<p>^ Yes, I did. However, I don’t understand why everyone affords so much importance to Brown, even though they know that I’ll be pursuing either Economics or Engineering.</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think connections for UPSC are made in Brown, phr34k ;)</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone who got into the colleges they wanted! 
Cheers </p>
<p>Sent from my X10 mini pro using CC</p>
<p>Well, Tizil, you see that attitude is based solely on one factor only - prestige. The fact that Brown is an Ivy league school makes a lot of people automatically rate it as a better institution than a state school, albeit a great one. IMO, thats just pure naivety on their part. Don’t pay much heed to it if you don’t particularly care for prestige. UC Berkeley is constantly ranked as one of the top schools in the US. I’m don’t mean to downplay Brown either. Just sharing what I have experienced.</p>
<p>Mrinal, well, I want to do architecture. So there’s this architectural firm in my city I’m trying to intern for.
And you? Besides Summer@Brown?</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s fair to undermine Brown because of its ‘prestige.’ After all, there is a reason it has this prestige.</p>
<p>Tizil, I have visited Brown’s campus… it’s beautiful. I think people are attracted to Brown because of its collaborative environment. I’ve heard students are generally very happy there. Seems almost like an utopia, haha 
</p>
<p>Brown is great for liberal arts. It will give you both breadth and depth of knowledge, which in my opinion is important for every college student to graduate with.</p>
<p>This is just my opinion. Choose the school where you think you’d fit in best :)</p>
<p>^ Not undermining Brown at all. What I meant to say was UC Berkeley is a great school and people, specifically in India, would mostly favor Brown in comparison solely because of the fact that it’s an ivy league school. They will not base the comparison on any other factor other than prestige. I guess I’m not expressing myself very clearly. Hope I got the point across, nevertheless.</p>
<p>And the cold weather isn’t bad. The winters of New England have their own charm. Don’t forget the snow days! 
To all: don’t let the weather deter you! We are equipped with the modern conveniences of heating and electricity. :p</p>
<p>Dingly, you will be able to actually experience what it is like to have four seasons!
Fall in NH is especially gorgeous.</p>
<p>Well, UCB’s engineering is absolutely great man!!
I seriously think that It is a good choice for what its worth :)</p>
<p>I understand your point, idream17. I guess what I mean to say is that if one is not completely set on a career, Brown would be the better option because it is relatively strong in all fields. However, I suppose Tizil’s case is somewhat different since s/he has narrowed his/her interests to economics and engineering.</p>
<p>UCB campus beats Brown campus anyday in beauty. Just outside the campus though, it is just like walking around on Indian streets where beggars stop you every few feet to ask for change. </p>
<p>If one is doing anything related to computer or electrical engineering, UCB puts you in the mecca of the world industry for these areas.</p>
<p>@texas, what do you think of mechanical engineering there??</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> — UC Berkeley College of Engineering](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/about/rankings.html]Rankings”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/about/rankings.html)</p>
<p>Mrinal - they seem to be highly ranked but I am not sure what would be considered a concentrated area for mechanical engineering industry. Silicon valley is considered high tech headquarters and most people going to Stanford or UCB end up staying there or getting recruited out of college to other locations. </p>
<p>What are your interests in mech E?</p>
<p>Tizil - I found some other links that compares Brown to other Engineering colleges
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1313831-cornell-biomedical-mechanicla-engineering-vs-brown.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1313831-cornell-biomedical-mechanicla-engineering-vs-brown.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/485512-engineering-brown.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/485512-engineering-brown.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1313831-cornell-biomedical-mechanicla-engineering-vs-brown.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1313831-cornell-biomedical-mechanicla-engineering-vs-brown.html</a></p>
<p>General consensus seems to be that Brown is more of a liberal arts or pre-med type school.
About Berkeley, obviously, Engineering is ranked top here. You can’t go wrong. What I would still caution is - it definitely is a big school and is not for everyone. You will find two sides here. Ones who just LOVE Berkeley and ones who prefer they were somewhere else. For the latter, it is mostly those who cannot keep up with the work. Berkeley is competitive and not for the weak of heart. So be prepared for the level of competition. Again, this is probably same with Brown as well…any top college has top students that lead to the competition.</p>
<p>It is a pity you can’t visit admit days of both schools and decide. Just out of curiousity, why did you apply to Brown? Your other choices - cornell, cmu, columbia are all strong Engineering schools and Brown seemed to be different.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, here are the world rankings
<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-it.html[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-2012/engineering-and-it.html</a></p>
<p>Just to make things clear on all fronts, Berkeley tips Brown in more majors than the other way around. There seems to be a false consensus that Berkeley is only good for Econ/Engineering. Agreed these are the marquee majors at Berkeley, but it is consistently ranked in top 5-10 universities for literally everything it offers, and in my experience of browsing through tons of rankings, it is far more consistent than Brown.
What people don’t understand is that “Ivy league” is a sports league that has very little to do otherwise. Institutions like Berkeley, MIT, Caltech and Stanford are on par if not better than some of the Ivies. The bias is quite understandable against Berkeley in specific in the above pool on account of it being a state school, but the fact that it has been the top Public institution for the last 150 years speaks a whole lot more. Equate it to the Indian education system for that matter: IITs/IIMs are by far the most prestigious institutions. Are they public? Yes. DPSRKP is on par with any other private if not better than most. Is it public? Yes. By the same metric, it is no mean feat that Berkeley has not just remained a top public university but has given top privates a run for their money, despite being bound by state law to admit a certain number of instate residents and budget cuts. In my view, that is the mark of an excellent institution that continues to hold it’s own even in times of the worst financial times that the state is facing. I personally would believe that this brand-name resilience is more an indicator of prestige than what a small sample of people back in India think.</p>
<p>Financial crisis has affected private universities as well. Here is something I came across couple of years ago and I don’t know what the situation is like this year. </p>
<p>[Attrition</a>, layoffs to cut 60 positions - Campus News - The Brown Daily Herald - Serving the community daily since 1891](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/campus-news/attrition-layoffs-to-cut-60-positions-1.1667691#.T3kCHmHOUsI]Attrition”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/campus-news/attrition-layoffs-to-cut-60-positions-1.1667691#.T3kCHmHOUsI)</p>
<p>People make it a big deal when belt tightening takes place in a public university.</p>
<p>Here is a report some of you might find interesting:</p>
<p><a href=“http://mup.asu.edu/research2010.pdf[/url]”>http://mup.asu.edu/research2010.pdf</a></p>
<p>I was a bit surprised by the #s on page 16. My favorite PAC-12 university is not bad. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for the plethora of information over the last two pages guys :)</p>
<p>I just received Brown’s admit packet. It contains a certificate which proclaims my admission to Brown. I’m happy with just keeping that and knowing that I was offered a place there.</p>
<p>F16Parent, I chose Brown because of it’s seemingly free and liberal arts education. I was quite interested in majoring/concentrating in Creative Writing and Brown seemed like a good place to be doing that. However, I still like the sciences and economics, so I’ll stick with a place that caters to more of my interests, that is, Cal.</p>
<p>YIMTG, though DPS RKP has the word ‘public’ in its name, it is very much a private school ;)</p>
<p>Agree that the DPS society is a public institution by only the virtue of its name, the functioning suggests that it is more a private type.
DPS ftw!! :p</p>
<p>Umm guys… DPS is just called Delhi Public School. It is very much a private school run by a private board for profit. People buy DPS franchises just like they buy restaurant franchises for Mcdonalds!! It is in no way paid for or subsidized by the government in any way.</p>