<p>I was accepted to Brown ED. I do not know what I want to do only that I am not interested in concentrating in math or science. Maybe I would do computer science but I really have no idea. I am very artistic and would love to do something creative with my life, which is why Brown is such a perfect fit with RISD being right next door. I enjoy to draw, I am interested in film. Possibly international relations. Really I don't know. I also would prefer a smaller school. </p>
<p>Granted everything, I have been having doubts about Brown. I am an athlete and I have the opportunity to attend UC Berkeley. At Cal: I have priority registration as an athlete, I have in-state tuition, I have a scholarship that will increase each year...It is half the price of Brown. Though I have the money to attend the ivy league (I would come out with at most 10-20k in debt) I am very frugal. If I were to attend Cal, I get to keep the extra money.</p>
<p>Cal is an hour away from home and my heart is calling for a new experience. Thoughts from current UCB students, Cal alumni? How is your experience at Cal, how has Cal helped you find a job/career after graduation?</p>
<p>The real question is whether you want big time D1 sports or not. Pac#, or Ivy League.</p>
<p>For undergrad experience, Brown is the no-brainer (IMO). It’s easier (mean gpa = 3.6,; even STEM courses have an A- average). It has RISD to satisfy your artistic bent. It’s the size of a small Uni/large LAC. It has a gazillion dollars to throw at you for undergrad research, travel, whatever. Brown would give you a new experience out of state.</p>
<p>I hate this interpretation of mean gpa vs difficulty. Consider Math 55 at Harvard, where pretty much everyone who takes it gets an A or A- (so I believe the average gpa of that course is around 3.9). By this logic, Math 55 must be sooo much easier than Cal’s math 1a right? Wrong. Completely wrong. Math 1A students at Cal would fail miserably and get an F in Math 55. </p>
<p>That’s just an extreme example. I just wanted to point out correlation does not imply causation (whee statistics).</p>
<p>Anyway, back on topic. If you applied ED, then I’m sure you probably wanted to go to Brown so why not? Personally, I’d say if you weren’t sure you were doing something in a STEM field then choose Brown. Even if you were sure, I’d still lean toward Brown just for the new experience (heh, I should have taken my own advice).</p>
<p>Yes, lets. And you are forgetting the masses that drop out of Math 55 during the first term. Those that are left may earn an A. (So it ain’t everyone who takes it" but those that survive.) That’s what is great about Brown…an extremely liberal drop policy. Don’t want a B? Drop the class.</p>
<p>Please name one US college where the premed prereq curve is an A-. And understand that it is not just one “extreme example” but the whole course catalog!</p>
<p>The fact is that it is darn near impossible to academically flunk out of an Ivy or Stanford. Not true at UC.</p>
<p>It’s kind of a dick move to consider Berkeley, especially since as per the ED agreement you were supposed to withdraw your other applications had you been accepted to Brown.</p>
<p>I doubt if the Brown comsci degree does have the respect of the Berkeley comsci degree has. I bet most top employers would value a Berkeley comsic degree in a notch above Brown’s. And, I know people who went to Brown who weren’t so ecstatic about their stay there and almost everyone I know who went to Berkeley was happy with their whole stay there.</p>
<p>Berkeley >> Brown for comsci.
College experience: Berkeley > Brown or = to some people.</p>
<p>However, the Harvard students whose math ability and preparation is similar to that of Berkeley students in Math 1A are taking a similar freshman calculus course, which Harvard also calls Math 1a.</p>
<p>The Berkeley counterparts to Harvard students taking Math 55a would likely be in one or more of the honors math courses (Math H104, Math H110, etc.).</p>
<p>Your decision should come down to whether you want to save money (or if the sport you’re playing has a possibility of a career-even the slightest) or if you would prefer a more nurturing environment (Brown) . Heck even if I were you and have even the slightest interest in compsci, I would choose Brown because I am pretty sure Brown would be the better place to explore yourself intellectually (and more often than not you would change your mind about your intellectual interests). Judging from your tone, you are not very focused or have not explicitly zeroed in on what you want, Brown would be better but only choose it if you think you can and do not mind handling the debt.</p>