Brown vs Northwestern Eng

josh123adam
Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:10:11 +0000

Hi All,
I’m an international student from Belgium, having the honor of being accepted to Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, UPenn, UCLA, NYU-Poly, Tufts, UCSB, UCSD, Northwestern and Brown. I want to study civil engineering, and have ultimately narrowed down the list to Northwestern and Brown. My plan is to study civil engineering and possibly either double major or have a minor in economics or business management. During my college search, the most important factor for me had been reputation. Of course, now I take into account other factors as well, yet reputation still remains the most important one. I’m facing a serious dilemma here between Brown and Northwestern. Here are factors other than reputation that matter to me:

Location (Chicago vs Boston –> although I’ve heard Brown students don’t go to Boston as easily and often as NU students go to Chicago).

Placement of engineering students in internships at investment banks (this a major factor for me, I want to get into i-banking during internships and after graduation. Does brown or NU have better placement at i-banks?)

Chance to meet inspirational people (CEO’s etc.)

Economics double major-I will probably double major in econ as well, which dept is better? Brown or Northwestern?

Entrepreneurship: I want to get into entrepreneurship during my undergrad years, possibly find my own startup firm and I know Northwestern has an undergrad program with Kellogg. What about Brown?
I know that engineering wise, NU trumps Brown, but I’m not really interested in thriving at the core of engineering (e.g. stellar physics, maths etc.), but rather using my engineering knowledge to enter the world of business and finance. I think I’m leaning more towards Northwestern, but Brown is an Ivy and somehow I can’t turn it down easily. Thanks in advance.