<p>I'm asking this for a friend who applied to these 3 ivies b/c of their undergraduate focus. So which one has the greater undergraduate focus? I'm going to Dartmouth so I'll say
Dartmouth>Princeton>Brown</p>
<p>I doubt that there are many people who can meaningfully rate them except by hearsay.</p>
<p>From what I have heard, they all pride themselves on their undergraduate focus.</p>
<p>Based on what I know:</p>
<p>Princeton > Dartmouth > Brown</p>
<p>I only say Princeton before Dartmouth (which I was supposed to visit this weekend but the snowstorm is creating issues…) because of the minuscule presence of grad schools at Princeton. I know Dartmouth also has a rep for undergrad focus too, though (congrats, btw!).</p>
<p>Brown has undergrad focus? I mean obviously it does to some extent but I wouldn’t compare it to the former two’s focus…</p>
<p>I’d say Princeton and Dartmouth are interchangeable, but Brown would be in third place.</p>
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<p>uhm… every single Brown professor is required to teach at least one undergraduate class. that’s undergraduate focus if there ever was one at a national research university.</p>
<p>the undergraduate to :: total student body ratio of the three schools (using Wiki’s latest undergraduate :: undergraduate + graduate total enrollment numbers):</p>
<p>- Brown : 73% <a href=“i.e.%2073%%20of%20total%20student%20pop%20=%20undergrads”>I</a>*
- Dartmouth : 71%
- Princeton : 67%</p>
<p>So, at least from this back of the envelope metric, it seems that Brown’s undergraduate focus is at least as strong as Princeton / Dartmouth. If you are curious as to how the other Ivies stack up in terms of undergrad ratios:</p>
<p>**- Brown : 73%
- Dartmouth : 71%
- Princeton : 67%**
- Cornell : 65%
- UPenn : 51%
- Yale : 43%
- Harvard : 35%
- Columbia : 30%</p>
<p>So the general thinking that Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton are the more “LAC-like” Ivy universities with an emphasis and focus on its undergraduates seems deserved. Also Brown, Dartmouth and Princeton are the only three Ivy schools which don’t have the “big three” professional grad schools (medicine, law and business) which can dominate universities. In fact, Princeton doesn’t have any of them, Brown doesn’t have a business or law school and Dartmouth does not have a law school.</p>
<p>I’m curious; has anyone turned down Princeton for Dartmouth?</p>
<p>They all have a strong undergraduate focus. There are better ways to differentiate these three schools.</p>
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<p>This. If your objective is undergraduate focus, you really can’t go wrong with B, D or P.</p>
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<p>I know a few kids that have from my school throughout the years. (And I would do the same if given the option)</p>
<p>Dartmouth definitely, but Princeton too</p>
<p>My brother wanted to go to Dartmouth over Princeton.</p>
<p>I wonder why would those students turn down Princeton for Dartmouth? What does Dartmouth have that Princeton doesn’t have?</p>
<p>This is not to insult Dartmouth. I’m just curious what else can Dartmouth offer other than the fact that it odes not have postgrad program and it’s strong amongst top employers.</p>
<p>^ The D-Plan is a big factor I think for most, especially with internships, flexible schedules, etc. I know some that really wanted to do i-Banking as well. The Greek system, lack of grade deflation and better study abroad programs, just to name a few, are reasons why I (and many others) would choose Dartmouth over Princeton. </p>
<p>And it does have a graduate school…if that is what you mean by postgrad program? </p>
<p>Now to ask the same question…what does Princeton have that Dartmouth doesn’t have?</p>
<p>There are equally compelling reasons to choose one school over another when considering top tier universities (e.g. Dartmouth vs. Brown). For instance, if you are into the Greek system, D-mouth is a better choice. If you like the idea of an open curriculum, Brown is the way to go… If you don’t want to be in the boonies, Providence is a good balance (not dominated by a large city but close to Boston), etc., etc…</p>
<p>Princeton, however, IMO offers the best undergraduate education in the US. And that is a very difficult thing to trump. I have stated numerous times, that Dartmouth and Brown were also not very far behind in their excellence and high degree of focus on undergraduate education –> and its no coincidence that these three schools perennially rank near the top in “Quality of Life” categories such as “Happiest Students” by Princeton Review (along with Stanford).</p>
<p>IMO, Princeton definitely.</p>
<p>for those statistics to be usable in the ‘pro Brown argument’ we’d have to see the size of the total student body as well as the number of professors available and the resources available given that they’re all not exactly the same in size and the latter numbers might be disproportionate. i don’t think straight student ratios alone can tell us how much focus an institution is giving to a certain portion of their student body.</p>
<p>but yeah i doubt you could go wrong at any of these schools.</p>
<p>actually the friend I am posting this for prefers Dartmouth over Princeton b/c he thinks that whereas Dartmouth frats are integrated race-wise, Princeton has almost a separate eating club for Asians (he’s Chinese).</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, majority of post-bachelor students at Dartmouth are in fields like business and medicine, which don’t have undergrad counterparts there. So very few professors who teach undergrad courses also teach grad courses. Princeton’s grad programs are plentiful in comparison.</p>