<p>As a rising senior, I’m considering Brown for my undergraduate education in the coming months. But what I want to know, from people who have attended Brown, are attending Brown, or want to attend Brown, is why Brown? Many people I know consider Brown a 'soft Ivy", a statement I certainly disagree with, yet I still want to know what facets of Brown really make it stand out and make it unique? I already know about the open curriculum and think it’s great – it’s one of the main reasons I would apply to the school. However, what are some other great things about Brown, things that set it apart from other top schools, apart from the open curriculum?</p>
<p>OP: suppose that you want to ask someone out on a date. After some thought, you come up with the following opening line: “Many people I know consider you ugly, a statement I certainly disagree with.” That line would not be well received. Likewise, you cannot expect much feedback when you introduce your question the way you did.</p>
<p>^ It’s different though because we know that people say that consistently and it shows up on this forum often.</p>
<p>I don’t know what you “interpret” as soft Ivy (by admissions? difficulty? prestige?), however, our admissions rate was under 10% with over matriculation (and taking not 1 person off the waitlist for the class of 2014). With taking no one off the waitlist, I’ve heard that our admissions rate fell under that of Columbia, making Brown the 4th hardest Ivy (after Harvard, Princeton, and Yale) to get into. Just keep that in mind when applying. Even though it’s a “soft Ivy,” it’s no easier to get into.</p>
<p>Now, back to your question. I chose Brown because of the students. I’m guessing you never visited, but the students at Brown are different from the other Ivies (except a little bit similar to Dartmouth, but they’re distinguishable, I think). Inquisitive, but have a normal social life is how I like to think of it. They’re not all STUDYSTUDYSTUDYSTUDYSTUDY. Also, I’ve had such great conversations switch from serious to whimsical to weird to funny. I guess I just mesh well with most of Brunonians (and there’s one in particular I definitely do not get along with and I’m sure the entire class of 2014 knows who I’m talking about already…). No where’s perfect and you will clash with someone. But I love Brown. Always will. It was my dream school.</p>
<p>Don’t let rankings persuade you. Brown’s continuously knocked down for the Open Curriculum and S/NC option.Brown has amazing rates into professional schools and graduate schools. The campus is amazing. The professors are invested in you success. At a school like Brown where they focus primarily on the undergrad programs, you can’t really go wrong in many concentrations. I don’t know how else to explain Brown, but I feel that’s a good representation in a nutshell.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll get some answers to your question, but if you search this forum you’ll find that you are not the first (or second or fifth) person to ask it, and there are many other threads to read that will give you lots of info.</p>
<p>"OP: suppose that you want to ask someone out on a date. After some thought, you come up with the following opening line: “Many people I know consider you ugly, a statement I certainly disagree with.” That line would not be well received. Likewise, you cannot expect much feedback when you introduce your question the way you did. "</p>
<p>coase - I’m sorry the message was recieved this way; it was certainly not what I intended. I really think Brown is a great school, but it has been disparaged by people I know, hence that statement. I hope you (or anyone else on this forum) don’t take offense becuase I certainly was not trying to saying anything bad about Brown at all.</p>
<p>swim2daend - Thanks for the highly helpful post.</p>
<p>fireandrain - I certainly will search this forum. Thanks.</p>
<p>look in the toilet</p>
<p>do you want that for the rest of your life?</p>
<p>^ um…?</p>
<p>Btw, np prob OP 
PM me if u have any questions</p>
<p>bagelsbagels, that was totally unnecessary. I’m trying to get legitimate answers. Please don’t ■■■■■</p>
<p>Brown has a more creative approach to things. They have a strong emphasis in the arts and is one of the more LAC-like Ivies, along with Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Less pressure.</p>
<p>In the time I’ve spent visiting/researching/talking to people/preparing for transfer, Brown is a great place to go for four years to meet any kind of person, most of which are some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet in the most modest and laidback ways. You can explore any interest, take a bunch of different classes from some extremely original departments, often taught by academic celebrities. Most importantly, you learn how to think in a way that will give you the ability to approach age-old topics and disciplines with a unique and distinguished mindset that comes in handy personally and in the job market if you graduate with the drive and independence Brown is known for giving people. It’s basically a 4-year intellectual country club that pretty much guarantees you a spot in at least one of your top three graduate schools.</p>
<p>Also, bagelsbagels is a loser who ■■■■■■ the Brown board at College Confidential to get use out of his “hard” Ivy League degree. Way to go, champ.</p>
<p>Re: workload at Brown. Let’s compare. At Yale, you need 36 classes to graduate. That adds up to 4 semesters of 4 classes, 4 of 5 classes. I’m going to assume classes are equally challenging at each school (which likely would apply to the rest of the top 50 colleges in the country). At Brown you only need 32 classes, which adds up to 4 classes/semester every semester. </p>
<p>Thus on average, the workload of students pursuing the minimum graduation requirements at Brown and Yale would differ. </p>
<p>But… if you choose not to do the minimum, you can take 40 classes (and even more if you ask nicely and spend your summers hitting the books) at Brown. I believe most students go above the minimum. </p>
<p>Also, at other schools with higher minimums, students fulfill distribution requirements… which cuts down on the number of useful/desired/relevant classes in which the students are fully engaged.</p>
<p>OTHER THINGS THAT MAKE BROWN COOL:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Useful university support for lots of cool initiatives: student businesses, nonprofit startups, “group independent study projects”, clubs. </p></li>
<li><p>Relatively chill and accessible administration. For a medium-sized school, we students get a lot of access to administrators and have strong student governments to organize ourselves.</p></li>
<li><p>Quiet campus near interesting things. Usually there’s a tradeoff. Not at Brown. </p></li>
<li><p>X-treme openmindedness and variety. If you’d like to see lots of types of folks doing lots of types of things on the main green, and thereafter snuggle up in a library with 6 hours of work and thereafter get 2 a.m. pizza… after a full day of classes, club meetings, and whatever else you do daily… come over to Brown.</p></li>
<li><p>Great study abroad support. Did you know at many prestigious universities students don’t choose to study abroad and aren’t really encouraged to? Like all Ivies, Brown has a lot of options for study abroad… but we also take advantage of them.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>LOL to bagelsbagels.</p>
<p>What a funny name.</p>
<p>And people choose to apply to Brown because they love everything about it. Read student reviews and about the curriculum and the variety of classes etc. The US News World Report isn’t all that matters when choosing a college.</p>
<p>1) If so insecure that you need to be in the “Ivy League” and lack other options and/or 2) Want open curriculum (i.e. no requirement to actually get a rigorous and rounded liberal arts education- can avoid all math/science or conversely humanities, etc.) or 3) Are offered a full scholarship. But beware: notorious for “Tufts Syndrome”: over-qualified applicants who ultimately attend more academically selective schools absolutely cannot count on being accepted at Brown.</p>
<p>Why Brown? - grade inflation…over 50% of grades given are As :D</p>
<p>Seriously, I think the curriculum is what attracts so many applicants to Brown. From the concentration system to P/NP to no grades lower than a C appearing on your transcript to the frivolous atmosphere that resonates throughout the campus.</p>
<p>Dad2, Brown is harder to get into than at least half the other “ivies”, people are there because they want to be there…</p>
<p>I’m considering Brown because of all the Naked Doughnut Runs :)</p>
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<p>Yeah, right. Brown is not some mid-tier school on the make, hoping to boost its reputation by pretending to be selective. It is in fact among the most selective schools in the country. Brown already is what true “tufts syndrome” schools are hoping to become or pretending to be.</p>
<p>Yes, I was looking at the admission stats and they seemed to be one of the toughest sets of admits I have seen. Let’s face it, there are a lot of great schools, but of the Ivies Brown has the reputation as being say the one that a kid who might get in to HYP might just balk and say, you know, I like Brown… Comes to mind a guy like “Johnny Depp” would most likely attend Brown no(I mean assuming old Johnny had the SATs and GPA to get in–LOL)? That to me is the essence of the attractiveness of Brown, you know its not ranked HYP, but you see that it has the most progressive attitude towards its students and you realize that matters A LOT, being brilliant, but elegantly understated is very attractive, in a person, and in a school…ey?</p>
<p>Now, on the other hand if she finds that a lot of Harry Potter fans have decided its "cool’ well then there goes the totally cool rep 
PS. No offense to Potter fans, but I left my wand home today…</p>
<p>I think your reply was the most succinct (michal blake 7/15)…college is a time in your life when you hope to meet the people who will frame who you grow to be. Choosing those to surround yourself with to maybe a bit less “cookie cutter” academics (grinds?), is likely to lead to many more encounters with people that will provide you with the greatest degree of creative and open thinking.
Having worked in a rigorous field for many years I know that many of my most talented colleagues in fact tended to be those that were the least tight in a certain part of their anatomy :)…but its not my choice, its my Ds, so I better not drool over Brown any more lest I offend others at the ball…</p>