<p>When I took my kid to look at Brown, he did not like it at all. First, it was raining and miserable. Second, there seemed to be massive amounts of construction going on, so the jackhammers made everything hard to hear . Third, the tour guide leaders could not have been more pretentious or condescending (“maybe you won’t be able to get into BROWN, but we’re sure you’ll get in SOMEWHERE.” The kind of pretentiousness that provides hours of amusement in the car later. You know how sometimes kids who go to college get this weird college accent? I don’t know how to describe it, but I’ll bet you all have heard it. Fourth, Providence is one dangerous, scary, ugly looking town. I’m sure Brown could be a great place, but we could not bolt out of there fast enough.</p>
<p>LMAO^ </p>
<p>Many, many people love Providence. SCARY? Are you kidding me? I grew up in a scary part of town in rural Kansas and it’s 10x scarier than most parts of Providence. I know people from many ages from uppity Cape Cod who live(d) here and praise the city for its turnaround. </p>
<p>Perhaps the tour guide shouldn’t have said that line (I wouldn’t have!) but it’s the truth nonetheless.</p>
<p>Ehh…some posters really worry me.</p>
<p>Some people have bad experiences. Some of our 50+ tour guides are not as good as others.</p>
<p>What I can dispute is Providence being scary. The Eastside is an extremely affluent area with newly constructed one bedroom apartments going for 750k+. Downtown Providence is far from dangerous.</p>
<p>There are bad parts of town and good parts of town, but Brown is very insulated from anything that resembles the bad part of town.</p>
<p>I dispute your assertion that “more”/“less” qualified is a myth. Certainly in current college admissions it is largely ignored, but it shouldn’t be–in societal fairness, college admissions should be a meritocracy (NOT a stats-based meritocracy but a holistic one, making the question, is legacy a fair addition to merit?).</p>
<p>Endicott: Glad you figured out Brown wasn’t for your kids. Different schools fit different kids. But to decide against it because it was raining? </p>
<p>As for legacy: As an alum, I know many legacy applicants who were denied admission. These included students with 750+ SATs, impressive ECs, val or sal status, etc. Plus having parents who are active volunteers. So being a legacy is far from an assured acceptance. The legacy candidates I know who got in also had incredible stats: 750+ SATs, impressive ECs, etc., etc. I totally agree with modestmelody’s response in #55 – ilovepeople, honestly, you need to stop visiting this board, forget about Brown, move on. </p>
<p>And I agree with poubelle: I dislike what Brown has done with many of its new buildings. I loved the eclectic mix of architectural styles and the many smaller scale buildings on campus – the Victorian houses used for department HQ, for example. All this new construction is adding these ugly monolithic brick buildings with no character, changing the experience of walking around campus.</p>
<p>Keilexander: Why should private colleges be meritocracies? I agree that public institutions should be. And if you are not basing your meritocracy on stats alone, then I don’t see how you can have a “meritocracy” since your criteria then by necessity becomes value oriented, and everyone’s values are different. Some would definitely argue that there is a value, thus a merit, to accepting legacies.</p>
<p>Providence dangerous?? lol I’m sorry but I went with my brother (he is from Chicago and I’m from Miami)and what I saw is that Providence is far from dangerous. The people were really friendly and you can almost feel an aura of peace (then again we have seen really dangerous towns in Chicago and Miami so I guess we would feel most of New England has a certain feeling of safety). Most people were either students or teachers. When I was there it was rainy too, but I am not going to say it horrible because of the rain. It is New England, it is rainy and cold. Most people can’t take the disastrous weather and I have to say that weather is probably the worst part about Brown. Apart from that Brown is really amazing. Students who you talk to are really friendly and open. Teachers greet you when you walk. The Tour Guides are great and they honestly look like they adore Brown (one of my tour guides was actually sad because she is graduating next year).</p>
<p>Oh, and Providence is not ugly… its so pretty = ]</p>
<p>fireandrain: That’s exactly what I’m saying–whether “legacy” is a part of merit is up for debate. My personal belief is that considering legacy is a disservice to societal equality, which presumably these elite colleges wish to aid. And dropping the extra consideration is not necessarily an institution’s fund-raising death knell; cf. Caltech.</p>
<p>No–raining is not a good reason not to like a school. But since it saved some bucks applying, I was fine with the boy’s resistance. There were plenty of other expen$ive schools for him to apply to!</p>
<p>I feel bad for the guy who started this thread, but it is a very helpful thread for the rest of us. This thread pushed me definitively over the edge to accepting Brown.</p>
<p>What do I hate about Brown? I hate that Brown is one of the poorer Ivies and so cannot give aid like the top tier Ivies. It’s the only Ivy I applied to, because it had the right personality for me, but in hindsight I should have looked into their financial situation a bit more before I applied – if I had, I would have known to expect no aid except for a small loan. And I would have known not to get my hopes up. If Brown’s aid giving was akin to the other Ivies, I would likely be going there. It’s a great school, but not worth $50k+ cash a year for a family making in the low-to-mid $100K’s. Brown has joined the group of second-tier elite schools that have chosen to abandon middle-class applicants due to bad endowment returns, and I hate them for it.</p>
<p>Low-to-mid 100ks is not middle class, and I’m barely in that range (while living in one of the most expensive parts of the country) and getting about half off my junior and senior year. The first two years I got no aid because we had college savings that we had to spend first before qualifying for aid. On 100k salary you can’t pay 50k a year-- but with 60k in the bank for college you can pay 100% for your first year and that’s how Brown looks at it and that’s how they should.</p>
<p>Guess which Ivy has not had to borrow 1 billion dollars?</p>
<p>My own situation-- 0 aid my freshman year…</p>
<p>Debt at time of graduation from Brown is just south of 9k. My parents make under 100k after taxes combined and I live in Nassau County-- meaning 10-15k a year in property tax, just to get a sense of how expensive my area is.</p>
<p>there are a lot of things i dislike; most however are very small and i would never give up my place at brown for them. some of the stronger ones are:
- while people love brown and can be very proactive, i wish there was more vagrant school spirit/coming together of peoples- what i mean is, while, say, our football games are fun and spirited, they’re one of the few and, still not very large, organized, all-members-of-Brown come together. another example, some spring weekend events- i wish there was more interest in some things and that brown could pull its students together more. maybe more unity, is what i mean. because there are groups or events on campus that sound interesting/seem like they would be a big thing for brown students but turn out not to be- i don’t know exactly what i mean, but i think what i’m trying to get at is i wish brown students could be a bit more organized together and have more pride in some things.</p>
<p>-there are a lot of ugly things on campus. meaning, while we have our fair share of beautiful trees and pretty greens in the spring and etc., i wish it wasn’t so urban (more open spaces, etc), cramped, or just ugly architecture around a lot. you have to actively find places that are aesthetically pleasing, which is fine, but i wish it were easier and there could be more of them.</p>
<ul>
<li>sometimes i wonder how some people here ever got in. not that i think they are dumb or not qualified or anything- for all i know, they could be geniuses- but sometimes i wonder, judging from some things they say/do/act. i question brown’s admissions process sometimes, but that’s mostly from personal bias when people i know who i thought definitely should get in don’t while i see some people here who make me wonder why brown chose them- not so much that i deny their right to go to brown or anything, but it just makes me wonder.</li>
</ul>
<p>there are more little things too but you’ll get those anywhere you go; overall, i think brown can boast very little issues comparatively. i don’t really know anyone who severely dislikes brown who goes or went here.</p>
<p>This is a question:</p>
<p>Are people at Brown for the most part ambitious, like “Let’s make it happen?” Or more laid back kind of like “Let’s change the world, but…I’m not sure how to do it”? </p>
<p>This is a poorly phrased question, I know.</p>
<p>Most of the people I know are “Let’s make it happen,” people for sure, but I’m that way so I may be self-selecting in that regard. I see Brown students stepping up and going to extremes with things in ways I’d never imagine.</p>
<p>Hilly-- I used to feel that way, “How did they get in?” occasionally, but often find those people are way smarter than me in one particular way that is astounding. I also started visiting friends’ schools and found out just how ridiculously bright the people are here relative to other places.</p>