<p>I know this has been asked before and it’s probably frowned upon to choose a school based on its social life but I haven’t found any viable answers yet. I love both Brown and UPenn and plan on applying ED to one of them; I feel ACADEMICALLY they are both incredible schools to attend. The one thing I’m not so sure of is the ‘party scene’ at Brown. As much as I want to go to the best school possible, I am also looking forward to the real ‘college experience’ and I feel as if there is barely any night life/party scene at Brown. I’m not necessarily talking about frat parties, but generally those types of parties and just the overall social scene. If anyone could give me any help into the night life at Brown, it would be greatly appreciated. :)</p>
<p>I’m wondering the exact same thing ^:)^ </p>
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<p>Where do you get this feeling from? Friends told you? Reading CC? Somewhere else?</p>
<p>I have it on good authority that on a spectrum with zero fun/parties at one end and constant bacchanalia at the other, Brown is way closer to the bacchanalia side.</p>
<p>Relatively compact campus and undergraduate enrollment numbers add to the college spirit and sense of loyalty. That’s where “Ever True” is derived from.</p>
<p>Your feelers are broken.</p>
<p>Definitely broken feelers! </p>
<p>Our daughter had NO trouble finding a social life or party scene at Brown! She said ’ Brown students a study hard and party hard’. She made excellent grades and yet, I was almost sure her major freshman year was “partying”. She worked in labs, took five classes, was a varsity athlete and still found time and folks to party. She thoroughly enjoyed her years at Brown and was always excited to return to school. </p>
<p>While they are both great schools academically, they are also quite different academic cultures with different curricular structures. I hope you’re giving as much consideration to that as you are to the social question. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that social life shouldn’t factor into your decision, just that you shouldn’t weight it so heavily that you’re seeing the schools as otherwise identical.</p>
<p>The factors that go into which school is best for you are as valid as they are important to you. Hundreds of schools can give you great academics, and a few dozen can give you world class academics. Taking into account factors like Greek Life, the weather, sports, urban vs. rural, etc. are all quite reasonable to consider if they matter to you. After all, this is where you will be living for the better part of 4 years.</p>
<p>I can also tell you that there are VERY few schools that don’t have a strong party scene, both with and without Greek organizations being involved. Any time you have 18-22 year old students that are more or less on their own, things will not be dull unless you want them to be. I wouldn’t worry.</p>
<p>I’ve had a couple of friends who go to Brown, and maybe this is just based off on who THEY are as people, but none of them really seem to be having the sort of social experience you describe (with lots of parties, etc); I would say (and again, this is just based off of these peoples’ experiences) that there doesn’t seem to be much going on. In contrast, I have one friend who goes to UPenn, and she’s a total social butterfly and seems (from the looks of her FB photos) to be having an AMAZING time at UPenn. Maybe the schools just attract different sorts of people?</p>
<p>Regardless of the social life, academically there is no comparison between Brown and Upenn. UPenn is an academic powerhouse. So is Cornell. Brown isn’t.</p>
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<p>Completely off-topic, baseless drivel. If you respond by invoking the USNews rankings I am going to bust a gut laughing.</p>
<p>@lostaccount lmao</p>
<p>I went to Yale (Class of 82) and I think that lostaccount’s comment is baseless. You will get a top notch education at all of the Ivies, as you will at many other top tier schools, including state schools. It’s all about "fit’.</p>
<p>If you want to know whether the party scene, or the social scene overall suits you, to the school while students are there and stay - go to class, the dining hall and of course, a party or two. Then and only then make up your mind. </p>
<p>I spent three weeks there over the summer and I can say that it is an absolutely wonderful place (of course so is every other elite university, but Brown is unique). Brown, because it is in a city has a vibrance to it that you would find at a lot of other schools. It’s not as vibrant as say, Penn, Columbia, or NYU, but it still has that city vibe. Providence makes Brown a really cozy place too. At times, you feel like you are in a suburb as well. I can tell you now, Brown is a haven for party people. Thayer street is always bustling with social life and the campus green became the scene of some big parties. Mind you that this was during a summer precollege with a curfew and dorm regulations. I can imagine during the school year, the place is bustling with even more activity. Brown is just a really fun and lively place. I was in the same situation as you and choose to ED Penn for practical purposes. I also loved both schools equally. We’ll see in mid December if I made the right decision. </p>
<p>As someone who goes to Brown and has a lot of friends at Penn, I can tell you that the two social scenes are very different - but at the same time, you can make what you want of them. I’ll speak to Penn first because I have less direct experience with it -</p>
<p>A much larger portion of the student body is in Greek life. While there is Greek life at Brown, it’s much less dominant and you aren’t defined by your letters in the same way that you are at Penn. This obviously has its pros and cons - maybe a little bit more shallow, maybe a little bit more fun, make of it what you want. I do want to say that everyone I know at Penn in Greek life are intelligent, witty, and nice people (but I think the system at large is a little bit more shallow, if that makes sense). Since Penn is in a much bigger city, a lot more of the nightlife involves going downtown (frats renting out spaces, etc.) and “BYOs” (where a lot of people go to a BYOB restaurant before going out somewhere else downtown). I don’t mean to make any sweeping generalizations because as I said, I go to Brown, but this is my impression from everyone I know who goes there.</p>
<p>As for Brown, it’s a mixed bag - whatever you want it to be basically. You can basically guarantee that if you want to go out any night Wednesday-Sunday, there will be something to do (and every time I’ve been to the campus bar, Grad Center Bar, on any night of the week, there have been people there). Wednesdays used to be solely for FishCo, a bar somewhat downtown that was known for being completely crazy until it got shut down and turned into Whiskey - people still go there on Wednesday nights, but more people have been going to a different bar right off of Thayer Street (the main street that runs through campus) instead. You’ll probably hear people at Brown/Brown alums refer to FishCo, and I think that’s a great example of what Brown nightlife mostly is - bars where you can socialize and dance, but not necessarily huge downtown clubs like you would get in New York. </p>
<p>Still, about two or three times a month someone will hold an event at a club downtown so you can get your fix of that if it’s something you like. There are other bars on Thayer Street - Kartabar, Spats just closed but used to be another place students frequented - and in other places around Providence, pubs and BYOB sushi restaurants on Wickenden (a little bit south of the main campus, but you’ll find A LOT of Brown students there). </p>
<p>You’ll find a lot of house parties. A lot of students live off campus at Brown (I believe 50% of the senior class, and then a smaller portion of the junior class - your first two years you’re required to live on campus), probably 2/3 on the southern part of the campus-area closer to Wickenden, and then another third on and around Thayer Street and up toward the athletic complexes. A lot of the sports teams, who tend to live near the athletic complexes, (men’s and women’s) have their own houses, and throw parties in them frequently. A lot of people in the houses on the southern areas of campus throw parties as well, so if it’s a night where everyone isn’t going to a bar or club, then you can guarantee there will be a few house parties going on.</p>
<p>Finally, there are the on-campus frat parties (which I would group the international house, Buxton, in with). The official parties have a DPS officer at the door and there are wristbands, and they have a bar, the whole nine yards - mostly freshmen go to these, but it’s still something to do and these go on pretty frequently. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit that these happen less frequently now my senior year than they did as when I was a freshman - I’m sure you read about the scandal with someone allegedly being roofied at one of the fraternities. More commonly, there are unofficial parties thrown in the frat houses’ lounges and basements - pretty similar to the type of scene you would see at a house party.</p>
<p>As a side note - in the warmer weather, people love to find excuses to day drink. Brunonians aren’t incredibly into sports events, but the tailgates make it seem like we are. And ask anyone about Spring Weekend (Penn has something similar called Fling).</p>
<p>Overall, Penn is a larger school so there’s going to be more going on - but I’ve rarely had a night at Brown where I truly felt like there was nothing going on/no one going out. People definitely like to party even though they are incredibly studious.</p>