<p>Stonesn, why the urgency? You have some time to make this decision. Call Brown CS department and ask them questions, ask to talk to profs or students or alumni. </p>
<p>I think anon gave you a pretty good answer to your questions. Ditto everything s/he said. To be a little more specific:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How are the internships opportunity? For example, Cornell gives people a chance to work in a Co-Op program to take a semester off and work for a company. Does Brown give this?
I don’t know, but I’m sure the website and the CS department addresses this. I know that CS majors are heavily recruited for summer internships and get some great jobs.</p></li>
<li><p>How is research? Will I have tons of opportunity? Yes.</p></li>
<li><p>How close is the interactions between professors and how small are the classes, and will I get good recommendations? I know several CS majors, and they all seem to be very close to at least one prof. You will get good recommendations if you make the effort. I know that undergrads are asked to TA intro classes, so if you do that, that’s another way to get a good rec. I don’t know the size of the classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Is Brown prestigious in the eyes of a graduate school for computer science? I know its not Stanford/MIT/CMU, but is it still really good? Look into Randy Pausch, (and also what Andy van Damm did for him to get him into CM grad school.) Grad schools look at a lot more than just the prestige of the UG school. Plenty of kids who go to state schools get into great grad programs. Put another way, prestige is not the only factor at play in grad school admissions. </p></li>
<li><p>Brown is ranked #20 overall in computer science. Why? Is that #20 ranking for undergrad or grad? Brown has a small grad department, and that could easily affect its ranking.</p></li>
<li><p>Is there a lot of recruiting from companies like Microsoft, Intel, etc, and is it hard to get a job after graduating? Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc., all recruit at Brown. Humanities majors complain that too many of the recruiters at the on-campus job fairs are looking for CS majors. Unless something drastic happens, you will get a job. A good one that pays a lot of money.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>It seems to me that you are much too focused on ranking and prestige. What other schools did you get into? What are your other choices? </p>
<p>Here’s another thought – call the HR department at Facebook/Google/Pixar/Microsoft, and ask them about Brown CS.</p>