<p>I’m not sure if this is a frequent question but how does brown’s relatively small endowment affect the school? unfortunately money does run everything in the world and comparing brown to my other two choices (Duke and Stanford) I can’t help but think that facilities, resources, research opportunites, and maybe even academics/education aren’t as good. This probably isn’t a big deal or just a false stereotype, I don’t know much about it…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>endowment per student and per program at brown is more substantial than the total figure would make it seem when compared to much bigger schools (duke and stanford have multiple professional schools and a much larger graduate school)</p></li>
<li><p>endowment is only one part of a university's wealth...it is just the amount of money that is invested so the interest can be used to support the school's budget. it is unrelated to the value of the buildings, labs, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>the difference in endowments at these schools are unlikely to have a substantial impact on your undergraduate experience</p></li>
</ol>
<p>it has an effect on financial aid. everything else that you mentioned, i don't really see much of an effect.</p>
<p>endowment is a terrible reason to choose a school. the bottom line is that even though brown's endowment may be smaller, it's still very big. At a certain point size doesn't matter. And if it's big enough to create amazing academics and a great campus atmoshphere (which it does), then what's the problem?</p>
<p>the funny thing is that even schools with a relatively poor endowment compared to brown, much less other ivies (BU comes to mind) have much better facilities than us, which is kind of irritating</p>
<p>We do spend our money on some stupid things. <em>cough</em> BANNER <em>cough</em></p>
<p>Endowment is important. You might not realize it from a simple glance, especially statistics, which can be covered up/massaged, but it does affect almost everything. Brown's endowment per student is significantly lower than many of the top 20 universities... (which is why, in many people's opinion, Brown isn't among the top 20)</p>
<p>In whose opinion, besides yours?</p>
<p>Brown University is a great a school, and this is coming from someone who wants to go to Cornell University. No matter what university you choose, endowment is a very pathetic reason to give up a school when you are already so far up the ladder.</p>
<p>Let's see,</p>
<p>Shanghai Jiao Tong University's "World University" ranking has Brown at #85, right below Michigan State.</p>
<p>Newsweek's "Top Global Universities" ranking has Brown at #56, just below the University of Alberta (the top three are Harvard, Stanford and Yale).</p>
<p>I think I could go on for a while. And it's not that Brown is smaller - Brown has a lot more undergrads than places like MIT, Yale, Caltech or Princeton, but many fewer professors.</p>
<p>...the first ranking also has Dartmouth below Brown, and UVA below... Utah? among other things. The Newsweek ranking doesn't even have Dartmouth listed, and has USCF in the top 10 (the Shanghai ranking has it at merely in the 20s!). Clearly an excellent gauge of undergrad strength</p>
<p>Those rankings are garbage. they place 100% of their weight on research. As a UNIVERSITY brown at 56 might be about right, but as an undergrad college its a solid top 10.</p>
<p>Brown is #40; Duke is #42. Since the facilities and opportunities here are absolutely fantastic, I don't think Brown's endowment is a problem.</p>
<p>posterX is an infamous hate-monger of every school that isn't yale</p>
<p>That's true. PosterX has pretty much never helped anyone on these boards. He continues to work on posting ****ting information as often as possible.</p>
<p>The bottom line about Brown-- we have mediocre housing and mediocre food. EVerything else about this place is fantastic.</p>
<p>
[quote]
the funny thing is that even schools with a relatively poor endowment compared to brown, much less other ivies (BU comes to mind) have much better facilities than us, which is kind of irritating
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, what gives with that? Kids at tard schools get dorms with laundry service, private bathrooms, swimming pools...i guess when your school sucks that's how you have to lure the kids in...</p>
<p>Brown is a good school, no doubt. In terms of how many top students it attracts (NMSC Merit Scholars, etc.), while it isn't anywhere near HYP, it's solidly in the top 20 American undergrad programs. It's just that the lack of endowment is a serious consideration for anyone comparing Brown versus another highly-regarded university, and probably the Brown administration's top priority right now is to try to grow it. The differences might not appear that easily, but not having a strong endowment does affect a lot of things about what kind of opportunities are available to undergraduates.</p>
<p>I'm glad you have compared our school to others by coming here and feeling said intangible effecst yourself.</p>
<p>Most of those lists you post take graduate schools into account in a huge way and so a school like Brown suffers incredibly.</p>
<p>i would challenge that Brown isn't near HYP. I have a lot of friends who got accepted to Harvard and chose Brown instead! A lot of people come here because of the students and the atmosphere, and are just as smart and qualified as students at HYP.</p>
<p>let this thread die. posterx is the last person worth debating with.</p>