<p>Wow. This is a pretty entertaining thread. I’ve been a basically bicoastal fellow, and the only place in the middle I know fairly well is Chicago, and they seem a fairly confident lot. I didn’t know about this Midwestern touchiness!<br>
Seems to me the thread must be at heart all about Midwesterners vs. the snobby East Coasters, since nothing I’ve read has convinced me that St. Olaf (of which I know less than nothing) is an academic peer of Brown. I guess the arguing would make more sense to me if Brown were being tossed off against Northwestern or Carleton or Wash U, or if St. Olaf were being compared to, say, Bates or Connecticut College.<br>
No reason to take my advice, then, but I’d say to the OP, if your daughter got into Brown in this application season, with under 11% of the applications accepted, I would damn well pack her up and send her to Providence, telling her she is one smart and lucky girl!
Unless, of course, she really wants to go to St. Olaf. In which case she should, and never look back.</p>
<p>St. Olaf IS conservative. Not every single student there is, of course, but the overall vibe is- conservative. That’s fine. Brown does not have a conservative vibe. These are very different schools. Brown has the stronger students. St. Olaf has a famous choir which I have actually paid money to go see in Dallas. It is a good regional LAC. Brown is an Ivy League university. The girl has two choices.</p>
<p>Those who perceive a certain defensiveness perhaps do not realize their own offensive and dismissive attitudes.</p>
<p>But that is why I LOVE CC. The self-caricaturing is just unbelievable!</p>
<p>Can you tell me what I said about St Olaf that is in the least bit dismissive, let alone offensive? I will repeat for perhaps the third time: I think St Olaf is a great school. But if the OP’s D wants to add IR to math and music, Brown is the better choice. Again, as I also said, if the D, with an interest in IR had mentioned Macalester, my reaction would have been very different (but Macalester does not have the same strengths as St Olaf in math and music).
How is it offensive?</p>
<p>Wow, the idea that anything Marite wrote is dismissive or offensive is just astonishing. She has consistently been one of the most helpful, informed, and kind posters on CC for many years. If you don’t like her observations, you certainly don’t need to accept them, but your characterizations are way off. </p>
<p>Sometimes people read what they expect, not what is really there.</p>
<p>“Well, they don’t call the Midwest flyover country for nothing, you know.”</p>
<p>“Have you ever been to Northfield? I have.”</p>
<p>I did not coin the term flyover country. I realize it is a derogatory term, but it has some foundation.
From wikipedia:
</p>
<p>I have been to Northfield, pop. 17.000+ I have also been to Providence, pop. 170,000+.
Is it offensive to point out that Northfield is small and 45 minutes away from the nearest airport, compared to Brown, which is 10 minutes away?</p>
<p>Meanwhile, denizens of the coasts, like yours truly, have been described as elitist, snobbish, dismissive. If that is an example of Midwestern friendliness, well…</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Sometimes you just gotta shrug it off. If I got upset or defensive every time someone from some other part of the country said something offensive or dismissive about southern California I’d never get anything else done.</p>
<p>Oh stop fighting, when are we going to hear that she chose SL? Honestly, I think with the parent’s clearly favoring it, unless she’s a very unusual kid, choosing Brown will be very hard.</p>
<p>My impression is that the reason this thread was begun was because although the student was looking forward to Brown, the mom preferred St. Olaf & wished to get some of that famous CC support for her position.</p>
<p>I’ll repost a recent link from #68
[Manitou</a> Messenger - A Word from our Editors](<a href=“http://www.manitoumessenger.com/opinions/a-word-from-our-editors-1.1731026]Manitou”>http://www.manitoumessenger.com/opinions/a-word-from-our-editors-1.1731026)
and another from the Brown newspaper
[The</a> Brown Daily Herald - For visiting student, winding path led to Brown](<a href=“http://www.browndailyherald.com/for-visiting-student-winding-path-led-to-brown-1.1730136]The”>http://www.browndailyherald.com/for-visiting-student-winding-path-led-to-brown-1.1730136)
It might help to get insight from current students</p>
<p>A young woman in my neighborhood seriously considered St. Olaf. She visited and described the students as “Cheery, friendly blond girls from small towns in Minnesota”. She chose the morose University of Chicago instead.
Brown may not be morose, but I bet St. Olaf beats the pants off it for cheeriness!</p>
<p>Well ya know what they say in Lake Wobegon, cold weather makes you smart- until you get so intelligent that you prefer pleasure( warm weather) to pain ( winter in Minn).
;)</p>
<p>“I did not coin the term flyover country. I realize it is a derogatory term, but it has some foundation.
From wikipedia:
Quote:
Flyover country or flyover states is a derogatory Americanism popular among entertainers, businessmen, and others concerned with doing business on the coasts.”</p>
<p>The self-caricaturing continues! What a wonderful forum! You just can’t get this anywhere else!</p>
<p>And Westerndad, the caricaturing of people who do not live in the Midwest also continues. As well as the deployment of red herrings.
Now, you tell me that there are more visitors to St Olaf than to Brown on any given day. . .</p>
<p>Anyway, to answer the title of this thread, I would say “choose Brown,” even though I am a Midwesterner quite familiar with St. Olaf. The most recent Vice President to come from this part of the country, who grew up not far at all from where St. Olaf is, sent his youngest child to Brown.</p>
<p>The funny thing is that I DON’T live in the Midwest. I have lived on the West Coast all my life. </p>
<p>“Number of visitors?” Hilarious!</p>
<p>Hilarious? If a student is interested in IR? You must be joking.</p>
<p>As to where you live, how is that relevant?</p>
<p>Ummm…wow. I have a kid at St. Olaf. Let me tell you…all you people could actually learn a thing or two in kindness and respect from the kids there. If this is representative of Brown, give me St.Olaf any day.</p>
<p>Oh, and FYI: child and friends are very liberal, non religious, out of state, non musical, and ALL are extremely happy at St. Olaf.</p>
<p>emeraldcity-- I wasn’t soliciting support for a position. I was soliciting thoughtful insights for my daughter to consider. I was worried that the thread would get innundated with posts from the folks who think it is just plain stupid to spend a dime more on college than is absolutely necessary, or with posts with folks who think kids deserve their parents’ last nickel to pay for an elite education. The posts were much more thoughtful and nuanced than that. I appreciate them. DD has read them. She will probably check the Brown box tonight. My husband and I are happy for her and a little anxious about paying for it. We’ll make it. Her grandmothers wish she was choosing St. Olaf so she could be closer (5-hr drive in either direction, as opposed to the West Coast where DD has spent her life).</p>
<p>mom58:</p>
<p>You did not say whether your D would be getting finaid at Brown or St Olaf. The cost differential (not counting travel) would be around $7k per year. How much of a factor would that be? If it is, then, the greater resources of Brown (and that would include the parade of speakers :)) might not make up for it.</p>