I recently sort of rediscovered Brown, and it seems like it’s almost like UChicago but with fewer downsides. From what I’ve heard, the worst parts of UChicago are the stress, the social scene, and the massive amounts of work, while the best parts are the incredible academics, the opportunities available, name recognition among employers/grad admissions, and the intellectual “life of the mind” atmosphere.
Brown also has excellent academics, tons of opportunities, Ivy prestige without the elitism of HYP, and a similarly intellectual, but much more relaxed atmosphere, while at the same time being less stressful and relatively easier. Of course, I know that Brown, like any top school, will not be easy, but compared to UChicago it seems like the workload is much less intense. Also, although this won’t apply to most people, Providence is much closer to where I live than Chicago.
How true is this? Also, what are some downsides of Brown? I want to know more about the bad things about Brown before I make any decisions about anything. What is bad about Brown that I might not be able to find out by Google searching?
A big difference is that Chicago has a large core curriculum, while Brown has no general education requirements beyond writing (except for those in ABET-accredited engineering majors). Note: Chicago is on the quarter system (three 10-week quarters per academic year), while Brown is on the semester system (two 15-week semesters per academic year), with both expecting about four courses per term, so (in theory) about three Chicago courses would cover about the same amount of material as two Brown courses.
If you like the concept of Chicago’s core curriculum, you could take a similar breadth of course work at Brown at your option (though not the exact courses). But if you prefer not to have to take general education requirements, then Brown will be more desirable for you than Chicago.
Brown can be almost as easy as you design it to be, given the open curriculum and ability to take classes P/F. Or, if you’d rather challenge yourself, you could make it rather difficult, probably. But if you want to coast through – relatively speaking: you’d still have to do some work, go to class, study… – Brown is the only option here. The social vibe is laid back and generally happy, or so it has been reported often on this site.
UChicago will be hard. It is among the most intellectual and intense schools around. You will not have an easy road there. It is probably the foremost university for kids who love to learn, study, debate/discuss, and work. If you love being pushed hard, there is no better place. UChicago’s social vibe has loosened up a bit, apparently. Fun doesn’t really go to die there; it’s just maybe more low-key and laid back… though if you want a bustling nightlife, the South Loop isn’t too far away.
In sum, the two are very different in terms of (at least) setting, the level of intellectualism and work, and curricular style (open vs. core).
I always find it interesting when someone doesn’t want the stress of a high caliber education but wants to go a high caliber school. If you don’t think Brown is rigorous and that you’ll need to work hard, you’re mistaken, Brown may have grade inflation but you won’t be able to coast through. You will be with some of the brightest students in the world at either school, I doubt most will be looking for easy classes.
These are very different colleges with different vibes, campuses, how did you get the impression that they’re similar?
What’s your potential major, if you have one? There’s not too many downsides to Brown, but if you’re considering say economics or physics, Chicago would have an edge there, maybe a significant one.
Downsides to Brown: Smaller city that is nowhere near the international level that Chicago is on. Means some opportunities during the school year are limited compared to Chicago. Dorms are terrible. Brown is poor for a school of its Caliber and does not have the endowment and resources of other top schools. Not a great looking campus either. Facilities are not great either.
^^^ Some balance to the post above: While certainly smaller than Chicago, Providence is a great small city with a vibrant arts and restaurant scene. Being smaller, there will be less commerce and fewer local/off-campus internships. Also, I must admit Chicago is my favorite city in the US (after my NYC home!)
Many dorms have been upgraded recently. I don’t know what is meant by “poor for a school of its caliber” – seems like oxymoron.
As for endowment, Brown’s $3.7B endowment is less than half of U Chicago’s and much lower than its peer schools-- no getting around that fact – but they are achieving highly successful fundraising results, with $389 million this year:
Bottom line is they are both great, both prestigious, but as noted above, very different. What would be “bad” about either place depends wholly on the prospective student’s preferences.
My niece & nephew (brother & sister) each attended one of these schools as math majors.
The Brown atmosphere is much more laid back than is Chicago. The Brown student went on to get a PhD in Math & is a university professor–so no burnout in her case. The Chicago student, also a math major, become a hedge fund trader & went on to graduate school for journalism & is frequently published.
Totally different environments. Really should visit both before deciding upon a first choice school.
Those are such different schools! Both are fantastic but the approach to academics at the two schools seems to represent polar opposites—heavy emphasis on core/competitive grading/“driven” student experience vs. open curriculum/flexible grading/“laid back” student experience. You might want to go back and figure out what it was that appealed to you that both schools have in common (academic vs. preprofessional orientation? city location? unique interdisciplinary opportunities?) and focus on that to broaden your consideration set.
@minimoon : I took a look at your chance thread. You have not much but academics on your resume. If you applied EDs to UChicago, you have a chance of getting in. UChicago admits more than 2/3 of its students from EDs. You have a much slimmer chance of getting into Brown even at ED since no passion or spike outside your academics have been shown on your resume (I am not saying you don’t have those). If you need to ask strangers on the internet what the differences are for those two schools, you are doomed. BTW, Northern Virginia has TJ, how is your resume compared with those from TJ?
You have to get in first. Both schools have about a 6% acceptance rate, so right now it’s not even a debate. I would focus on a variety of schools based on interests and ambitions. Rankings are not facts. They’re opinions and they’re also notoriously unreliable too. Ranking schools is like comparing apples and Snickers bars and calling one “better.” Spend some time really getting familiar with your ambitions, and the school will follow
