Thanks for tagging me, @fireandrain – I had begun a response, but couldn’t post it last night due to wifi trouble (incidentally, Brown actually has great wifi. I’ve almost never had issues).
I was in a semi-similar place last year, choosing between Brown and Wellesley. I picked Brown. Personally, I wish I had gone with Wellesley (although there’s always the question of if I would be better off there, or if it’s a case of “the grass is always greener…”). I’ll share a bit of my story below, but if you want a fuller explanation that delves more into my personal crap, feel free to PM me.
They’re both excellent schools. I don’t mean to imply otherwise. At both, you’ll have the opportunity to be in small classes starting your first year (though the extent to which that is true at Brown will vary based on your concentration). I would also say that although LACs are known for being conducive to building good relationships with professors, you’ll still be able to do that at Brown. And Career LAB has worked a lot on outreach to first-year students, so I think you’ll find support in terms of looking for internships and things like that, if you want.
The main difference, and where Brown really doesn’t fit me personally, is with the social vibe. Brown as a whole is a very extroverted, outgoing campus. As someone who is extremely introverted, I find it harder to fit in. One of the reasons I chose Brown was because I thought it would challenge me to be more outgoing, but I’ve actually found it to be very isolating. It can be hard to find quiet spaces, especially when there is a predominant party culture here.
I’m also not huge on some of the academic stuff. Grade inflation is very real here – I took a midterm, got one question wrong, and still ended up with a 102.7 due to some bizarre curve the professor calculated. Personally, that bothers me. Like I’m not opposed to curving in general, but come on. I didn’t earn that grade. And the S/NC option, while it’s toted as something that leads to students taking risks all that jazz, honestly, I’ve found that students mostly use it to slack off in a course. I’m sure that sounds cynical, and I’m not saying everyone does it, but it’s really common.
That’s not to say that students aren’t hardworking; (for the most part) they are, and a lot of students do great things. Just that the overwhelming culture at Brown mixes academic priorities very strongly with social ones. Ugh, that’s not exactly what I want to say, but I’m not sure how else to express it. To put it another way, my impression of Wellesley is that students there tend to be much more focused on academics; partying and that sort of life tends to take place off-campus. The degree to which that’s a plus or a minus is completely personal, of course.
…but like I said, feel free to send me a PM if you want to talk in private, or if you have any questions you don’t want to air here.
