Brown vs Yale vs Wharton

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>Hi. I’ve been accepted to these three schools
and I am having the hardest time trying to make up my mind.</p>

<p>I’ve read some posts on cc and they all say:

  1. If you’re a hardcore aspiring businessperson, Wharton all the way.
  2. Humanities in general (especially law), Yale’s the best education.
  3. Fun and open curriculum —> Brown.</p>

<p>The problem is I am not exactly set on one career path.
I am interested in a variety of fields… and I’d like to explore, rather than follow a strict route, in college. </p>

<p>Having said that, I see myself going into law or international relations.
But when I was applying to Wharton, I actually wanted to do Huntsman program since I was interested in the intensive curriculum on International Studies (and also business, why not?) But I didn’t get into Huntsman program so right now Wharton kinda lost its appeal to me.</p>

<p>Yeah I visited the above schools last Spring (like quick campus tour and info session)… and I loved what I saw at Brown. The campus seemed so vibrant and in the center-ish spot, there were a crowd of students hanging out on the grass, throwing frisbees, reading books, discussing with one another, etc. Also my guide guy really seemd to love his school. He emphasized the excellence of the advising system there too. </p>

<p>Also, I know that International Relations is one of the most popular majors there. Does that mean Brown has a strong program in that area (or is it just popular for some other reasons… I don’t know)? </p>

<p>The main criteria regarding colleges for me are
-the academia of course (faculty accessibility? solid teaching? student enthusiasm about learning? discussion-centered? workload? course difficulty?)
-the atmosphere (hypercompetitive or collaborative? liberal or conservative? laid-back? cliquey/ segregated?)
-food
-people (chill? sheltered? pretentious? open-minded?)
-surroundings (fun? shady? dangerous? uninteresting? lots of music and artistic events?)</p>

<p>Feel free to talk about other stuff about the colleges. I want to know as much as possible before I am forced to choose one in three weeks :)</p>

2

<p>Brown's IR department is one of the best and if you really do want to explore, Brown sounds like it's for you....since the open curriculum is in place to encourage students to explore different fields according to their interests</p>

3

<p>The quality of advising at Brown is up for debate. Since the school has a completely open curriculum, ultimately all decisions are made by the student. Good advisors can help point you in the right direction and hopefully highlight options that you might not have considered. That being said, to succeed at Brown you need to be an independent person, so don't count on advising. Some advisors are good and some are terrible.</p>

<p>One of Brown's biggest draws it that it gives you nearly unlimited freedom in choosing your path of study. If you want to explore with almost no bounds (aside from picking a major), then Brown is for you. Wharton will clearly not allow you to do this. Yale will, but to a lesser degree because you have to fulfill distribution requirements. </p>

<p>Brown has a strong IR program, largely because of the Watson Institute (<a href="http://www.watsoninstitute.org)%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.watsoninstitute.org)&lt;/a>. I believe it is one of the most popular majors largely because it is flexible- there are many different tracks and courses which one can use to fulfill requirements for IR. Not to mention that IR is also an area which many people are interested in.</p>

<p>Just to finish off, the people at Brown are amazing. They are laid-back, intellectual, and enjoyable to be around. In my experience, competition does not exist.</p>

4

<p>I've invented six of my classes and easily found professors who were willing to sponsor these projects.</p>

5

<p>somuchtodo, you have some wonderful choices. congratulations.</p>

<p>brown has a really unique and very well-funded program in commerce, organizations, and entrepreneurship that organizes international business internships for students over the summer. it seems up your ally...you may be interested in checking it out:
<a href="http://coe.brown.edu/internships/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://coe.brown.edu/internships/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>other links of interest
<a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/online/27/seegreen.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fastcompany.com/online/27/seegreen.html&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.brownep.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brownep.org/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.brownenterpriseforum.org/matriarch/default.asp%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brownenterpriseforum.org/matriarch/default.asp&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.watsoninstitute.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.watsoninstitute.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>