Dartmouth vs Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
1

<p>So I’ve done extensive research between both schools, and I’m still stuck on which college I want to apply to. I’m mainly looking for the opinions of students and alumni from both schools since at this point, I’d rather know how actual people feel about the schools instead of random facts and information the respective colleges have thrown at me. I will give yalls a very detailed portfolio of what I’m looking for in a college. So hopefully you guys take the time to read it and give good feedback. :]</p>

<p>1) HOUSING SYSTEM
I’m looking for a college with a very good housing system that can sort students together very well. For example, I really like Yale’s system of placing all students into houses and fostering a sense of community. However, I do not like the fact that it’s done completely randomly. My brother’s friend, who attends Northwestern University, told me that he took a survey and was matched with a like-minded roommate. I really have no preference of the system, I’d just like to know that I’ll be placed in a housing system that will allow me to find friends and feel a sense of community.</p>

<p>2) SOCIAL SCENE
I attended a camp at Yale University this summer, and the main thing that turned me off was the pretentious and snooty personality of pretty much most of the kids. From what I hear, Brown and Dartmouth are the “least pretentious” Ivy Leagues. I’m sure every school will have its share of pretentious and non-pretentious kids, but there are other reasons as to why I’ve narrowed down the choice to Brown and Dartmouth, so I won’t say much more about that. As for Dartmouth, I’ve repeatedly heard the stereotype that it’s a heavy party/drinking school, and I can’t help but feel that it’s somewhat true. It has an enormous fraternity percentage, which is added onto the fact that it’s in a more rural area - one has only so many options. I love Dartmouth for being in the middle of nowhere, because I love appreciating the outside, and being able to hike around a beautiful campus. However, based on what I hear, I’m concerned whether I’ll find people who enjoy the same things I do. I have nothing against alcohol, I’m just completely against drinking it myself. And I’d like to have friends who feel the same way as me. I also hear stereotypes about Brown University, mainly their drug scene and the fact that they’re extremely hipster-quirky-liberal-hippie. And I don’t know if that’s a prevalent personality in Brown University.</p>

<p>3) ACADEMIC OPPORTUNITIES
I’m planning on majoring in English and Philosophy, and from what I’ve read, both schools are stellar in these fields. I’m personally leaning towards Brown, but I’d like to hear personal experiences before making a final decision. I might also apply to graduate school, so I’m wondering which school has the competitive edge (if at all) when applying to law schools or journalism schools. And finally, I would love the opportunity to travel and study abroad.</p>

<p>I apologize for the extremely lengthy post, but I feel that I would receive more valuable feedback if I provide more information about what I’m looking for. Thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>Well, I’m a spring transfer student so I have yet to experience the campus environment myself. However, I feel I can give you my insight to 3). For graduate school, Brown seems to do fairly well in terms of placement into law and medical programs. You can look up the numbers for the class of 2011 here: </p>

<p>[Class</a> of 2011 Graduate and Professional Studies | CareerLAB](<a href=“http://brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/class-2011-graduate-and-professional-studies]Class”>http://brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/class-2011-graduate-and-professional-studies)</p>

<p>And here’s the in-depth statistics for Brunonians pursuing law, with a large percentage attending or accepted to Harvard, Georgetown, NYU, and Yale: </p>

<p>[Admission</a> Statistics | Law School Advising](<a href=“http://brown.edu/academics/college/advising/law-school/statistics]Admission”>Admission Statistics | Pre-Law Advising)</p>

<p>Comparatively, Dartmouth also is relatively strong in graduate study placement, however, career reports don’t seem to list the exact numbers. You can delve into it yourself here: </p>

<p>[Life</a> After Dartmouth](<a href=“Center for Professional Development”>Center for Professional Development)</p>

<p>Dartmouth’s study abroad program is fairly expansive and according to them, “half of undergraduates participate before they graduate.” </p>

<p>Brown also has what appears to be a very good study abroad system in place, with about the same number of study abroad options as Dartmouth. Either school will offer you more than enough opportunities to study abroad. Additionally, if you really want an integrated graduate school program, Brown seems to offer a Brown+1 program which allows you to receive a masters degree from Edinburgh, CUHK and Trinity Dublin. Here are the pages for Dartmouth and Brown:</p>

<p>[Pinpoint</a> Your Program | Office of International Programs](<a href=“Study Abroad | Brown University”>Explore | Study Abroad | Brown University)</p>

<p>[Global</a> Dartmouth](<a href=“Home | Global Dartmouth”>Home | Global Dartmouth)</p>

3

<p>Why do you need to choose? If you don’t love one of them exclusively, you shouldn’t be applying ED.</p>

4

<p>Frontium: Thank you so much for the insight!</p>

<p>Bruno: Well I want to know if asking around could help me make a decisive choice. I’m actually leaning towards Brown a little bit, but I’m not sure yet haha.</p>

5

<p>Apply to both RD, and go visit both in the fall while classes are in session (end of October, early November would be best for “average” experience) and preferably overnight stay, and going to classes etc. You sound undecided enough that I think you will feel better about your decisions (provided you have a choice) and have less “what ifs” down the road.
(You will find plenty of outdoor sports, mountaineering ppl, etc to keep you busy, plenty of friends who will be cool with you not drinking, and plenty of non frat, non hipster types at both schools.)</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the input! However, I would like to apply ED just so I can get done with the application process as soon as possible. But I think I’ll visit both schools and if I’m still undecided by then, I’ll apply RD. :P</p>

7

<p>If you have the resources to visit both, then by all means, do so! Make sure you go when classes will be in session - summer is really not a good time to get an idea of what a college is like.</p>

8

<p>I would under no circumstances use the people who attend the university “summer camps” as an indication of the type of people who go to the school. The selection processes for these two things couldn’t be more different.</p>

<p>As stated, you can easily visit both schools while they are in session and ten decide and apply. I remember applying early and my last college visit to a school I was thinking about for Ed was mid October.</p>

9

<p>Well most of the kids who attended the camp were Ivy hopefuls, and after seeing the type of kids at camp, I couldn’t help but generalize the whole “Ivy social scene” to an extent.</p>

10

<p>90% of ivy hopefuls don’t get in, so again, I wouldn’t worry about it.</p>

11

<p>Law schools care shockingly little about where you went to college, so you should just ignore the statistics on that issue. If you have a high LSAT score and good grades, you’ll get into good law schools; a 3.8 from FSU won’t get you a whole lot farther than a 3.8 from Harvard.</p>

<p>All of that said, Brown’s curriculum lets you explore a bit more without worrying about the impact on your GPA, so that’s something to consider.</p>

12

<p>I do love Brown’s open curriculum. However, law school isn’t the only option looking into. Is there any data regarding job placement after graduation?</p>

13

<p>Yup. You can look it up here, where it breaks down the career fields of those entering direct employment after graduation and those pursuing graduate schools or other endeavors: </p>

<p>[Class</a> of 2011 Immediate Postgraduate Plans | CareerLAB](<a href=“http://brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/postgrad-data/class-2011-immediate-postgraduate-plans]Class”>http://brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/postgrad-data/class-2011-immediate-postgraduate-plans)</p>

14

<p>Just a note: Be very skeptical of the employment statistics (such as rankings of schools) that often get thrown around on this site, because they suffer from a few bits of fairly intractable bits of selection bias.</p>

<p>First, on an oddly frequent basis, these statistics are expressed as the percentage of graduates going into a particular field or fields (e.g., management consulting and finance). The implication is that everyone should want to go into those fields, so that the excess is people who “couldn’t get a job” in the field. This is obviously ridiculous, and statistics of this type should be completely ignored, unless you want to go to school with a bunch of people who all want to follow the same path after graduation.</p>

<p>Second, there are much better statistics for job paths where candidates apply to a specific set of large firms – that is, where the application process looks a lot like applying to college does. Again, management consulting and finance are common. For those considering other fields, these statistics don’t prove very useful.</p>

<p>Finally, median and average salary numbers should be ignored altogether, because selection bias renders them completely meaningless. People for whom that is not immediately obvious are called Wharton students.</p>