Brown vs Yale vs UPenn vs Duke

<p>I’m sure this question is exceptionally specific, but if anybody could answer any one part I would be very grateful (all parts would be best!). </p>

<p>So far, these are my top four schools, and I’m pretty sure I have the stats to back up my chances (2400 SAT, all A’s in AP/Honors courses, top 2% of my class of 1106, President of my community service league, etc.), but I’m having a very tough decision figuring out which school would best suit my weird combination of majors. I’ve always loved reading and writing and hope to pursue a Comparative Lit major, but where I want to go jobwise is neuroscience research. So I need a school that really excels in that area. </p>

<p>I am hoping to apply early decision to one of the schools (for the better chance of admission), but I want to know which would best suit my majors before being locked-in. </p>

<p>If you have any information on either major at any of the schools I’d much appreciate it. Thank you in advance. ^_^</p>

<p>As I have said many times, students should not apply ED unless they truly love the school. You don’t seem particularly decided from the information you’ve given us - have you visited any of the schools?</p>

<p>Brown’s neuro program is extremely strong and it’s easy to get real research opportunities (not just washing glassware in a lab). I know less about CompLit.</p>

<p>These schools are very different. For example, lot of people who would be happy campers at Brown would be miserable at Duke and vice versa. The social atmosphere on the campuses is very, very different. </p>

<p>You can do well academically at any of these schools. Visit and see which you like. Do NOT apply ED if you don’t have a clear cut choice. If you don’t I’d say to apply to Yale early since it has EA and not ED. As far as I know, all of the others only offer ED. Of course, that also means that applying early is not as much of an advantage as it is at ED schools. </p>

<p>How set are you on double-majoring? If you think you really want to do this, get your hands on the course catalog for all these schools. Try to lay out the course work you’d like to follow for at least the first two years. Sometimes, doing that makes it clear that what you want to do is close to impossible at some schools. (I don’t know if that applies here because I haven’t tried to do this.) It also gives you a better idea of what the offerings are in the fields of interest to you.</p>