<p>ilovepeople - Sorry to hear about Brown’s decision, and admission is certainly a quirky process. I graduated from Chicago years ago, and I absolutely LOVED it. Here are my thoughts… </p>
<p>Regarding Chicago being “better” than Brown, obviously it depends what you want, but if I had to do it all again, I’d still pick Chicago over Brown in a heartbeat. Sure, in a superficial way, it would be nice if schools with a “Univ of” at the front of their names received more recognition. So Univ of Chicago, Univ of Pennsylvania and the like might not get as much initial recognition as a Brown or Stanford. As I’ve said before many times though, this is a SILLY factor to really worry about at all.</p>
<p>Chicago offers incredible academics, and frankly, has departments that are a lot more high-powered than most of what’s available at Brown. English, history, Poli Sci, economics, physics, mathematics etc etc - ALL of these depts are considerably stronger at Chicago than at Brown. Also, this could be my own personal motivations, but I’d get more frustrated by people thinking I went to a “joke” school rather than not knowing my school at all. In that regard, I always thought Brown had a perhaps undeserved reputation as being this hippy, joke kind of school. When I was younger, I’d always hear people joke about Brown: “You went to Brown? What’d you major in - underwater basketweaving?” or “Brown? Do they even have grades there?” That sort of stuff wouldn’t sit well with me. On the other side of things, you obviously never have to worry about that with Chicago - it’s a world-class, rigorous institution. </p>
<p>With regard to selecting between Chicago and Columbia, of course I am biased here, but I’d highly recommend picking Chicago over Columbia UNLESS you’re a very specific sort of person. What sort of a person? An individual who is pretty fiercely independent, doesn’t really care much about having a tight-knit college community, and, frankly, a person who can be distant and aloof at times. I’ve found students like this in spades at Columbia - it’s generally a kind of cold, aloof, and not entirely welcome college community. Kids kind of do their own thing, and there’s not much sense of connection. </p>
<p>Chicago, on the other hand, has a very very different feel. Think of big house dinners that take two hours every night at the dining hall, big group outings to see movies, large joint study breaks in the library, etc. Chicago has a much more intimate, close-knit feel. </p>
<p>Of course, some people can’t help but go to new york city, and nyc certainly has a leg up on Chicago in terms of coolness factor. At the same time, I couldn’t imagine going to Columbia over Chicago - some of my fondest memories are spending 2.5 hours on a wednesday at my house table as a first or second year in the college, just talking to all my housemates. I LOVED that sort of atmosphere. I just don’t get the sense this happens at much at Columbia. Academically, the schools are about equal, but it really depends what sort of atmosphere you want - the schools vary considerably on this front.</p>
<p>Finally, As I’ve said countless times before, when considering equivalent schools, do NOT USE THE IVY LABEL as a tiebreaker. With equivalent schools (Like Chicago and Columbia) there are SO MANY other reasons that distinguish the schools, and the ivy label will NOT provide ANY utility when picking between similarly situated schools.</p>