<p>thequaker - Well,, I already applied to Brown ED, and Im considering withdrawing it. I wanna go to Brown more than Harvard, I like it more in terms of campus, academics, everything! (although Ive never visited), but everyone where I live hasnt even heard of Brown, and it gets kind of depressing, I mean say I get in and attend, after I graduate if Im looking for a job people wouldnt care. Its all about the name here.</p>
<p>I have to assume she didn't look at the schools too closely before getting recruited and getting admitted, since (at least in the case of Harvard), she ...</p>
<p>"(1) didn't care for Harvard's core curriculum, and </p>
<p>(2) didn't care for what she perceived as the Finals Clubs' social hierarchy, and </p>
<p>(3) got the sense that at Harvard it would be much harder to get to know her professors and to get a chance to work closely with them..."</p>
<p>Rather odd that she disliked the curriculum, the faculty and the social life, and yet she applied. I can only assume she gave no thought to what she was looking for until she found out who would be recruiting her.</p>
<p>Juggie, I don't know what the problem is...Brown IS a prestigous school. Maybe its name isn't as highly recognized in other countries but I can't imagine any major company, hospital, medical institution NOT knowing Brown-it is an IVY and has graduated many impressive people world wide. You really need to choose a school based on what it offers YOU. You are the one who will be living and learning in its environment. Do Not choose a school based on a name or a perceived notion about it.</p>
<p>Bill (Byerly), you are no longer welcome here. Which, of course, is exactly what you wanted to hear, but I have sat back for too long and watched you make statements that are at best irrational and at worst delusional. Take your ignorance elsewhere.</p>
<p>Oh, and for the record, my disdain for Bill O'Reilly does not come from my status as a "partisan kibitzer" - that claim is too silly for words. It comes from the fact that he made calculated lies about my Alma Mater on national television to an audience that included my grandparents and scores of other disgustingly impressionable old people, who he enticed by titillating them with a nearly-pornographic video of college students. You are sick in the head if you think that I wouldn’t think the same way about Keith Olbermann if he had done the same.</p>
<p>You seem fairly brittle with a lot of displaced anger. I am a great fan of Brown of which my father and brother are graduates. What exactly is eating you? "Irrational??? Delusional?? " What on earth are you talking about??</p>
<p>For a "Harvard man" you seem a little naiive. You have been told many times that you are rude and condescending. You seem to like to go on these school sites on CC and talk negatively about schools that are not Harvard. Why just today, according to your posts, you had something negative to say about Brown, Yale and Princeton. We get it Byerly...YOU LIKE HARVARD! But stop coming on these other sites with your "facts and figures" and your attitude. Stop acting so offended. You really are annoying!</p>
<p>Yes, delusional. And displaced anger? You take what people say here, twist it in bizarre ways, add a hint of hallucination, and insult them. But not directly, because that would be beneath you. Instead, here is what you do:</p>
<p>Innocent Person: "My daughter chose Brown over Harvard because of X, Y, and Z."</p>
<p>Normal Board Troll: "Wow, your daughter is stupid"</p>
<p>Byerly: "I hope your daughter didn't do that. If she did that, she'd be stupid."</p>
<p>And it's here that you share so much in common with my favorite Bill. I have never had such clarity about why Bill O'Reilly disgusts me until now, which is partially why I'm spending so much time actually replying to you here. You and him both are masters of using conversational impliciture (maybe your high school offers linguistics courses, in which case you can take one to understand what this means, although it seems that you already do) rather than explicit statements to express your opinion. You see, I can do it too! I just presupposed in my parenthetical remark that you were in high school, and there is no easy way for you to argue against it, as there would have been if I had said “you are in high school.” Anyway, it’s a cleaver trick, but an deceitful one. So, every time in the future that you come in this forum and attempt to use this vile tool against some unsuspecting high school senior, I am going to try to translate your sentences into their presuppositions and ultimate truth conditions to make it easier for people to argue against you. We’ll see how long it lasts.</p>
<p>In any event, my question was not directed to "some unsuspecting high school senior", but to a highly-educated and involved parent from northern New England. </p>
<p>I have never ... EVER ... said anything "negative" about Brown.</p>
<p>they are SUCH different schools in terms of atmosphere- its absolutely commonplace for people to prefer brown to harvard. whether or not they apply to both is another story.</p>
<p>Well the latter circumstance, of course, is what's of interest here. </p>
<p>There is little doubt that among the 20,000 or so applicants to both Harvard and Brown there are many who did not apply to the other school, for reasons personal to them.</p>
<p>On the other hand, until Brown retreated to binding Early Decision, it was also true that Brown and Harvard shared a pretty large overlap group, rivalling that between Harvard and Stanford and Harvard and Yale. The overlap group is still substantial.</p>
<p>So there used to be an overlap group, and there remains an overlap group, yet you question how a student could possibly apply to both when they have some preference to one or the other? I've lost you, Byerly.</p>
<p>"On the other hand, until Brown retreated to binding Early Decision..."
presupposes
"Brown's decision to use binding Early Decision was a retreat of some type."</p>
<p>Now all should feel free to argue against that point, should they feel compelled to.</p>
<p>I often ignore Byerly's insulting comments which always presuppose quite a bit, whether correctly or not, and attempt to actually respond to the larger point, despite the fact that his language and peripheral discussion is infuriating.</p>
<p>What caught my attention was the tri-partite negativity towards Harvard apparently felt by the athletically-inclined applicant from Northern New England, as reported by her mother. </p>
<p>What seems odd to me is that any applicant whose feelings about a particular school are so uniformly negative (again - as reported by her mother) would ever apply in the first place - particularly if, as a recruited athlete, she has not only a choice of schools but the opportunity for a paid visit before submitting an application.</p>
<p>How can you continue to ignore Shelf-life's explanation that her D's feelings were NOT "uniformly negative"; rather, there were specific issues that she preferred at Brown RELATIVE to Harvard? She made that perfectly clear.</p>
<p>Actually, Byerly, you are the best advertisement for why one might want to go to Brown (or anywhere else) over Harvard.</p>
<p>I have never - EVER - urged anyone to go to this college or that. Harvard is certainly not for everyone, and people who don't feel up to the unique challenges it poses should obviously not apply. This would particularly be true in the case of an applicant who, reportedly:</p>
<p>"(1) didn't care for Harvard's core curriculum, and</p>
<p>(2) didn't care for what she perceived as the Finals Clubs' social hierarchy, and</p>
<p>(3) got the sense that at Harvard it would be much harder to get to know her professors and to get a chance to work closely with them..."</p>
<p>Byerly, I know many people who applied to Harvard for the hell of it. They figured why not? Let me see what happens. Their feeling is that if they get in (and many know it is a long shot for them), THEN I will research it, visit and see if it is right for them. My own Son contemplated it for a brief while until we did do some research and saw that it had nothing that he wanted to study! Yes, he did it for the great Harvard name. I know of one student last year who applied to Brown (his brother was attending) and Harvard (father is an alum). He got into both and decided on Harvard. I personally think he made the right choice-he is better suited at Harvard. I know of another student who applied to Harvard and Northwestern and decided on Northwestern (med program) and a third who applied to Harvard and Duke and chose Duke over Harvard for a particular engineering program. Many people choose schools over Harvard after having the choice. They just want to see what happens if they apply. Perhaps that OP whose daughter chose Brown over Harvard, decided for whatever reason (she named 3 good ones) that Brown was just a better fit after all. So it was her $75 loss-big deal! But you imply that no one would choose any other school over Harvard if given the choice and that is just wrong. And you also imply that Brown went to binding ED because by not doing so they would lose too many worthy applicants to precious Harvard. It is condescending and then you act like the wounded party.</p>