<p>Boy, do I agree with what Roger_Dooley just wrote. You seem way too concerned with prestige and the Ivy name, and worried about what is going to happen in four years. Brown, Rice and Vanderbilt are three excellent schools -- but they are three very different schools. You need to pick the one that you feel the most comfortable with. If you select Brown just because it's Ivy, and then get there and discover you dislike the liberal, freewheeling nature of its students and philosophically disagree with its open curriculum --you'll end up having four miserable years. Honestly, all three schools have great reputations and will have great firms recruiting at the school, and will look good on a resume or to graduate schools.</p>