How good is Brown University? Public/Employment Perception and Academic Quality

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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I applied to Brown because for many reasons, and I think I know why I want to go there. While incorrect in some of your eyes, I value the public perception of degrees. (I want to get an Sc. B in Mathematics) For example, when a potential employer looks at my accomplishments and sees that I’ve graduated from Brown, does he/she think “Wow, this person must have been a superstar to attend Brown!” or might they think “Huh, Brown is a good school, next factor…” Would I be safe/correct in saying that Brown is one of the best undergraduate schools on earth? In the US? Is it fair to say that Brown offers the highest, or at least very comparable to the highest, level of academic rigor/quality? Is it correct to say that I’ll find some of the best minds of the future at Brown? Is Brown some sort of, as I’ve seen people on CC call it, “Lower Ivy?”

As an outside note, maybe some of these questions don’t make sense. Maybe the terms best and highest aren’t used well in describing colleges. In any case, please comment your thoughts.

I appreciate all responses and thank all posters in advance.

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I totally feel!! lower ivy haha same in my community

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Lower Ivy is still an Ivy. That’s kinda like saying “Oh Donald Trump, yeah he’s a billionaire but not like a Bill Gates billionaire. He’s pretty poor, only worth like 4 billion dollars. Bet he gets food stamps”

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Well if you can’t get into HYMPS, which most can’t, what can you do? Lower Ivy and many non-Ivy good schools (Duke, JHU, NU, UChi…) are still good and generally command instant credibility (or benefit of doubt). But people tend to place too much value on name tag along. It also depends on what you study/major. No Ivy, even Harvard, is good at everything it does. At the end it’s how you perform. Like many studies indicated, a same smart kid that goes to state school, usually end up about same as its counterpart that goes to Ivy, except for some very selective or network-centric profession, like POTUS and Wall Street gigs… Not even sure if that’s necessarily a good thing.

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The problem with the question (not a criticism of the post) is that there is no answer that applies to all employers/public. Brown will be a big plus for some employers and impress some people, others not so much. But, as other posters say, it’s Ivy League and that puts it in rarified air for anyone – though some will have negative perceptions of Ivy League. As far as whether you will be with big thinkers, yes, some of your classmates will rise to very high places, but that’s true at any top tier school, Ivy League or not. Brown’s distinguishing factors are probably more related to the open curriculum and the mellow atmosphere. Also, some concentrations are more well-regarded at Brown than others. I don’t know about Math, but I think that it’s a pretty highly respected program. Good luck.

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Major choice is more important than school choice. A computer science grad at San Diego State University will probably make much more money than a humanities graduate at Brown.

It’s funny that you pose those questions. The public perception of Brown is that they have inflated grades but the people who go there are pretty chill. I would say it’s academic rigor is laughable. Although people on CC says an Ivy is just an Ivy, the general public does think that Brown, Cornell, and Dartmouth are a lower ivies. Brown is not one of the best undergraduate schools but it’s up there for sure. Plus, if a company really thought a superstar would be a brown graduate, it doesn’t look like a good company at all.

Brown is an amazing school nevertheless and it would be wonderful to study there.

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@Ilovecherrypies Brown is actually ranked among the top 5 for undergraduate teaching in the country, and I think you have your perception of the whole “level of Ivy” flipped. I have only ever seen people on CC ask about the tiers of the Ivy league schools. Here on CC, the demographic is markedly different from the real world.
Also, I’m not sure what you even mean by the last sentence in your second paragraph.

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According to USNWR Brown’s overall and math ranking are both in the teen. So superstar, walk on the water genius type? Probably not. But certainly among the very good ones. Would people generally treat you like one just because you are in the Ivy? I mean would you do that to other Ivies? In reality what’s your other options. If Brown is your best option then be happy and go for it. It’d give you high quality education to succeed if you also work on it. It’s not an automatic entitlement.

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@ManaManaWegi Brown is obviously a great school. Does it have the wow factor of Harvard or Stanford? No, but few do anyway. I think another thing with Brown is that is suffers a bit in international rankings and domestic college rankings because it is not a super strong research university, which a very big endowment, super rich alumni base and super-high starting salaries (compared to some other top schools, that is). Or it gets some flack for being the easy ivy due to the flexible curriculum (which is not true btw).
Brown has a distinct identity and culture. It has excellent undergraduate quality and in general very happy students. If you think you fit in well there, you should definitely apply. It is a great school and it is an ivy after all.

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@Ilovecherrypies “I would say its academic rigor is laughable”- on what do you base that? Just curious

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OP, you applied. You were admitted.
Now you’re asking? Kinda backwards?

All the top are among “the best undergraduate schools on earth.” You make your decisions on multiple factors.

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@lookingforward I think it’d be wrong to say I hadn’t asked these questions before. I re raise them because I think I may have overrated brown, or at least have the wrong evaluation in the fields of the questions, which explains why I asked them.

Thanks all for the responses

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In general, no tippy top is “overrated.” But there can be differences in various programs. Or maybe a kid’s personal preferences.

Do you mean, will a savvy hiring manager know Brown, Dartmouth or Cornell are tippy tops? Sure. All the tippy tops have long records of producing the best. Your own results will depend on you, your work.

It just seems limited to phrase this in terms of general name recognition. The refinement is how the particular program you want stacks up against others, what it offers, what else, etc.

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What are your other admitted schools? Is there one better than Brown? If not this discussion is a moot point unless you have a good instate option that you are debating the cost vs benefit? If Brown is your best option and you are hoping to hear that it’s just like Harvard or Stanford (but you already know the answer) then sorry…

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@Just4Years I think it’s wrong to say that this discussion is moot only because I’ll Brown is the best option I have ( and it is.) This discussion isn’t about me attempting to make myself believe that I got into a better school than I did, but it’s about judging the state of my academic career, giving even the slightest quantitative value to my accomplishments, as only to understand what my actions have earned me, what I might expect be necessary to achieve feats greater than a Brown acceptance, what level of accomplishment and effort and willpower is necessary to the amount of success I have. My thought process on judging my accomplishments is what some might call pessimistic. I would much prefer a truthful (if it was, not saying this example is) statement like “Brown, in terms of Stem, really isn’t that good” than a fabrication like (again, I’m not suggesting whether this statement is true or false) “Brown is a school for academic superstars, you are going great places.”
This is largely because statements telling me how good I am don’t help me nearly to the degree that negative statements do. In other words, I’d much rather you tell me what I did wrong than what I did right, or in this case underestimate my accomplishments than overestimate. I’ve found that complimenting statements like “you are amazing” don’t push me to be amazing like “wow, from the way your friends described you, I thought you would be much smarter” might. Telling me my problems pushes me to fix them much more than telling me of my correctness pushes me to continue with that path.

So no, the last thing I want you to do is overestimate the school I’m almost certainly going to, only to attempt to judge my accomplishments ( which I knew was difficult, especially given the broadness of the question )

@lookingforward
I think I realize now that any answer to my question other than those similar to what you are giving would be the throwing around of adjectives without the proper justification.

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Dear OP,

Here is some food for thought.

Your Question: “Would I be safe/correct in saying that Brown is one of the best undergraduate schools …?

My response: Yes, absolutely. Be happy for your acceptance and proud of your accomplishments. Brown is a wonderful school. There are thousands upon thousands of graduating seniors who wish they were in your shoes.

Your Question: “Is it fair to say that Brown offers the highest, or at least very comparable to the highest, level of academic rigor/quality?”

My response: Absolutely. It also allows academically serious students the option to focus on their academic interest without the annoying necessity of fulfilling core requirements. Of course, some departments are stronger than others. But that’s true at almost all elite universities.

Your Question: “Is it correct to say that I’ll find some of the best minds of the future at Brown?”

My response: As a general rule, students at elite colleges like Brown are exceptional in one way or another. If they weren’t, they never would have been admitted in the first instance. This doesn’t mean that everyone will knock your socks off with their brilliance because even the smartest people can sometimes be dumb. But you will likely learn as much or more from your fellow students as you will from even your best professors. If the past is prolog to the future, however, the “best minds” of your generation will not come just from the most elite colleges.

Your question: "Is Brown some sort of, as I’ve seen people on CC call it, “Lower Ivy?”

My response: In the common imagination, Brown is not Harvard. But neither is Yale, Princeton, Columbia, or any other Ivy. In my view, however, the idea that Brown is a “lower Ivy” is an urban myth. By any rubric other than its relatively modest endowment, Brown would, in my opinion, be a top-10 university. Brown is not Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. Nor is it Cornell. As such, “mid-level Ivy” probably describes Brown best.

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Kinda sorta. But what a burden you’re putting on yourself, asking to be kicked. I mean that in a mom way.

If you need a pep talk, pm me.

:wink:

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“Get into a better school than I did”
So this thread’s TL;DR is: Waah Waah I only got into an Ivy

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I am not sure spending so much effort using college acceptance as a measure to your “achievement” at this point of life is even a healthy mindset. Yet I guess many kids and even parents do that for their self worth or even bragging right. But how much have you really accomplished? Less than those who are going to HYMPS, but more than those who did not get into Brown? Really? I’d rather focus on what you can do at Brown to help yourself accomplish truly great thing in life. If you are really talented and motivated you will do great Brown or not. If not, even Harvard won’t do much good.

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I have always thought of Brown as a lower ivy so to speak, along with Dartmouth and Cornell. Probably Brown and Dartmouth are slightly above Cornell. HYP is obviously the top tier of the ivies, with Harvard being above Yale and Princeton. Columbia and Penn to me are more like the middle ivies. Personally I wouldn’t put Brown exactly on the same tier as Columbia or Penn. Columbia and Penn seem to be preferred over Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell (higher yields, cross-admit splits) and are in general ranked higher in most/all rankings and have bigger endowments.

That said the prestige difference lies primarily between HYPSM and the rest of the elite schools.

While i say this, I do think Brown is an amazing school. All of the ivies are. They are all very prestigious and well-known, with amazing academic opportunities. This is more hair-splitting than anything else.