I’ve done a ridiculous amount of research on my own, but just looking for a few more opinions.
Thanks!
Are you planning on being pre-med? http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/1284648-brown-is-the-best-place-to-be-a-pre-med-p1.html
Nope! I’m planning on a neuroscience concentration, but as of now, I have zero interest in med school.
From these threads, I know that Brown reportedly has one of the best neuroscience programs in the country, but I have yet to find any evidence of this, or an explanation as to why. Any knowledge of that? What is it about Brown’s neuroscience program that makes it so great?
^^^Leon Cooper teaches at Brown and he may teach freshmen seminars, but I’m not sure. You could probably find out from the Brown web site or email the department.
There’s a lot of cutting-edge neuroscience research going on at Brown. You’ll also find that the undergrad neuroscience concentration has many more neuro-specific courses than you’d expect to find elsewhere (it’s not just psychology + biology courses).
I know that as a Brown med student, the neuro side of our curriculum has been incredible because we’ve had many amazing lecturers from members of the neuroscience department.
Ok, so is Brown’s undergrad neuroscience reputation essentially based on
Knowing that there are more neuro-specific courses than other schools is incredibly useful to know - that was something I’d never even thought of taking into account before.
You won’t find any “rankings” or anything because no one ranks undergraduate departments. Brown is the originator of the undergraduate neuroscience department (it was actually born out of a student’s independent concentration) and many schools still don’t have one. With Brown’s comparatively small graduate programs, you’ll get much more access to faculty and labs than you would at the more graduate focused institutions.
This textbook: http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038/ref=la_B001IGQQS0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428590587&sr=1-1 authored by 3 brown professors (although I believe Bear is no longer at Brown) is the textbook used by the intro neuro class (and I’ve even seen it used on medical TV shows when people are carrying around neuro books). I believe it’s considered to be one of, if not the best UG level neuro textbook.
Brown is where BrainGate was created (http://www.braingate2.org) by the Institute for Brain Science (http://brown.edu/academics/brain-science/)
Dr. Donahuge, one of the Brown profs, is part of Obama’s BRAIN advisory committee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRAIN_Initiative
And just for fun: http://www.browndailyherald.com/2013/04/05/neuroscience-grows-as-u-emphasizes-brain-science-research/
Both are awesome universities. I am doubly biased (or unbiased), as I went to both schools – one undergrad and the other grad. I’d choose Brown, especially considering factors 2, 5, and 7. As for culture, Nashville and Providence are quite different as are the schools with Brown bring more liberal. Vandy is a special place and they treat their students very well. I also loved Nashville. Tough call but I’d go to Brown.
And I’d say you can really only use 2 in this case because you’re neuroscience. Outside of neuro and CS I think Brown vs. Vandy academics is a wash.
Thanks, wanna_be! That was so helpful.
@Sunny66 , since you attended both, I have a ton of questions for you, if that’s ok!
Could you expand a bit more on the cultural differences? There are so many stereotypes that I really don’t know what’s true. Is there really that much of a difference between the makeup of the student bodies (Greek, Southern, and extroverted partiers at Vandy; Liberal, artsy, philosophers at Brown)?
Vandy’s administration has responded much quicker and been more helpful in general than Brown’s - should I take that as an indicator of how the students are treated? Vandy seems, as you mentioned, to really take care of its students - maybe more so than Brown? [just posing a question here; not actually accusing Brown of anything]
@puremuddle Both schools have students from various states and countries, with Brown being more diverse on both fronts. We are talking over 20 years ago and Vanderbilt has become academically on par with Brown since then and is more diverse in many ways than it used to be – racially, religiously, geographically. It does not surprise me that Vandy has been more responsive. The school is extremely well-run. Not sure of how Greek both places are. Though Brown is definitely more liberal, I think Vandy runs the gamut with many liberal students, many conservative, and many in between. Conservatives at Brown were far less common. There also is something to be said for Vandy being the best university not only in the city but within hundreds of miles. The education will be outstanding at both places, and most students are very nice at both. In terms of your 7th criteria, “Intellectualism (and by that, I mean the active, extracurricular engagement of the general student body in thinking about world issues, philosophy, etc.),” that sounds like Brown to me. Though there is a large pre-med, pre-law, Wall Street/future MBA contingent at Brown, there also are a lot of students who want to work in non-profits, teach high school, save the world, or do other amazing things. Or protest on the lawn. We are talking about splitting hairs between two schools with amazing students and professors. On balance, I think the Brown students are more eclectic and end up doing many diverse and amazing things after college. If some type of grad school is in your future (I know you said no med school), a Brown degree could give you a leg up when looking at a non-Ivy for grad school. All I can say is try to visit both.
@puremuddle I didn’t answer part of your question. I think both student bodies like to party. I liked Nashville better as a city. At Brown it was mostly stay on or near campus, with occasional trip to Boston – another plus of Brown with so many colleges within an hour or so. Attending football games at Brown was not that common, whereas football is more imbedded in the culture in the SEC conference. Students at Vandy used to get dressed up for football games and go with dates. Feel free to PM me too.
Thank you!
What were the benefits of Vanderbilt being the only highly regarded university in the are? I can see the benefits of the converse (networking opportunities at Brown, with so many great schools concentrated in the NE).
And do you think that going to Vandy undergrad increase chances of being admitted to its grad school? Which school would be better for applying to grad school, Vandy or not?
On the second question, going to Brown undergrad helped me get into a Vandy grad school. I also knew some in my program that went to Vandy undergrad. Don’t think that helps or hurts.
On the first question, I guess I was referring to if you wanted to work in the area. But Brown and Vandy both would be great in that regard.
Both are outstanding schools. Brown was much more selective of a school when I was an undergrad but Vandy has become highly selective as well the past 20 years.
Can’t go wrong with either. Try to visit and see which one feels like a better fit.