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<p>Excellent, excellent observation and retort. Why WOULD someone deliberately go out of their way to make you feel bad about your college choice, unless they were a first-class jerk?</p>
<p>May I also suggest that some of these people are envious? I really have trouble believing that a status-conscious group of people at an international school don’t know Brown. I suspect they all know the names of the ivies and are a bit jealous. Your parents may just be reacting to the comments. </p>
<p>One of my kids decided to attend a small, top lac— a school which my immigrant family had never heard of. When kiddo said they were going to this school, my family invariably asked, “Didn’t kiddo apply to any ivies?” (The answer, by the way, was no. Kiddo very much wanted to attend a lac.) We are in the U.S. and, when my relatives mentioned the school to others at their jobs and in their social circles, people were impressed. (One of my siblings’ bosses responded that his kid had been turned down in the same application cycle.) Well, it’s four years later and my sibling, who attended a large ivy, was just telling me how they had received a wonderful education at that ivy but sometimes felt like ‘just a number’ and what an excellent education and personal attention my kid had received at the lac. Brown is a smaller school than some of the larger ivies and you will receive an excellent education. Realize that you may be the only Brown student, and eventually alum, that many of these people meet and their opinion of Brown will come from you. Whatever stereotypes they eventually hear will be met with, “Yeah, I’ve heard that too, but the only person I know who ever attended Brown was really bright, successful, etc…” Have pride in your school because it will influence how others see it and see you.</p>
<p>I agree that trying to argue that the college you picked is as good, better than another is not very useful. It’s where you have chosen to go , and that is it. I have one kid who turned down ivy for a school that few people know. He’s never made any effort to defend his choice, or felt the need to do so He loved his time there, got a great education and that’s all he cares about.</p>
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<p>While Pizzagirl is ultimately right, I believe there is a middle ground and making a small effort to sell the idea that Brown is the best possible school for your needs could be helpful, especially with your parents: give them strong pro arguments and they will become your strongest advocates. So let’s give it a try.</p>
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<p>Brown is one of only a handful of US colleges with an open curriculum (Amherst and Oberlin come to mind), the only Ivy to do so and the best known school in international circles. The lack of required distribution classes means you never need to take a class that doesn’t suit your needs. If you’re going for depth, it’s relatively easily to double-major or even triple-major if the fields have some common core requirements. For example, my son is considering getting a Bachelor of Arts in physics along with a Bachelor of Science in applied math/computer science; he wants to eventually run his own game design company and a strong physics background is very useful in game design and related fields (training simulators, virtual reality, perhaps movie special effects). Brown has no minors, but the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts in a STEM field is less than for a Bachelor of Science.</p>
<p>So you could easily major in CS and neuro or cog sci and find work in the AI field. Or do CS/economics and cog sci and get a job on Wall Street writing predictive analysis programs or in government better allocating scarce resources. Or do CS/applied math with cog sci and use AI to do advanced data mining. In any case, you should have enough “free” classes left over to explore a couple of variations to determine your interest and aptitude before making a long-term commitment.</p>
<p>Or you could just explore a huge variety of classes in addition to your major and perhaps along the way create a whole new field for yourself. I recall a person who combined a biology degree with an art degree a couple decades back and ended up becoming highly sought after as a designer of modern “natural” zoo enclosures.</p>
<p>So tell your parents that Brown allows you to not “waste time” on “unnecessary classes” and will allow you to double- or triple-major within 4 years. You could also note that Brown is rated near the very top in undergraduate education, tied with Yale and close to Princeton, with Harvard not in sight:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Undergraduate Teaching | Rankings | Top National Universities | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/undergraduate-teaching]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/undergraduate-teaching)</p>
<p>Good luck and let us know if this “sales pitch” helps with your folks!</p>
<p>I think that point that you could try making is that “Brown is the perfect school…for YOU”.</p>
<p>And that is really all that matters.<br>
School X could have a better athletic program, but that doesn’t matter to you.<br>
School Y can have a more rigorous STEM program, but that doesn’t matter to you.
so on and so forth.</p>
<p>The same thing will apply to where you eventually decide to live, what jobs you take, who you marry and so on.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I agree it is a fool’s errand to try to sell Brown to most others. And for yourself and your parents, well, that is where you are going, so you look for what you can get out of the scool, and that is if it is a school like Brown or one that isn’t as well known. There are a lot more students going to less known, less higly ranked type schools, you know. It’s just part of what one does when going to college. There are often “what ifs” and buyers remorse.</p>
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<p>I understand. After all, you only got into Brown. :)</p>
<p>I am trying to say that “Brown is your only option at this time”, so work on what you can control and forget about what others say.</p>
<p>OP - You’re not alone. I’m an intl student (Asian) and people have been giving me crap for ‘only’ getting into Hopkins, for turning down Northwestern, for getting rejected from Stanford and UC Berkeley. I’m perfectly happy with my school since I’m a BME, and Hopkins has always been my first love, but no one would understand. Even when I stop arguing with them, they just keep challenging my feelings and shoving how Berkeley, UCLA, NU, Stanford, HYPMC, etc etc are better. On better days, they just stare at me in confusion, ha ha. Learn to ignore them. Asians gotta be Asians, I guess. </p>
<p>(Brown is amazing, btw 
)</p>
<p>A similar thread you might want to browse through:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1503072-your-parents-satisfied-your-college-choices.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1503072-your-parents-satisfied-your-college-choices.html</a></p>
<p>Im curious about OPs country and school. Quite an achievement to place five students from the same graduating class in Ivies.</p>
<p>That’s a veiled skepticism of the OP, isn’t it? Not nice.</p>
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<p>How many of them could even gain admission to Brown?
Anyways everyone knows the joke of the Ivy league is Cornell!</p>
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<p>Isn’t that like being the least attractive supermodel or dumbest Nobel Prize winner?*</p>
<p>*Not counting those bogus Peace Prizes, which aren’t real Nobels.</p>
<p>A couple weeks ago, we attended a dinner for scholarship recipients, they announced the colleges the students chose. One young lady turned down Stanford to go to Brown. Just another person who thinks it’s a good school ;)</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, I’m sorry you take it that way. I am indeed curious which Asian school is churning out a number of Ivy League admits.</p>
<p>I think it’s just sad that these unusually intelligent and talented young students aren’t celebrated for all they’ve accomplished instead of having to defend their decision.</p>
<p>Consolation - Thank you! You do bring up a good point - I don’t quite understand their motivation.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - Sometimes I wonder if they do not realize what they say is hurtful…but I am not sure. </p>
<p>PsychoDad10 - Thanks as well! I know WUSTL - it’s a wonderful school and my sister’s friend goes there. </p>
<p>je<em>ne</em>sais_quoi - I appreciate the advice. I will try that with my parents, perhaps sometime this weekend. In response to your last post, I think a lot of times the only “celebrated” students here are those who go on to HYPSM. Well, at least they are talked about a lot as if they have won a Nobel prize. (On a side note, I love your UN! I originally wanted my UN to be jenesaisquoi.)</p>
<p>2collegewego - “Have pride in your school because it will influence how others see it and see you.” I will definitely keep this in mind.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse - That is good to hear! I can’t wait until I’m actually in Providence and all of this is behind me.</p>
<p>LoremIpsum - I’ve always been curious, is there a major benefit to getting a bachelor of science vs. a bachelor of arts? (I apologize if this has been asked a lot - I think a read a bit about it somewhere, but besides the difference in requirements I’ve been wondering what the main “purpose”, for lack of a better word, is). Does it have any effect post-graduation, or is it just a way to study a subject more in depth? And wow - physics and math/CS - that is awesome!</p>
<p>Again, thanks for all the great information! I’ve always heard there are a lot of different ways to do things and figure out concentrations and the like, but it is really nice to hear about the possibilities that follow all these cool combinations (“designer of modern “natural” zoo enclosures” ← very cool)</p>
<p>collegedad2013 - Thank you! There is just a lot of hype here that HYPSM are “perfect” schools (which I didn’t notice as much before since it seems to run much more in circles with high school senior students/parents of said students; and of course, it isn’t true because no school is “perfect”) and therefore “perfect” for everyone. But you’re right - I do think Brown is the best fit for me, as a person.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse - The “what ifs” get me every time!</p>
<p>Dad II - I see - I think you’re right on the money, and that is what I will try to do.</p>
<p>accioknight - Thanks for sharing! It’s nice to know that there is someone else in the same boat, and Hopkins is an amazing place 
I TOTALLY understand that bit about Berkeley - a lot of people know it here, and though I do believe it is a great school, I do not think being an undergraduate there is the experience I want. “Asians gotta be Asians, I guess.” haha, no kidding! Seriously - thanks for letting me know I’m not alone. And I will check out that thread!</p>
<p>(On a side note, I actually got into JHU BME as well, haha! I’ve decided not to matriculate since I was/am not set on engineering, but have done a lot of research on their BME program and it really is simply amazing. Still a bit wistful that I won’t be able to be part of such a great program - if you ever check CC in the future, it’d be cool to hear about your experience! Also, for the record, when I was researching I chose to apply to JHU and not Northwestern, and I think they are both equally great but that I would personally prefer JHU - like you! haha)</p>
<p>Krlilies - We are mostly (~95-98%) US citizens…if that makes a difference? Most of us matriculate at US colleges. I attend an “international school” but I guess that might be misleading depending on how that phrase is interpreted…it’s not a “local school” here per se, but an “American” school (literally, that is part of the school name. All our courses are taught in English and we have APs/run by the American curriculum, etc.). I don’t mind the curiosity, but will not disclose full information to protect anonymity. I also have friends heading off to other Ivies (other than the aforementioned).</p>
<p>barrk123 - Of the ones who commented…none that I know of, actually, but I’m not sure if they (the commenters) applied or not. I do know that there were a good amount of people who applied to Brown from my school, which makes it all the more confusing. </p>
<p>LoremIpsum - I would have to agree - Cornell is a great school.</p>
<p>fire123 - Thank you Maybe I’ll have the pleasure of meeting her one day!</p>
<p>Have you considered, just for fun, to telling all your classmates you’ve decided to turn down all your schools…including Brown to head off to be a California Beach Bum?</p>
<p>That was what my circle of friends and I did at our competitive STEM-centered public magnet to see the reactions from the jerky top 25% of the class who were admitted to at least one elite college. Still would pay good money to see their reactions. :D</p>
<p>Incidentally, Oberlin, my alma mater also had a reputation as a haven for stoners/psychedelic users.</p>
<p>Why? What’s the point of that? What would be so “funny” about their reactions, unless you are overly invested in what other people think? The OP needs to worry LESS about what other people think, not make up stupid pretend scenarios to get a rise out of them.</p>
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<p>Sometimes, the best approach to take with naysayers and the jerks is the smart alecky one and use them as a source of one’s own amusement. :)</p>
<p>You need to follow your own path in life and not be discouraged by naysayers every time you have a decision to make. Perhaps some words of wisdom by the poet Robert Frost are appropriate here:
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<p>-Robert Frost</p>