<p>Ok, Brown’s my first choice school I’m applying ED. I’m also applying to Harvard Regular, I have this feeling that I might get in. So what Im saying is would any of you turn down Brown for Harvard?
I’m even thinking of withdrawing my early app.</p>
<p>You'd be surprised how many people would turn down Harvard for Brown in a second. </p>
<p>Don't go to Harvard for undergrad... go there for grad, maybe.</p>
<p>Though the numbers are something like 90% go to Harvard when making that choice, there is a 10% that chooses Brown. Depends on what you want out of youre undergraduate education and why you're applying to either school.</p>
<p>My daughter just bought a T-shirt at the Brown Book Store that has the Harvard logo and below it reads, "Because Not Everyone Can Get Into Brown."</p>
<p>Says it all LOL</p>
<p>I didn't even apply to Harvard, because I knew that while I had a chance of getting in, I would be unhappy there. I'd much rather be at Brown, and I am!</p>
<p>Hum if you would turn down Brown for Harvard, then Brown is not really your first choice. You should apply EC to your first choice only. Think about it and apply EA or EC to school that you really like.</p>
<p>It does top the Princeton Review list for happiest students after all.</p>
<p>One ranking (from students) of 12 top schools puts Brown at #2 and Harvard at #12.<br>
<a href="http://www.studentsreview.com/2005_NYD_rankings/top_ivy_official.php3%5B/url%5D">http://www.studentsreview.com/2005_NYD_rankings/top_ivy_official.php3</a></p>
<p>I recall some study done by a consortium of top universities themselves as to student satisfaction. Harvard was very low. The study itself hasn't been made public that I know of, but the Harvard result got anonymously leaked.</p>
<p>I don't mean to say that Harvard won't be best for any particular student. I'm sure there are satisfied, happy students. But anyone should go into the experience with eyes open and not be dazzled by the name alone (unless the name is what is important).</p>
<p>ILoveBrown-- I was the same way.</p>
<p>Honestly, I felt the same way although not with Harvard. I was honestly more of a 'Yale' person than a 'Harvard' person. And I got in to Brown ED, well... I still ask myself sometimes whether I would be able to get in to Yale or not. But other than occasional curiosities, I have never doubted Brown and I am pretty happy here...</p>
<p>My daughter applied to both Brown and Yale RD. She was very doubtful about even applying to Yale because she preferred Brown so much more. But given what she wanted to study, she figured she had to apply everywhere that had coursework in the field.</p>
<p>there were a few people on this board that chose brown over harvard, one of which i believe is quirkily (a PLME). an acquaintance of mine at brown transferred to harvard for a semester and then transferred back to brown after realizing brown afforded her more flexibility (she was a triple concentrator).</p>
<p>as others have said, it depends largely on what you want out of your education. having studied at both places, i can tell you first hand that they are considerably different. if harvard seems like a better fit, you may want to apply there ED.</p>
<p>i wouldn't even have to think twice about that one- it'd be brown in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Ditto. Not even applying to Harvard. Brown all the way. Now just gotta get in, of course...muhahaha...</p>
<p>i transferred to brown this year and i could understand why someone would pick brown over harvard. the open curriculum gets a lot of attention because it is what sets brown apart from the other ivies; but until i got here i didnt realize how unique of an experience it would create. everyone in your classes wants to be there, and you have no exuse for not giving your all into a class since you opted to take it. there is not a high sense of pressure, but students work extremely hard for their own sach. socially its a very relaxed place where everyone feels comfortable. senator obama spoke here a few weeks back and they told students the venue would only be able to fit 500 people, while everyone else would have to watch it on a videocast. i would guess well over 1,000 people filled the line on the main green even after they knew they wouldnt be getting in just to show their support- these are people who waited in line for several hours. i feel as if that attitude is very reflective of the ideology that goes on here</p>
<p>Unless I'm mistaken, Brown grades on an A/B/C/no credit scale, which is really nice. My college has a +/- grading system, which can really screw up your GPA if you miss the cutoff by one point. Brown's Open Curriculum is really nice too, especially if you have lots of different interests. As everyone else said, Brown seems to be very laidback. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.gradeinflation.org%5B/url%5D">www.gradeinflation.org</a> vs. <a href="http://www.safetyschool.org%5B/url%5D">www.safetyschool.org</a> vs. <a href="http://www.brown.edu%5B/url%5D">www.brown.edu</a></p>
<p>It's a no-brainer. ;)</p>
<p>I turned down Harvard for Brown. Although it was mostly b/c of the PLME, there were several other reasons for my decision. Among them were:</p>
<p>Focus on undergraduates - Brown has many fewer graduate students, and the school seems waaay more focused on undergrad education than Harvard. My father, who went to Harvard for undergrad and grad, confirmed this.... But that's not to say you can't get a great undergrad education at Harvard, obviously.</p>
<p>Student happiness - EVERYONE I talked to at brown said they loved it, that they were having a great time and were learning a lot. While kids also really liked Harvard, they didn't seem as excited about it and many seemed to feel they weren't quite on the educational path they wanted to be. One girl said she hated her concentration and would have done something else if her advisors had even mentioned other options. People at Harvard didn't seem to think they'd been as well advised/cared for as people at Brown.</p>
<p>Open curriculum and academic flexibility - Brown really wants its students to find what they're interested in and excell in that area. Harvard seemed to want students to find more what they could be immediately successful at- not necessarily what they WANTED to do. Also the open curriculum at Brown is awesome - I feel way more in charge of my own education. Also, I was looking to be pre-med and was completely intimidated by the way Harvard approached the whole pre-med process. For example, I want to go abroad, but the people at Harvard said something like "Yeah, you can totally go abroad, but you'll have to go to Sweden 'cause that's where there's a lab you can spend all your time in...." </p>
<p>Extracurricular atmosphere - My sense was that it was harder to be involved with extracurriculars at a place like Harvard b/c you had to pick one or two and really devote yourself to them, almost exclusively. While I'm sure that's not true for all extracurrics there, and the opposite isnt necessarily always true here, it is true that Brown's extracurricular scene is very low-key and welcoming. I get the sense that here, i could experiment and be involved with lots of different things simultaneously with varying degrees of commitment. I don't think the same is true at Harvard.</p>
<p>I really liked (and still do like) Harvard, and I'm also really happy here at Brown. I think I would be happy at either place, but Brown definitely has advantages over Harvard (just as Harvard has some advantages over Brown.) My advice is to visit both, see where you feel more comfortable, and apply to that place early. If you're evenly split but still want to apply somewhere early, do Harvard b/c it's EA and then apply to Brown regular. Definitely don't go to Harvard just for the name - that's a bad way to make a decision and besides, I don't think I'd be happy if all my classmates were there just so they could list the name of the school on their resumes. Plus, Brown's name is pretty high up on that prestige list, too...</p>
<p>That's awesome advice.</p>
<p>My daughter wouldn't even get out of the car when we visited Brown last year. Applied to Harvard, got in and is now a freshman and loves it!!</p>
<p>really, I loved Brown when i visited it last week. I would probably not turn it down because Harvard is just too good to turn down/</p>
<p>Only 3 out of 100 common admits turn down Harvard for Brown, according to the NY Times. Brown, which had earlier shared a fairly large overlap pool with Harvard when bother were open EA schools, moved to binding ED in an effort to reduce the number of common admit losses and to boost its yield rate. That said, plenty of people go to Brown who have chosen it over other good schools.</p>
<p>The academic pecking order is fairly rigid.</p>