Please tell me everything and anything there is to know about how these schools compare. I want to major in either bioengineering or biochemistry, and I was planning on applying ED to Brown, but I have heard that Yale’s biomedical engineering program is much better. I plan on being pre-med. I get the sense that although both schools are academically vigorous, Brown is more collaborative and the students are less stressed out. Is this true? Also, which student body is more liberal? I just want to know how the schools compare, sorry if this isn’t the most eloquently written, I am very stressed with ED just around the corner.
@Felix99 Yale is quite stronger for bioengineering than Brown but neither of them has a really top BE program. However both are great schools for a pre-med student because they have grade inflation and a lot of resources for mentorship etc. Yale is obviously more prestigious and stronger as an overall university. Yale is also harder to get in. Both schools are more liberal than most other ivies, but Brown is said to be the most liberal. Maybe Brown is more collaborative, but I don’t think Yalies are particularly stressed out. I guess a Yalie will be be able to answer this more accurately.
Without knowing more about your bona fides, both Brown and Yale would have to be considered reaches with plenty of prestige between them. One is located in a gentrified oasis within a generally hostile immediate environment; the other is in a well-maintained historic district with itself at the center. You can major in bio-engineering just about anywhere with a decent engineering program. It’s no big deal. IMO, and judging from the alumni I have met over the years, the student bodies are almost interchangeable. Pick the physical environment you’d rather be around for the next four years. Yale has gorgeous dorms that are dangerous once you step outside their gates; Brown has lousy dorms, but a delightful street life.
Brown’s lack of general education may help in selecting courses that will help your GPA for premed purposes.
I go to Yale, and go into poor neighborhoods regularly to volunteer and haven’t felt in any danger, whether it’s early morning or late evening. And I don’t have a single friend that has been threatened, let alone mugged! The area around the Yale campus is actually more interesting - has more good restaurants, shopping, theatre, music than Brown. I agree that Brown’s location on College Hill is special and lovely. But I preferred Yale hands down and am comfortable living on a beautiful campus that is integrated into an urban environment. That may not be true of @circuitrider.
Both school has plenty of premeds went to med school, so the assessment of how easy or hard on premed success rate should not be put into consideration. It is going to be hard either way and I can tell you that competition is going to be fierce one way or the other, BME by itself is a tough major, to get high GPA in BME is going to be hard.
“Please tell me everything and anything there is to know about how these schools compare.”
For schools at this level, a solid candidate doesn’t need others to tell him.
Plenty to do in Providence. Entertainment as well as integrating into the community. For kids interested in service and/or healthcare delivery ECs, both schools are fine.
@zoebrittany wrote
Oh, so am I, which is why I don’t mind meeting for drinks anywhere around Columbia, any time of night…
@lookingforward
I would consider myself a solid candidate, but I go to a boarding school with weekend classes and could therefore only visit colleges over the summer. Is it wrong that I want to obtain as many facts and opinions possible before choosing which educational institution I will attend for the next four years of my life?
You don’t only learn by visiting and you didn’t ask about some vibe that can only be leaned by setting foot on campus…
@lookingforward Well I know that of course and I have done immense amounts a research on both schools but most of what pops up are facts and I just am trying to utilize one of the resources available. I just don’t understand why you would make a claim that, in my understanding, basically says I am not a solid applicant because I asked this question. But maybe that is just me jumping to conclusions and misinterpreting what you wrote.
They’re both great schools and generations of kids enjoyed, even loved, their time at each. Each will want to see the stats and rigor and, for stem, the experiences and mindset. And, at the same time, an intellectual curiosity about more than just your major and future career goals. And variety in ECs (depth as well as breadth.) Each will have some stressful classes and some great collaboration. Each is liberal. Obviously, Yale is a bigger student body, total, and has its living arrangements. Both have med schools and are attached to hospitals, with plenty of opps there. This isn’t like comparing an Ivy and some small, rather ordinary LAC.
But your question sounded like you need some comparison, for your decision. At the point Early apps are looming, it’s good to have this knocked down,already, before the Common App and supps are filled out. Other threads ask about med school chances. All the schools you’ve mentioned for UG are going to want to know the 4 years there are paramount in your mind, how you matched yourself to what they want to see, what they like in their campus community, not just med school hopes.
And both Yale and Brown reaches for everyone.