<p>Hey I am a rising sophomore at Brown. My future is pretty limited since I am on a scholarship, so I need to go to grad schools in Industrial Engineering/Operations Research. Last year, I chose Brown mainly because I love the campus and everything about Brown. I know that they do not offer a degree in IE, but they do have applied mathematics which prepares me well for grad schools. The thing is sometimes I feel that I should have attended one that offers IE, so there will be more resources/research and faculty in this field. I decided to apply to Northwestern (Industrial Engineering major) and UPenn (Systems Science and Engineering). I got accepted to both. Now I need to make a decision by this wednesday... I am really undecided.</p>
<p>Brown - familiar with campus, made good friends, some good relationships w/ professors, but not many professors doing research in the field im interested</p>
<p>UPenn - great school, chance to take classes in CAS/Wharton, great opportunities, but philly can't be comparable with providence + systems engineering at penn is not that strong</p>
<p>Northwestern - extremely famous for its Industrial Engineering program (same level as Stanford/Berkeley), quarter system allows me to take what I am passionate about, some cool opportunities like Kellogg certificates + very likely to pursue a second degree in economics, but winter is really bad and sometimes i feel that many people transfering out of northwestern for upenn/brown... i feel weird that im on the opposite direction</p>
<p>What really concern me are professor accessibility, undergrad research opportunity, great social life, and better chance for grad schools, thanks!</p>
<p>Yeah, i know that NU is a leading Engineering school, but how about its undergrad experience/opportunity? One thing that keeps me undecided is Brown is so nice, but they just don’t have many people in my field… (i mean professors)</p>
<p>If my understanding is correct, incoming transfers to Northwestern for this fall do not receive any grant money from the school itself. (I think 2009 transfers will receive grant aid in subsequent years). I don’t know if this affects the next round of transfers, but it’s worth checking out.</p>
<p>id stay at brown to be honest student life if one of the things you should be concerned about for undergrad, youll still get a great education, and as long as you do well, youll have a great chance to further studies :)</p>
<p>also, emma watson(hermione in harry potter ;D) is rumored to be coming to brown! haha</p>
<p>if money is not a factor I also favor staying at brown and just using the money you’d save to attend grad school. you’d essentially be paying the same money for an undergrad degree from penn or northwesten, when you can have two degrees for the same price(assuming the scholarship at brown is very generous).</p>
<p>lastly it’s a matter of what is more important to you. if career/major opportunities is the most important thing(and realize you may change your mind once you’re actually in the major) then go for northwestern. If you valuable a balance of academics and social life plus what brown has to offer, stay at brown.</p>
<p>^The OP is international and since he said money isn’t a factor, I am guessing the scholarship is not from Brown but from his country.</p>
<p>OP,
I think it’s really just up to you. You are happy at Brown for the most part yet not satisfied with Brown’s academic offering. Northwestern fits your academic goals better but you are not sure about taking the risk. You may want to contact the professors or dept chair to get info about undergrad research opportunities. Ultimately, you will still be making decision based on imperfect information and only God knows what the right decision is. It’s a matter of whether you are willing to take the risk and, as the poster above pointed out, what’s more important to you. By the way, there’s virtually no difference between Chicago and Providence winters.</p>
<p>I already talked to professors at Northwestern and they said that I did not need an IE degree to get into their PhD program. About research, they cannot answer much since they did not know much about me… I first was really willing to take risks and start over my college life, but now i just feel that i’m not that unhappy at brown. Professors at NU also said if they were me, they would stay at Brown and apply to NU as a grad school. I just… feel like if in the future I cannot get in, I will be pretty sad that I lost the chance for being at Northwestern… What should I do?</p>
<p>If you maintain your GPA at Brown, I’d be shocked if you don’t get into some top IE master programs. You will be competitive for any PhD program but the admission is more unpredictable.</p>
student life if one of the things you should be concerned about for undergrad, youll still get a great education, and as long as you do well, youll have a great chance to further studies :)</p>
haha</p>