Hi guys, I’ve been admitted to Cambridge for English and Brown, intending to major in English or Film or Classics. Money is not a problem. I like both styles of education and both campuses. Help!
Come to Brown and study English, Film and Classics (literally!). With the flexible curriculum, you can seriously do it all. 
@littletreasures In terms of overall reputation, recognition, research/faculty strength Cambridge has the clear edge over Brown. Browns curriculum is probably more flexible though and I have a feeling the social life might be better at Brown.
Depends on what matters to you most I guess.
@littletreasures Both are excellent universities!!! CONGRATS!
I believe go to the one that you think you will be able to succeed in.
If you live in the USA, I would say Brown just because it has more of a prestige here than it does in other countries.
If you are in Europe, I would say Cambridge just because its name carries more there.
Hope it helps and you can’t go wrong with either of them!
Cambridge hands down! More prestige all over the world (and probably in the US as well). Many people abroad who haven’t heard about Brown, tend to have heard about Cambridge. If you check Nobel Prize affiliations, Cambridge is 3rd, Brown is way down…When it comes to social life, Cambridge seems to be a winner as well. Brown is nice, but Cambridge is truly unusual. P.S. Visited both places, stayed in Cambridge for two weeks and loved it.
I assume Cambridge is much less $$$ for you, but if that’s not a consideration, it’s a toss-up and really depends what educational style fits you better. My goddaughter goes to school in London and while she could have gone to Oxford or Cambridge decided to come to America for college (prob Yale or Brown, she hasn’t decided yet) For her, the concentration of all her studies at Oxbridge in one singular area was too much. She wanted to learn across other subject areas–literature, computer science, physics and that’s what Brown and other US universities offer. There is no question in my mind that Cambridge and English schools in general produce more well-read, literate English majors because they drill so deeply into that one field. They put you on that path. But it sounds to me that you are not as wedded to that single area of study. If that’s right, then maybe an American school is the better option for you. The US is where you end up finding physicists who go on to be great lawyers, English majors who go to business school. It’s a dramatically different approach to university education, emphasizing breadth over depth.
So you should also consider what you want to do after college. If you are going to live in the UK, then having the Cambridge connection is probably a very strong draw. I don’t disagree with anyone who says that Cambridge is going to have a much stronger reputation globally But if you want to be in the US, we’re provincial, and Brown is going to be more well known everywhere except in academia.
I don’t know if law school is like med school, but let’s say you decide you want to go to law school instead of academia - can you even use your Cambridge degree? (American medical schools would require you take 90 credits of classes at an american institution)
@iwannabe_Brown: Law schools definitely take UK undergrads. Unlike for med school, there is no prescribed pre-law curriculum.
But in any case, yes, in the US, an English major can be pre-med (or double major in CS; or take business classes; or double major in film). Not so in the English system.
Cambridge would have the prestige edge everywhere outside the US, but Cambridge makes sense only if you are 100% committed to studying solely English.
So Cambridge if you are 100% committed to studying solely English or you are certain you won’t/can’t stay in the US. Otherwise, I would pick Brown. And how many 17 year-olds really know what their main passion for the rest of their life is?