actually has many more top-10 and top-20 liberal arts departments than does Brown. It’s really impossible to generalize about these two schools or their student bodies with any degree of accuracy, and like the previous poster, I’d urge anyone comparing them (or any other top schools, for that matter) to visit and make a choice based on personal feel, preference and fit.</p>
<p>The above are great responses. One thing to consider,though, is the huge Greek presence at Penn, which has to say something about the students and their interests. But as with any school, there always will be great variety in terms of the types of students.</p>
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Less than 30% of Penn undergrads are members of fraternities/sororities, meaning that a sizeable number of Penn undergrads–equal to roughly the size of Brown’s entire undergraduate population–are NOT fraternity/sorority members. Can’t say what the percentage of Greek members is at Brown, because Brown didn’t provide it to the College Board site. :rolleyes: However, while the Greek presence at Penn is significant, it shouldn’t be overstated (and I’m not saying that you did ;)). The fact is that the vast majority of Penn undergrads are NOT Greek-affiliated.</p>