<p>My D wants to apply to one Ivy (she's somewhat partial to the small LACs) but thinks a smallish top U with grad school might be good. Brown and Cornell seem to be a bit less competitive admissions-wise than the other Ivies. </p>
<p>Which do you think she should go for, Brown or Cornell? Which is the better U and why?</p>
<p>that depends on what she wishes to do in college...but if she likes LACs, Brown would probably be more of a fit for her.</p>
<p>That said, Cornell Arts and Sciences is the smallest liberal arts college in the League...</p>
<p>Why do people post School vs. Other School in the forums of the specific schools?They should realize that the Cornell forum is going to say Cornell and the Brown forum is going to say Brown, so it's not always useful to ask in the school-specific forums.</p>
<p>That being said, Cornell is NOT a small school. At all. All seven schools are strung together on campus (along with the veterinary school , the research buildings and all the campus buildings) - I'm pretty sure that Cornell has the largest student body of all the Ivy Leagues. Like Silver said, Brown is much more LAC-ish than Cornell.</p>
<p>"the Cornell forum is going to say Cornell"</p>
<p>Uh.... I think you just said Brown yourself..</p>
<p>I'm applying to Brown, and may apply to Cornell depending on what I think of it after I attend the fall engineering diversity hosting. Free trip to NY FTW haha</p>
<p>Somni: Ah, but I only said that Brown is more LAC-like (which is what the poster asked). If he/she'd merely asked which university is better without saying what he/she's looking for, which one do you think I'd say? :)</p>
<p>for the record, brown is more difficult to get into than penn and dartmouth, and significantly more difficult to get into than cornell</p>
<p>that being said, it sounds like brown is the better fit</p>
<p>Oh..</p>
<p>Cornell isn't small like a Liberal Arts College, but it does have the CAS liberal arts education.
Do people at Brown tend to set up broad curriculum for themselves? I know if I went to Brown, I wouldn't take any humanities since I'm a math person..</p>
<p>
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for the record, brown is more difficult to get into than penn and dartmouth, and significantly more difficult to get into than cornell
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<p>I wouldn't differentiate Dartmouth and Penn from Cornell like that. For liberal arts, selectivity at any one of those schools are the same, and any student may be accepted to one and not the other.</p>
<p>As for whether or not Brown would feel "smaller" than Cornell is an interesting question. Cornell has a liberal arts college with 4,000 students. Brown has 6,000 students. People often don't realize this, but Brown, Harvard, and Penn have the largest liberal arts colleges in the Ivy League. Cornell and Dartmouth have the smallest. Cornell also has a residential house system for upperclassmen where they live with faculty and graduate student mentors. I would argue that Cornell actually constitutes a bunch of small environments united by a common hockey team.</p>
<p>Does Brown have more of a LAC feel? Yes. But only because it doesn't have an Ag School, Hotel School, or Engineering School. I would venture the argument that one could very much find that same LAC environment at Cornell as what you might find at Brown. But if you are on the Ag Quad or the Engineering Quad, you're not going to find it.</p>
<p>Where Cornell and Brown mostly differ is in the make-up of the student body. If you spend a day at both schools you will find that they offer pretty different experiences. Choose the one that is best for you.</p>
<p>CayugaRed, what do you mean by "Where Cornell and Brown mostly differ is in the make-up of the student body." What's different about the students? Is Cornell more racially diverse?</p>
<p>There's obviously a lot of overlap between the two student bodies, but Cornellians are going to be more earnest and down to earth in a "like to do normal things," kind of way. Brunos are, well, a little bit more East Coast and pretentious. </p>
<p>Here's one way to think about it: Most Cornell students wouldn't think twice about wearing a hockey jersey. A lot of Brown students wouldn't be caught dead in one. </p>
<p>Neither is really better. Just different. And like I said, there's a lot of overlap in terms of the two student bodies.</p>
<p>CayugaRed: Thank you. I understand now.</p>
<p>"There's obviously a lot of overlap between the two student bodies, but Cornellians are going to be more earnest and down to earth in a "like to do normal things," kind of way. Brunos are, well, a little bit more East Coast and pretentious. </p>
<p>Here's one way to think about it: Most Cornell students wouldn't think twice about wearing a hockey jersey. A lot of Brown students wouldn't be caught dead in one."</p>
<p>Such blatant and unsound generalizations...</p>
<p>Please inform me how my understanding of the two schools are unsound. Not only have I spent a lot of time on both campuses but I have alumni friends of both schools who generally agree with such sentiments.</p>
<p>Tell me again what percentage of students at Cornell live off-campus vis-a-vis Brown? And tell me again what percentage of students are in the Greek system at Cornell vis-a-vis Brown? And tell me again what percentage of students at Cornell come from a public high school -- to say nothing of rural high schools -- vis-a-vis Brown?</p>
<p>Cayuga while the jist of your generalizations were accurate as far as a generalization can be accurate(note I don't mean everyone or even most people are like the generalization, just that it is more prevalent) your word choice/the way you phrased things put brown in an overly negative light. How would you feel if someone said brown students are more intellectual and unique while cornell students are more provincial, jockish and some negative word for standard/boring/overly normal that I can't remember.(essentially what you said just using a positive version of brown and a negative version of cornell)</p>
<p>Now that said, yeah they have different student atmospheres, and Brown is more similar to an lac. Cornell is awesome though. If possible logistically and monetarily, have your daughter visit both and see which they like better and if Cornell's much larger size will be an issue.</p>
<p>I'm not certain how "East Coast" could be a put down seeing as how this entire country seems to revolve around the East Coast at times. Pretentious is used in a fairly agnostic sense these days... as in "pretentious indie rock". And yes, provincial or normal is actually a great way to describe a good swath of Cornell's student body. Probably not, however, the student body you would find in Cornell's liberal arts college.</p>
<p>Like I said. Hockey sweaters versus no hockey sweaters. Just go to a Cornell hockey game at Brown if you don't believe me.</p>
<p>I agree with Prism. </p>
<p>I disagree with the idea that the word "pretentious" is used agnostically. It most definitely has a negative connotation. Cayuga's use of this word was obviously aimed to negatively portray Brown. </p>
<p>Also, how does having frats have anything to do with being "normal"? The percentage of students living on campus/off campus also has a lot more to do with geographic location than the student body. </p>
<p>Also if your idea of a "normal" student body is frats, sports, and public-schoolers, than a large state school would be perfect.</p>
<p>Say what you will, but pretentious wasn't meant as a disparaging word. This is coming from somebody who has studied at Oxbridge and lived in Cambridge, MA for a couple of years, so I think I know a little bit about pretension. </p>
<p>And whoever said that fraternities were "normal"? I never said anything of the sort. All I said was that Cornell students were more likely to feel like "normal" people vis-a-vis the kids from Brown. For instance, while in college Cornellians would be more likely to spend a weekend going to a professional sporting event, a popular music concert, or a popular movie. </p>
<p>And yes, the percentage of students who live off-campus definitely affects student culture and the student experience. Just like there are other differences in the student experience between Cornell and Brown.</p>
<p>It's not surprising that Cornell can feel the most like a large state school of any of the Ivies. But my earlier point was that the liberal arts environment at Cornell is actually very supportive and tight-knit, and would feel a lot like a Brown or a Dartmouth for those so inclined.</p>