Burned by Brown University Early Admissions. Unhappy at Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>Well, it’s been a year since our 18 year old was admitted early admissions to Brown University.
The soon-to-be-sophmore is unhappy. Very unhappy. Lets call this person Unhap.</p>

<p>1) Zero financial support. Unhap is building debt of $40,000 per year (the parents contribute $30K/year). Brown made the munificent offer of a $2,500 work-study program.</p>

<p>2) Zero tolerance for non-feminists. Do not speak your thoughts on campus, unless you tow a politically correct line. Much like 1984 or the Chinese cultural revolution: only say what is accepted by the campus cultural bullies.</p>

<p>3) Zero tolerance for someone who does not drink or smoke dope. Study on Friday evenings? Party on! An ambulance regularly visits Unhap’s dorm.</p>

<p>4) Zero privacy: Coeducational everything. Gender neutrality rules! Men and women share bathrooms. Unhap likes segregated bathrooms. Too bad. Oh - get used to having a dorm-mate who sleeps with someone new every week … carving notches…</p>

<p>5) Zero trust for parents: Financial statements? Unhap’s parents aren’t allowed to see them. You can beg and plead but they won’t show you a tuition invoice. They won’t send you a bill! Only the student is allowed to peek - and Unhap didn’t know the secret password … so extra fees for overdue tuition.</p>

<p>6) Lots of talk about poor kids. But Unhap’s family struggles to earn $75,000 per year, and Unhap feels like a pauper. Of course, Brown rolls out a carpet for rich kids from foreign countries.</p>

<p>Result #1: Unhap is desperate to transfer out of Brown University. Despite two semesters of straight A’s in Brown Engineering. </p>

<p>Result #2: This past spring, our second child, Haphap, was admitted to: Brown, U/Chicago, Cornell, Caltech, and waitlisted at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. After several sibling to sibling chats, Haphap decided to go to U/Chicago. Unhap is very jealous.</p>

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<p>You forgot the part about having Zero brains. Live and learn. No one should apply ED if financial aid in a concern. No one should accept an offer they feel isn’t affordable, you will be released from ED. Good luck in the new school.</p>

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<p>While BrownParent’s statement is a bit harshly worded, it is essentially correct in its spirit. I am questioning the truthfulness of the post itself given the statement that

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<p>Yet Brown says quite plainly on their website that families earning less than $100,000 per year are guaranteed no loans in their package.</p>

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<a href=“https://news.brown.edu/articles/2008/02/new-financial-aid-policy”>https://news.brown.edu/articles/2008/02/new-financial-aid-policy&lt;/a&gt; This was in 2008 and judging by the most recent Q&A page on Brown’s FA section: <a href=“http://www.brown.edu/about/administration/financial-aid/general-questions#faqun”>http://www.brown.edu/about/administration/financial-aid/general-questions#faqun&lt;/a&gt; it is still the policy.</p>

<p>And you say you contribute $30K a year from a $75K annual income? Most people state their gross income, perhaps you are stating your net, which means you are more likely earning closer to $140K. So pending a reasonable explanation, I am personally dubious about this post.</p>

<p>But even if there is such an explanation, I have to agree that you knew this going in, or certainly should have known. There were net price calculators in place when your son applied.</p>

<p>I also question the statement about dorm arrangements where you said:

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<p>According to the Brown website for freshman housing <a href=“http://reslife.brown.edu/current_students/special_interest.html”>http://reslife.brown.edu/current_students/special_interest.html&lt;/a&gt; separation by floor, and therefore presumably single gender bathrooms, is available.

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<p>There are numerous places where the liberal atmosphere at Brown is clearly documented, and you certainly knew the cost going in. As was stated, no one can make you take out loans for $40K a year, no matter what application status they used.</p>

<p>So at this point I am calling this post into question. But I would rely on current Brown students and others with far more direct knowledge to confirm or deny what I am seeing.</p>

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<p>Ask your child to grant you access to his or her online billing information. It’s simple, he or she just types in your email address, and then you have 24 hr access to your detailed Brown billing statements. It couldn’t be easier.</p>

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<p>Yes, Brown is one of the more liberal schools in atmosphere, but I know many, many who have gone there who do not smoke,drink, party much at all, and have loved it there and thrived. Most universities are liberal in mindset. Just the way it is. Any narrative written description of the school could have given you a good idea of how it is at Brown as compared to other schools. But there are conservatives, non partyers who do just fine there. </p>

<p>Brown is one of the more generous schools when it comes to financial aid, so something does not add up here that all your son got was Work Study. Either you have a business or some other unusual family financial situation or lots of assets. Can’t imagine you got more from UChicago than from Brown this year in the fin aid renewal (you would get more than when you just had one in college) unless your second student got one of UCh’s merit awards. It just doesn’t add up. UCh, overall, does not give as generous aid as Brown, from the many examples I have seen. Possible, but not that drastic. Where the heck is your student getting $40K a year to borrow anyways, as the student limit is $5500 for freshman year, and even with Perkins added to that, it comes to a max of $11K or so Anyone strapped for costs shouldn’t be spending $70K a year at any school–should be “beating” the COA given, not exceeding it by cutting the corners on every cost possible, working summers, and hopefully working that WS job that would have brought the costs down by that $2500 given out and augmented by an additional $2500 from summer work or some student savings, should have at least brought the cost down to a total of $55K a year at very most, reduced by parental contribution to $25K which is still too much for a student to be borrowing or even being allowed to borrow on own. </p>

<p>Financial statement situation–your fault Insist that your kid signs over the papers at the school so that you get access. it’s the law that the school can’t otherwise sent you any info,but the solution is right at hand. It’s a problem right there that your son could not figure out the password for his account, and YOUR problem that you are not putting the blame on HIM, not the school that he and you could not get it together to figure all of this out. That comes with the territory with all schools. Of course, you will get late fees when you don’t pay your bill when due and when you don’t figure out the billing system EVERYONE has to do this. He’s not the only student at Brown, you know, and most others students and families have somehow managed to work this out. Take some ownership and responsibility here, and lay it for your kid. Apple not falling far from the tree here. I’m being harsh, yes, but it’s deserved.</p>

<p>Brown, or any school, is not for everyone. I know kids who were very unhappy at Yale, Harvard, MIT, PRinceton, miserably so. Most stuck it out, maybe for not the best reasons, but they certainly were not happy, things went wrong, they screwed up, parents made mistakes too. Yes, I made a big long list of mistakes as did my kids, and I expect to continue to do so. But you own up, fix them. Get the info, figure it out. That’s a whole separate matter from not liking it a school.</p>

<p>Suggest your son transfer. With his great GPA coming from Brown and being in an engineering program, that should not be a problem, though money will likely be an issue, since as I said earlier, Brown tends to be one of the more generous schools. Engineering majors tend to diminish in later years so finding a seat will be pretty easy, but all of those other problems…well, I think it’s more your problem and your son’s. And I don’t even care for Brown much at all, just assessing the situation from your post.</p>

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That’s a consequence of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). It’s been around since 1974, and every college/university in the country is required to “burn” you exactly the same way. Your child must take the initiative to make information available to you. It doesn’t matter who pays the bills.</p>

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<p>Sorry OP. I guess if Brown’s atmosphere was somehow new, I would feel a little worse. Still bad for you and Unhap. </p>

<p>Almost all colleges are much more liberal than the general populace, but Brown is well-known to be so even among the Ivies.</p>

<p>As for FERPA, we citizens really need to grab ahold of our government (including our schools). If the parent’s income is required for FAFSA, then it is no longer a privacy issue for the kid. Either they are independent, or they are not. The really sad thing is that the same rules technically apply at High School as well. If your kid hits 18 before graduation, the district is not really supposed to send parents anythign about grades and such. Sometimes I wonder if this is just a crazy episode of the Twighlight Zone.</p>

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<p>Much about this complaint doesn’t sound right.
Either OP is yanking our chains or the student may be pulling the wool over the parents’ eyes.</p>

<p>Not everything in a college setting is beyond a student’s control. In fact, the expectation is that bright, mature students can find solutions. You can move rooms, find more conservative friends, etc. They are there, especially within STEM. The sci library study center is open until 2am on Fri and Sat nights. </p>

<p>Agree, you knew the finaid offer more than a year ago. You/your student apparently applied for loans beyond the usual student amounts a year ago. Eyes should have been wide open, then. Your student can forward financial statements to you- OH, he/she “forgot” the “secret password” for the online account? Hmm. How did he/she veify those grades? </p>

<p>Etc. Not sure I believe this one. Why did this kid apply, in the first place? And anyone who thinks UChi is going to be a conservative bastion, is misled. </p>

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<p>Unhap should take this year off, and start filling out his transfer applications. Just get out. If he’s that unhappy, I don’t want him at Brown.</p>

<p>And since HapHap has yet to spend any time at UChicago, and has no real idea how much drinking and drugs exist and how liberal/conservative the school is, I’d say Unhap’s reaction to his brother’s situation just demonstrates how he jumps to conclusions without any real evidence. </p>

<p>And it’s been almost 2 years since Unhap applied ED to Brown. Unless he figured out a way to get in ED a month before school started.</p>

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<p>@CliffS‌ </p>

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<p>If you are going to tell lies, at least tell good lies. There are lots of current Brown students, alums, and parents here who can easily see the untruths in your various statements…this one in particular.</p>

<p>And the thing about the Cultural Revolution…I know U Chicago is famous for aggressive marketing tactics, but this would be beyond the pale even for them. You gotta be a lone, misinformed wolf here.</p>

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<p>We had a family debate about the concept of gender fluidity just yesterday, and D1 informed D2 that every school on her list would ask her about her preferred pronouns. Even NW (slightly outside what I consider to be the most liberal schools) just added gender neutral bathrooms this week.</p>

<p>The remainder of this post just makes me shake my head.</p>

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<p>Chicago isn’t a great option for an engineering major. I think the university is just beginning a bio-engineering major this upcoming year or next, but other than that, I don’t think they offer much for an engineer.</p>

<p>And yes, drugs & drinking certainly exist on uchicago’s campus. I volunteered to help an URM student with her college apps. She’s now a rising junior at uchicago. She told me that during her orientation, the first-years were told that too many kids from the previous year needed medical attention for over-drinking and their class was encouraged to behave differently. I’d guess that the only campuses that don’t have drinking going on are the conservative religious colleges.</p>

<p>As far as my own kid’s experience at brown: he isn’t much of a partier and has found friends both who are but don’t expect him to be when they socialize, and friends who aren’t. I think developing the social skill to navigate all that is necessary at any college but for the homogeneous religious colleges. </p>

<p>Best of luck to your son on his transfer applications. I’d encourage him to do his due diligence this time around, which includes figuring out who he is so that he ends up in the right place. Off the top of my head, given what you’ve said about him, I’d suggest he take a look at Johns Hopkins. Even there, though, it will be his responsibility to set you up online for the tuition bill.</p>

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<p>Haphap is an imbecile. No one in their right mind would pick Chicago over Caltech (and arguably Cornell) for anything STEM related. </p>

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<p>This post doesn’t sound correct at all. Brown would not seek a 30k/yr contribution from a family earning less than $75,000 annually. Brown would be the essential opposite of 1984’s paranoid, censored dystopia. The other posters are correct also in that Unhap needs to sign a waiver to so that the school can disclose his personal information with parents - he is considered an adult; stop taking it out on the administration, there is no magical, evasive special password. It’s actually very simple. I’d like to add that Brown is a liberal campus, to be sure, but I hope Unhap isn’t expecting UChicago, Stanford, etc. not to be. Gender neutral bathrooms or gender-segregated bathrooms that may not be enforced exist at many other renowned institutions. I won’t even touch the comment on being “non-feminist.” If he absolutely doesn’t get along with progressive-minded students/faculty, he should reconsider his list of target schools. At least Unhap will be transferring out; he doesn’t sound like a person who should have applied to Brown in the first place, or, to be honest, a person I would want to be going to school with (if I were a student at Brown).</p>

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<p>you should transfer apply to UPenn or Dartmouth. They are more conservative and less into the whole weed scene although the frats and drinking are somewhat ubiquitous. </p>

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<p>Yale is known for very strong Humanities departments.</p>

<p>Brown is known most for its open curriculum and undergraduate focus, IMO. (And strong academic quality obviously)</p>