<p>I can buy that, but as you say, the overall climates will be different (again, not necessarily governed by the students alone). Again, I think it’s more controlled by the happenings at each institutions and how certain stronghold departments engage undergrads (especially humanities and social sciences) beyond the classroom. Institutions that are more “academically focused” will likely feel different because of more of this sort of thing going on. Unlump Penn from Columbia and Brown BTW (I really feel like it has the JHU/CalB, Emory thing going on. As in, more of different vibe; A pre-professionals come first , but “intellectually intense” in many areas type of school), lol. I think Brown and Columbia are a bit past trying to directly serve the pre-prof. crowds as much as some of the other places. As for class building, I think they all want amazing numbers and EC’s, but but may scrutinize EC’s and essays differently to shape the class around the climate they already have or envision themselves having in the future so you get schools with very similar stats. that just feel much different.</p>