Hi there!
So right now, I’m torn between the honors program at Duke, Dartmouth, and Brown. See, I really do believe I’d be happiest at Brown–I love the liberal community and the open-mindedness existent within the student body. I really want to go to a college that would help me get internships and jobs; I really want to intern for CNN or the United Nations during my undergrad years. Do you think Brown would help me do this sort of thing?
I feel like Dartmouth’s ‘D-Plan’ is perfect for finding jobs and internships; however, I’m really not crazy about the social scene at Dartmouth.
Any other opinions about Brown that could help me with my decision would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
Do you mean like during the summer or take a semester off? If you mean the latter, then I can say that Brown is extremely generous and liberal when it comes to allowing students to take time off to pursue other interests.
If you just mean like a summer internship, I don’t think there’s going to be any difference among the schools.
That’s awesome!
Hmmm, okay. So does Brown help with finding summer internships? Money is a problem and my parents are taking a pretty significant loan for me, so I really want to make use of my undergraduate years. If I had some sort of project that I wanted to start, do you think Brown would give me the funds for it?
My roommate took a semester off to work with a a company–very, very easy to do at Brown.
Thanks so much! Can you guys also share your experiences at Brown?
You can search for my posts in the Brown forum. I’ve been on here for 10 years and written extensively about being a Brown student.
WiseOrigins, I love Brown, but don’t know if any school is worth “significant loans.” Do you have a more affordable option? What size loans are we talking about here?
As for internships – my daughter, who graduated Brown in 2011, got great internships over the summers, but did it more on her own; career development was not much help in her fields of interest (things may have gotten better in the last 6 years). (She also did not get several great internships – internships can be very competitive.) If you’re not computer science or engineering, many internships are either unpaid or very low paid. Brown has a program where you can apply for funding if you get an unpaid internship – http://www.brown.edu/campus-life/support/careerlab/link.
Have you actually looked at UN and CNN internships? I just did. CNN is based in Atlanta with positions in Atlanta and DC and the UN is in NYC with positions in DC and elsewhere around the world. Many UN internships are only available to graduate students. We’re talking about summer internships since you’ll be in Providence. CNN interns get paid minimum wage. UN seems to be unpaid. Factor in the cost of living in places like DC or NYC for the summer. I spent about 1 minute on the websites – I urge you to spend a lot more time.
My point is that if money is a huge issue for you, if you need to earn money in the summers to help pay for college, you do some research and some serious thinking about how to balance your need for cash with your desire to get internships at places that may not pay.
Brown has a program called URTA they use for awarding funds. I’m not sure it would cover what you are interested in but you can look it up. My dd received two such awards for research on campus over two summers. I think she was also able to get the university to cover a summer class or two.
Wow, this is such useful information guys, thank you SO much! So, basically I’m planning to do a really big project on sexual abuse over the summer, and I really need to go to a university that would provide me the funds to do the project. Do you guys think that Dartmouth or Duke would be better schools when it comes to giving money for this sort of thing, or would Brown do this for me?
Thank you @fireandrain! I guess I didn’t really consider that 
@WiseOrigins Here is more info on UTRA’s. From what I was told by a Brown student who has gotten two, they are not too difficult to get. So, you may want to check this out for your project:
http://www.brown.edu/academics/college/fellowships/utra/
You answered your own question in your original post. If you believe you’d be happiest at Brown, absolutely go to Brown.