<p>My heart is in Charlottesville, but should I really pass up the opportunity to go to an Ivy? I was accepted to both Brown and UPenn, and part of me wishes I had been rejected from them today so that I don't have to make this decision. </p>
<p>I'm from a small town in Virginia (pop. 1300), and I don't know if I could ever fit in at an Ivy. I don't know really know what I want to major in, so I can't use that to help me decide. I hate to be that person complaining about being accepted to three amazing schools, but I really can't decide what to do.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’ll be easier to fit in at UVA than at Brown or UPenn. Everything will be so different (and intimidating, as it is for most freshmen except the “blasé” ones) that it won’t matter where you are. There’s no wrong choice. You got in - you deserve to be there. The rest is up to you. </p>
<p>If you do not what you want to major in, Brown could prove a bit more challenging in deciding because of its open curriculum. At Brown, you literally have to create your own education within in its structure. Guidance is minimal compared to the other schools on your list. Small city location. </p>
<p>UPenn is more a pre-professional school and has rigid requirements for each major. Switching between majors is not the easiest thing to do there, but it can be done. UPenn really big, big city urban. Concrete galore.</p>
<p>UVa is closer to UPenn structure-wise, but easier to navigate between departments. Charlottesville is a clean college town with more of a student feel throughout than Brown or UPenn. </p>
<p>If you can visit, I do recommend because these are three really different places. The poster above is dead on - neither will be an easier fit. Good luck and congrats on your excellent admission results.</p>
<p>UVA instate is a tremendous bargain. The financial aid at Ivy schools is very strong. What is the cost difference between UVA and your Ivy options? If your cost of attendance will be about the same, or if your family can afford to send you to any of the schools without undue hardship, you’ve got an even tougher decision, because all are wonderful schools. But if you’re considering graduate school or your parents are unsure about the costs at an Ivy, I think the financial benefits of UVA should weigh heavily in your choice.</p>
<p>I think you’re conflating the presence of Penn’s Wharton and Nursing schools with the types of students, curriculum, and major requirements in Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences. With about 6,400 of Penn’s 10,000 undergrads, the College has what might be called the middle ground of liberal arts requirements, with limited distributional requirements that can be met with a wide variety of courses, but not as restrictive as the core course requirements of schools like Columbia and Chicago, and not as open as the no-requirements curriculum of Brown. Additionally, the major requirements in Penn’s College are similar to those at any liberal arts institution, INCLUDING Brown and UVA, and switching between liberal arts majors would be no more difficult at Penn than at Brown or UVA.</p>
<p>Also, while Penn is, indeed, located within a big city, its campus is actually quite large and green for an urban, East Coast campus (especially one so close to the central business and cultural core of the city). While there are busy streets that run through Penn’s campus, its 300 acres also include lots of lovely greens, courtyards, shaded walkways, and open spaces that are somewhat isolated from the traffic and feel of a big city.</p>
<p>frazzled1, my financial aid package from Penn is significantly better than UVA. UVA’s covers everything, but $9,000 per year is loans. Penn is going to cover everything except $1,200 per year, but about $3,500 is work-study. I haven’t received my offer from Brown yet. There are a lot of regional scholarships I’m applying for in hopes of covering $9,000 or $4,700 per year.</p>
<p>First, congratulations for getting into three great schools. If you can, consider re-visitng both UVa and the Ivy which gives you the best financial aid. See if you can envision yourself at the school. It is hard to turn down an Ivy (and for full disclosure I am a Penn alum) but all things being equal you should go to the school that you feel is the best fit.</p>
<p>Congratulations! I believe UVA caps the amount of loans that an instate student has to take out over the course of four years to about $14000. (But not 100 percent sure -you may want to check on that so you have a clear idea of how much you have to pay. )Good luck with your decision. All great schools. I would visit them again if you can and consider your gut feeling of what feels right.</p>
<p>Brown, Penn and UVa are peers. Go for fit and forget the Ivy League label. Outside of the very superficial world of teenagers, few people will accord more respect to the Ivy League than they would to elite universities like UVa. </p>
<p>Just to add to what other, wiser, voices have already said: choose the school at which you believe you’d be HAPPIEST, and would best thrive both academically and socially. The bottom line is that a strong record from any one of these three outstanding schools will get you to where you ultimately want to go. You can’t go wrong no matter what your choice. Congratulations!</p>
<p>On a superficial level, UPenn is a better overall school than UVA and if it is cheaper, you probably might lean that way.</p>
<p>It would help to have an idea of what you want to do (if you want to do liberal arts stuff, Brown might be the place for that). Of course, it won’t do you any good if you’re depressed or perform badly up in Philly or Rhode Island when you felt the big lights of Charlottesville calling. If being able to visit home often (among other things) is important to you, then it may be worth staying.</p>
<p>It’s a good problem to have - look at the financials, departments of interest, exit opportunities (jobs/grad schools), and if you like the area.</p>
<p>Have you visited Penn and Brown? Both have very nice campuses and Penn is in a vibrant city with a huge number of museums and lots of culture. Providence is a nice town and it is not terribly far from Boston by mass transit. All of these universities have a great variety of students, including ones from small towns like yours.</p>
<p>Those regional scholarships are very unlikely to provide funds for four years. Most only provide support for your freshman year.</p>
<p>I keep turning this around but the answer always comes back “Penn.” Get your family in pop.1300 VA an iPad if they don’t have one so youse can Skype every day for the first month. You’ll see how fast that gets old, and by that time you’ll be bopping around Penn like you’ve been there for a year already. You won’t have much need to leave campus your first year, so it’s not like you have to learn Penn and Philly at once. When you’re ready, Philly is a big city, so you’ll have to learn to dress and walk like you’ve lived in the city all your life. But you’ll learn to love Penn and the city when you do venture out. </p>
All three of these schools can provide an equally strong and fulfilling undergraduate liberal arts experience (depending on personal preference for open curriculum versus distributional requirements, etc.). In fact, Penn has more top-ranked liberal arts departments than Brown, and has the same number of liberal arts undergrads (with the additional availability of Wharton, SEAS, and Nursing undergraduate, and Law and other graduate courses open to them to supplement their liberal arts curriculum). The undergraduate liberal arts programs at virtually all top schools are quite strong, and I wouldn’t recommend picking one school over another based on a general desire to study “liberal arts.”</p>
<p>Seconded/Thirded. Really, it should be Penn. Skype, indeed… but a month into it, you’ll feel totally at home on the Penn campus (well, as at home as a 1-month freshman can be :p)</p>
<p>I just received a full tuition scholarship to UVA, and my financial aid package will cover everything else. So it’s going to be completely free to go to UVA.</p>