Brown v. Swarthmore

musechick2007
Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:53:01 +0000

I was making this same decision last year and I chose Brown. However, you strike me a little more like a Swattie. I could be wrong, though! :)

TONS of people at Swat major in PoliSci, so you’d definitely have engaging classes and a lot of peers that you could relate to on an academic level. Swarthmore is “overall” more demanding than Brown (can you say “less grade inflation?”) because at Brown there is a more laid back atmosphere, it’s true. HOWEVER, the other posters were right when they said that it’s what you make of it. Both places have a space for you to be the person you want to be. Brown is not a state party school, but if you dig parties, we have them. Swat is presumably the same way. When I visited Swat, I did see some of the cracked out, crazy-stressed/antisocial kids, BUT I also saw brilliant, super friendly students who were great at multitasking. Both campuses have all sorts of people. BUT Brown has more of a variety of people, which can be a plus or a minus, depending on what you want. Swat tends to attract a “type”–very intellectual, activisty, and…passionate. Also kinda strange and/or quirky. Brown does attract people like that, yes, but we also get…well…douchey people, lol. There’s more of a variety of backgrounds, interests, and everything. I like that because it’s more like the real world, y’know? Being at both places is definitely like being in a bubble, but Brown’s bubble is a little more encompassing. You get exposed to more at Brown, which I find very important. And, like everyone has said, it’s what you make of it. My friends are all super awesome and interesting and I love them to pieces. The people I dislike, I simply don’t hang out with. Simple as that. Oh! And the surrounding city? Providence > Swarthmore when it comes to urban life. However, Philly is 20 minutes away from Swat, while Boston is 50 minutes away from Providence. shrug I like Providence. Anyhoo.

Swat is tiny, Brown is medium-sized, leaning toward the smaller end of the spectrum. The good thing about Brown is that one can walk down the street and see lots of familiar faces BUT ALSO see lots of NEW faces. That’s considerably harder at Swat, where “everyone knows everyone.” But hey, there’s a fresh crop of students every year at both places, so it’s not that big a deal. Coming from a small school (Nursery-12th grade = 700+/- total kids), ANYWHERE would be bigger than my school, so it wasn’t an issue. For friends who went to high-schools with 3,000 students, Swat felt stifling and way too small. Another good thing about Brown is that it has more grad students than Swat (or at all?), so you can have contact with older students and more contact with people that have already “been there.”

An important thing to consider also is financial aid. I kind of hate Brown’s aid. Some people can get amazing aid, but a lot of other people are stabbed in the face by it. The EFC on your SAR will NOT be the EFC that Brown will give you. It’s…a tricky thing, really…and…ergh. It leaves MUCH to be desired, but oh well. Swat gave me a ridiculously amazing package, though. They’re really good about financial aid, generally, and if you’re interested in study abroad, they make that happen for you. Brown sends a lot of students abroad, too, sure, but it’s more financially feasible at Swat, I think.

Let’s see…what else. OH! Class size! If you want small and personal, DEFINITELY go Swat. Brown has small and personal, but not ALWAYS. All my classes have been manageable, but it’s perhaps because I’m into the non-super popular/necessary classes to begin with. The intro classes can get huge, but profs are generally very open and available to talk to you. They have office hours, some stay after class, and all that jazz. It depends on the class/prof, though. Swat definitely has more support in that area, methinks?

The campuses…Swarthmore is RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING and idyllic. Brown is pretty, but way less green. However, Brown and the surrounding areas look splendid in the spring and fall (so beautiful!) anyway. This was a big deal for me, because I did NOT want a campus that was all cement and brick. Brown is perfectly fine, though Swat always did have (and always will have) that air of magic. ^_^

And…both Brown and Swat have Honors programs. So, whee. As for the curriculum…Brown’s is open, but people tend to fulfill some sort of “distribution requirement” anyway…just on their own. We encourage exploration a lot, so people often do that. Swat is a nice middle-man between Brown’s openness and UChicago’s core, I think. Swat is structured enough so that you get variety, but open enough so that you’re not FORCED into a certain class.

My advice is to take all this into consideration, but to also go with your gut. I can’t stress that enough. If you feel one of these two is not right, GO WITH IT. Even if the school is the best ever and it has loads of money and loads of WHATEVER, if you don’t feel HAPPY there, it’s not worth it. I loved both places and was in LOVE with Swarthmore WAY before I even CONSIDERED Brown. There were lots of nights when I stayed up talking on AIM with another girl who was choosing between Swat and Brown, discussing the pros and cons of both places. We both decided on Brown, in the end. Actually, I even broke down crying one day because May 1st was approaching and I was as confused as ever and I felt so very torn (also, I’d visited Swat twice, but never been to Brown). My Swat aid was phenomenal, while my Brown aid was okayish, but certainly not as good. I felt that Swarthmore had a LOT of good points and that a part of me wanted to be there really badly, but overriding that was a feeling that I WAS going to go to Brown. That the decision had already been made somehow and that Brown was the choice, that that’s where I had to go. So, I wound up at Brown and love it a lot. I do sometimes wonder what my life would’ve been like had I chosen Swarthmore, but I know that I made the right choice…and that even if I’d chosen Swat, I would probably be happy anyway. So, don’t stress too much…'cause you can only TRY to make the best choice for you…and if it doesn’t work out, there are always options to fix the situation. :)