<p>I am interested in the sciences and both MIT and Brown are good in the field of science. I want to become a doctor but I also want to do research in college and beyond. Which school is better for biology/psychology/neuroscience?</p>
<p>Doctor? Brown. Not only do you have a much better shot of getting into their exceptional med school (they only accept like 5% of their class through traditional MCAT Apply methods. The majority come from their school, or associate school's programs.)</p>
<p>Yeah, though I'm all for MIT, for a doctoral program Brown will be a better choice i think</p>
<p>also, at brown you'll have better control over your gpa.</p>
<p>MIT is good for science, but it isn't that great in med. Go Brown.</p>
<p>There are 2 different questions here, with 2 different answers.</p>
<p>MIT is fantastic for bio/psychology/neurosciences, as I'm sure molliebatmit could tell you. So if you want a research career in that, I would take MIT.</p>
<p>However, if you want to be a physician, that's a different issue, because the simple fact is, it's not that easy to get the stellar GPA at MIT that the med-schools like. Fair or unfair (mostly unfair), med-school adcoms don't really care that certain schools are more difficult than others. Hence, if this is what you'd want, I'd probably take Brown.</p>
<p>ah... This is not helping me. I still can't decide. I guess the campus visit may make the difference.</p>
<p>if you're sure about neuroscience & med school, probably brown
you get to benefit from one of the best neuroscience programs in the country, a better med school placement than MIT, and an uncontestably happier environment</p>
<p>Brown eats bugs.</p>
<p>Go to MIT.</p>
<p>Is MIT's brain and cog department better or Brown's neuroscience department?</p>
<p>According to USNews, MIT's BCS department is ranked 10th in neuroscience and Brown's isn't on the list (It only goes to 10. How... not useful).</p>
<p>For biological sciences (which include neurobiology, although somewhat imperfectly), MIT is ranked 2 and Brown is ranked 40.</p>
<p>MIT is excellent in the brain sciences and they just built wonderful new facilities. </p>
<p>still, neuroscience at brown is very strong--it is only unranked because the graduate side is very small (they take about five new grad students a year). still, it's the only graduate neuroscience department in the country sponsored by the NIH, and all three professors who wrote the definitive undergrad textbook reside at Brown. Brown has nobel laureates in the neuroscience department, the BrainGate inventor, and the guy who discovered the eye's third photoreceptor (among others).</p>
<p>MIT has things to offer that Brown does not, and Brown has things to offer that MIT does not. Either way, you'd get a very strong background in neuro if you pursued that path</p>
<p>i'm making this exact same choice, actually (same major, same two schools to pick from). i'm thinking MIT because i like the culture better, and i plan to go on to research rather than to med school. the bottom line is, at this point DO NOT pick based on which department is ranked higher. that is basically irrelevant between two such amazing schools. if you were deciding between one of them and a lower, merit-aid school or something, the rankings might make more of a difference, but at this point, pick the school you like better with some consideration for your GPA if you want to do med school. good luck to you!</p>
<p>That's not even a question.</p>
<p>Just a few things, because I'm not trying to start a flame war --
1. Sure, the people who wrote the definitive undergrad textbook may all be at Brown. But at MIT, we don't even use an undergrad textbook, because we use the definitive graduate/medical school textbook. Who needs textbooks for undergrads?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>At Brown you can work with a Nobel laureate. At MIT you can work with a Nobel laureate or an [url=<a href="http://www.hhmi.org%5DHHMI%5B/url">http://www.hhmi.org]HHMI[/url</a>] investigator (none of those at Brown).</p></li>
<li><p>dcircle said above, "You get to benefit from... an uncontestably happier environment." I have no problem contesting this.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>there are several great neuro texts used throughout the concentration at Brown-Bear, Conners, & Paradiso is used for the intro course at Brown (and most undergrad neurobio courses throughout the country). i think it's a great book for a freshman who has not yet had advanced physics and biochemistry--it's also a great class because the profs (coincidentally Bear, Conners, & Paradiso) are invested enough in teaching undergrads to write their own textbook</p></li>
<li><p>interestingly, an HHMI prof from Brown recently moved to MIT. it's sort of silly though, because there are many prestigious foundations that sponsor professors at both schools. it'd be dumb to talk about how many National Academy of Sciences, MacArthur, Burroughs-Wellcome, or whatever profs you get to work with at either place. I will say, that though nobel laureate's like Tonegawa are at MIT they run gigantic labs. At Brown, I was advised by Leon Cooper every day.</p></li>
<li><p>contest away. there's no IHTFP at Brown. a Brown commencement isn't a celebration of an ordeal (have you been to an MIT commencement?)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
[quote]
According to USNews, MIT's BCS department is ranked 10th in neuroscience and Brown's isn't on the list (It only goes to 10. How... not useful).</p>
<p>For biological sciences (which include neurobiology, although somewhat imperfectly), MIT is ranked 2 and Brown is ranked 40.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How about the NRC rankings. Granted, they are from a decade ago (the next one to be published soon). Still, can be a useful indicator.</p>
<p>Tonegawa may have a big lab, but so do most top dogs in their fields. That's a reality of life if you're interested in working with someone who's a big name. And regardless of the number of postdocs he has, he still takes undergrads in his lab, and he still teaches undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>IHTFP has, as I hope everyone knows, more than one meaning. And course 9 (BCS) undergrads are candidates for the least likely students to be unhappy with their course requirements, too.</p>
<p>MIT-Better location, more fun, plus wierd looking building and alot of Asians
Brown-Rhode Island is boringgggg, in the "hood", near the ocean and has more black people than any other schools
MIT-Great for engineering and OTHER TYPES of science
Brown-Great for Doctors, matter of fact, go to BROWN ONLY if you want to be a doctor</p>
<p>I want to be a doctor, but I want to do research too. Maybe I would like to pursue a PhD/MD in the future. The future looks very uncertain at this point. MIT is in a great location, but I can see MIT's green building from my house. This is going to be a hard choice, but I think I love MIT more just because I fit in so well.</p>