I am very grateful for having been accepted to both of these universities.
USC has been my dream school since I can remember which makes this decision so hard. I currently live in MA so Brown is very close and would allow me to stay on the east coast, but I have also loved California and I have family out there. Both are the same price at about 20k, which is my EFC. I would be majoring chemistry and be in pre-med at both.
I just have no idea which is the better choice and would love some insight on either.
Would one help me into medical school/grad school more than the other?
How are the classes at both?
Brown and Yale are the only two colleges where an admission may have swayed my daughter away from committing to USC. So, yes - you have a tough choice. In the end, neither offered, so my daughter will be at USC.
Brown is Ivy, well-respected and offers an open curriculum. The weather there is a little suspect. It is much smaller than USC, and the overall college experience and dynamic as a student would be quite different. USC will require GEs and provide a more structured framework of expectations regarding your education. Most elite schools do so… with Brown being that main exception.
From my experience though, Brown’s name ID outside of the northeast, or even as an Ivy, is far lower than they might even suspect. Where we live in the southeast, for example, Brown is not known much at all by most. If your ultimate goal is to settle in the northeast or possibly in the mid-atlantic states, or at least attend Med School in those regions, Brown may offer you stronger connections. For the rest of the country and world even, USC’s name ID and alumni network strength may offer you more advantages. But that may only be a slight differential in the long run. Those in the know – or those who hire or possibly decide your fate related to med school - certainly know Brown. So it may not matter much what the average person thinks of where you went to school.
You are going to get a solid education and preparedness for med school and beyond at both universities. You need to decide on the type of college experience you favor and where you may want to be after your undergraduate career is over. While I would have certainly still argued USC over Brown to my own daughter, I would not have begrudged her if she had chosen Brown. As Brown did not even choose her… we were spared that decision.
Good Luck though with your decision… it is certainly a tough one.
@thetmv1999 D is also in your situation and also torn - maybe a mirror image as we are in CA. I think she is going to choose Brown, just because she is somewhat shy and introverted and feels like the smaller size at Brown will force her to speak up more and make it easier to meet people. She also likes the idea of going someplace new for a time as she’s lived in the same place her whole life. She is also looking at graduate school and both schools will have plenty of advising and help prepping for that. Are you going to ADOCH? Hopefully experiences there will make it more obvious. I would love for her to choose USC so we’d be closer but in the end Brown is also a great choice and I get the appeal.
Go to Brown. Much smaller university, much greater focus on the individual student. And fantastically bright and creative students.
As for Brown’s “name recognition”, USC is well known throughout the country…for football. In circles where it counts, Brown is known as one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges.
At the end of the day, the two universities are very different and feel very different. If possible, visit. Then decide on where you feel you would be happiest.
@exlibris97 puts it best: “In circles where it counts, Brown is known…” USC is a fantastic school, and if your ultimate goal is to become a doctor, you can do it from either school. If you want to one day change the world, go to Brown.
Brown doesn’t mean that much in the west coast that’s for sure - most people past the east coast aren’t even sure it is an Ivy and the open curriculum is like UCSC in the 70s, which doesn’t garner too much respect from some, while others see it has value. They are both really strong on their respective coasts. Many people however, can’t see beyond their coast bias so those kind of opinions should be disregarded. To say USC is just known for football frankly, at this day and age, is a very outdated and uniformed comment. I know a student that left Brown because they couldn’t stand the vibe and location, but that doesn’t matter - that was them, this is you.
Go to the school you will be happiest at - that is where you will do the best.
@thetmv1999 the answer is “yes” - go to USC or Brown. Do not go because of “reputation” or “rank” or because of what some anonymous person wrote on CC.
Go because:
You want to spend 4 years in Providence or 4 years in LA
There is something very specific that only one of the universities offers that you really want to do.
You want to experience weekly Pac 10 football in the blazing sun.
You want to kinda watch some glorified DIII football in the blazing fall foliage.
You want to end up in New England
You want to end up in SoCal
etc. etc.
There is no important qualitative difference between the two schools if you have no specific interest/passion.
If your interest is cinema/communications, LA/USC is the place.
If your passion is chem or biology or the like, Brown might be better. (One thing to consider. My D is at USC Viterbi. Her pre-med friends have found it challenging to keep the GPA up. I have heard - but can’t confirm, Brown is easier for that. That’s kind of a dicey reason to pick a school, but I guess if everything else is equal, the could be a tie breaker. I would go on FB or something, track down some current Pre-Med at both schools and ask some questions. They are the ones who will really know.)
But seriously, DO NOT make this choice based on “perceived anything.” Brown rep/pull in LA or SF will be completely different that Brown’s rep/pull in Boston or NY. Ditto SC. Chicago won’t care either way. Or Texas.
And Med School will care about GPA and MCAT scores and what cool things you did at college.
Please look really closely at the specific programs you like, think about vibe (Brown will “feel” more like a big LAC, USC will “feel” more like a more personal/fancy Flagship State School)
The other students will have similar test scores, similar ECs, similar interests. More OC/SouthBay kids as SC, more New York/Mass prep school kids at Brown.
Pick your poison. Also, look at what it will cost your parents. Both are pricey.
My D is almost surely choosing Brown, but that is because of two things which really have nothing to do with the atmosphere of USC itself. 1) She wanted a new experience in the end and to see seasons and a different area of the US (so for you, this might mean picking CA!) and 2) even with 1/2 tuition for Presidential at USC, Brown comes in cheaper (even once you add in a few flights) and without loans. Those seem to be decent reasons. If had been about prestige I would have argued, but she is likely going to grad school and they are going to regard both well anyway.
Sounds like great reasons @CalDreamin - it is good to see how the other half lives, and if you can do it for the same or a little less money, at another great school, that is fantastic. She will certainly log some uniquely east coast experiences during her four years there. Congrats on the great choices she/you have.
Thank you everyone for the insight!! I know the education is great at either school, but now I really need to think about location wise and what I want. I think I’ll be able to make my final choice by visiting Brown again at ADOCH as I can’t fly out to California in the next two weeks.
@thetmv1999 I would also suggest you think long and hard about whether being 3000 miles from home is the most awesome thing you can imagine or kind of a drag. My D had 2 suitemates transfer out of USC after 1st semester 'cause they just felt too far from home (one was from S. Korea, the other from NE - and transferred to that little place down the hill from Brown…) Her other upstate NY suitemate, on the other hand, loved nothing more than skyping her friends any time there was a snowstorm back east while sitting in her tee-shirt outside the dorm.
Flying coast to coast is not easy. We had 4 kids at our house for Thanksgiving because they could not get home and back. Just something to consider.