<p>
</p>
<p>You could. But I doubt you’d find such happy, laid back kids who like to learn for the sake of learning (and even for fun), but who still like to kick off their shoes and play hard as well. This is a post of Alumother’s that I found on this forum, which I absolutely heart (it’s about Brown):</p>
<p>The difference between the uber-smart at Brown and at other places:</p>
<p>(1) their freedom to delve into their passions, particularly if they have multiple, divergent passions. Thanks to the open curriculum, Brown students can easily double-major, pursue independent/cross disciplinary study, etc. Anyone who has lots of intellectual loves but no one clear path as yet will be in <em>heaven</em> at Brown because it is truly the exploratorium (to use a Bay area reference) of the Ivy League.</p>
<p>(2) their lack of overt scariness, despite startling intellectual abilities. Brown students are generally chill, cooperative, and sociable. People are, as a rule, disarmingly nice and normal-- you discover their brilliance later, by surprise. I remember at graduation, seeing who’d won the highest academic honors and being VERY surprised by some of the names… certain people who were ultra low key-slash-slackeresque in demeanor, that I would never have guessed were academic superstars, were summa cums…</p>
<p>(3) Overall lack of concern for name-brand aspects of prestige and more affinity for the specific strengths of Brown: the open curriculum, or a specific department, or the very happy social environment, etc.</p>
<p>(4) You get an artsier brand of uber-bright at Brown, and RISD helps that even more. A significant number of my “college friends” are RISD grads whom I met via employment, RISD classes, and off campus housing. RISD and Brown are adjacent and cross-pollinate well. RISD kids are as scary brilliant in creative, right-brain respects as you can possibly imagine.</p>