We just came back from spring break college visits for our h.s. jr. daughter that included Cornell and Brown. At Brown, I got a real "rich kid, prep school" vibe that I did not get at Cornell. We are a non-minority middle class, public school suburban family. Our DD likes both schools but she is concerned about fitting in. Where would she feel more comfortable - Cornell or Brown?
If she's a high school junior, it's a little early for her to decide what the "right" place is. Right now, your focus should be on creating a list of many schools she could be happy at.
I can assure you that the minority of students from Brown went to expensive prep schools. I'm sad that you got that impression, because that's not how I think of my school.
My daughter went to Brown, and she and most of her friends went to public schools. So I'm a bit puzzled how you got that impression. I think you'll find some rich prep school kids at all the Ivies, top LACs and the selective colleges.
If you tell us more about your daughter (her academic and EC interests, other college priorities), maybe we can give more advice/perspective.
She wants to study genetics, so that would be molecular biology or bioengineering. We do plan to look at other schools (non-Ivy), but it was her idea to look at Cornell and Brown. We also looked at RPI (it was on the way) and during the summer, we are thinking of visiting Johns Hopkins, U. Rochester, Case Western, Notre Dame, U. Richmond, and UNC- Chapel Hill.
"At Brown, I got a real "rich kid, prep school" vibe that I did not get at Cornell."
My son and I attended ADOCH on Monday. I was expecting to see a lot of preppies but I did not. The impression I got was that the student body was quite diverse. I think the ivies had a lot more preppies back in the 70's when I went to school.
Having said that, I do think that there might be more "non-minority, middle class, public school, suburban" kids at Cornell than at Brown.
I do think that there might be more "non-minority, middle class, public school, suburban" kids at Cornell than at Brown.
Well, of course there will be. Cornell has how many more students than Brown? And I would think that since it is a land grant university, its admissions (for schools other than Arts & Sciences) would be very different than Brown.
Brown has a pretty diverse student body. My kid was raised as an urbanite but she did go to a prep school on scholarship so it used to those kids. Her school and she are pretty down to earth. My impression of the Brown kids I met was one of passionate intellectual bent. Though I have to say I did see some very chic girls from time to time, it wasn't the norm. Students are friendly and you will 'find your people.'
I was just accepted to Brown and went to A Day on College Hill. I had been expecting a lot of hippie types and artsy people, but I noticed just what you did. There were a lot more rich-seeming, preppy people than I expected. I still really liked the people I met and committed a couple days ago. But since she's a junior, there's no point in applying if it's not for her!
