<p>Please don’t make the mistake of letting infinitesimal differences in “prestige” have any weighing on your decision process. It may seem important now to nitpick differing public opinions on prestige, but when the school year starts, do you really think it will have any bearing on your overall happiness? When you graduate, do you really think you may be more respected by an employer because a college is better known in Asia? When it comes down to it, you have the very comforting predicament of choosing between two great schools where although a high level of education is guaranteed, your compatibility with the student body and overall happiness as a student is not.</p>
<p>I really agree with the last post. It’d be a lot easier to just guide myself by “prestige”, but there is not a general consensus, and I know that that is not what matters to me the most. So, anyone out there have any input on the two schools beyond the name? How do they differ?</p>
<p>The obvious:</p>
<p>Stanford: quarter system, large graduate program, in northern California, IHUM/core requirements</p>
<p>Brown: semesters, small graduate program, in New England, and open curriculum</p>
<p>So, how does that all play out? I currently have two friends at Stanford, and they love it. If you get into interesting IHUM classes, it seems like they’re a fun time. However, it also seems like the students are more competitive at Stanford, and grades are more important (i.e. people seem to compete more against each other for them. At Brown they’re important, but you don’t feel like you’re competing with others to get them). If you like weather to be relatively the same year-round, Stanford is nice. However, becoming a TA at Stanford seems to be a good deal more difficult than at Brown (example of difference in graduate enrollment), but research opportunities at both schools abound. Brown could definitely be considered a more hipster school, where people tend to be more laid back, and at the same time Brown seems to require more independence than Stanford: you’re responsible for every choice you make, from housing to classes. Eg: Brown’s housing lottery is crazy. You join with a group of anywhere from 1-12 students. Your group gets a number, and then on the day of the pick you have (I believe) 30 seconds for your group to make a decision (with a display showing what housing is still available). Stanford, on the other hand, you go into a lottery with a group of friends, and you list out your top choices. However, everyone is given an individual number, and if you have a good enough number, where you’d get better housing than your group, you can check a box saying you’d like to be put in the better housing, rather than stay with your friends. Stanford’s system relies a lot more on a computer, whereas Brown’s system, besides the number you get, your group has complete control over what housing you choose.</p>
<p>That said, they’re both great schools, and it really depends on the type of person you are in which school will be better for you.</p>
<p>Oooh that lottery sounds hectic. I see that you attend Brown…What are you majoring in? What do you think of the school? What schools were you considering when you had to decide between colleges? Sorry…quite a few questions in a row.</p>
<p>Not to bash on Brown, but Stanford is pretty much universally more prestigious. There’s a reason people say HYPS(M if we include non liberal arts). That said, fit is a big issue so consider carefully!</p>
<p>Whoever said something about northeast elites thinking Brown is more prestigious is BSing. Recruiting wise, Stanford wins hands down.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>These Brownians are full of BS. (I am starting to think the B in BS is for Brown.) Check out this bold-faced lie (from another thread):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Here is the real data:</p>
<p>[Medical</a> Admission Data Snapshot](<a href=“WELCOME TO HEALTH CAREERS ADVISING | Health Careers Advising”>WELCOME TO HEALTH CAREERS ADVISING | Health Careers Advising)</p>
<p>The TRUTH is that Brown has a 81% (<70%) acceptance rate for pre-med students (undergrad alums) in regard to ANY choice.</p>
<p>Some of these students are working on older numbers. 5 years ago when we had a lot fewer premed students, the number that applied to medical school straight out of college hit that number.</p>
<p>Separate from that, your 70% number is a complete misreading of that link.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Can you provide a source for this? I don’t believe that the med school applicant pool can increase (and the acceptance rate decline) that much in a 5-year period. Even if true (which I doubt), this Brownian used the PRESENT tense: </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t have the stat because it’s an old one. I know what they put out from admissions when I applied 5 years ago and that was the number and I’ve also watched that number change over time.</p>
<p>Do you have any purpose on this site other than being a royal pain ass?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Of course, you don’t.</p>
<p>Sorry-- information on the internet doesn’t always stay there for five years, nor does personal communication at info sessions come with a crib sheet complete with references.</p>
<p>Where would I find smaller and more personalized classes?</p>
<p>Would professors at Stanford be interested in the teaching or would a lot of them just be concerned with their own research?</p>
<p>Where do students have more time to work on non-academic activities (be it community service or just hanging out)?</p>
<p>have you even visited yet? that would be a good start. I know it’s hard because both school’s are on opposite coasts, but there’s only so much that online opinions can help</p>
<p>I did visit but a while ago… I can’t really go back because I don’t even live in the US</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think one thing that I’ve learned since coming to college is that all of these questions are pretty much irrelevant. </p>
<p>At any ivy/ivy-caliber school you’ll be able to find professors concerned with teaching and professors not so concerned with it. At every school, you’ll be able to find large classes and small, personal classes (this also depends on what you major in, typically humanities majors benefit from seminar style learning a bit more quickly than quantitative majors). Finally, you can generally make your course load as challenging or as easy as you want. You will also learn upon reaching college that you may not care about doing homework (this revelation may surprise you at first, but this lackadaisical mentality is actually quite common on ivy campuses). </p>
<p>Ultimately what it comes down to is which school has clubs you’re most interested in. Which school has a campus that you find unconditionally beautiful, even on the nasty ugly days. Which school could you see making your home for the next four years. And be honest with yourself. There are tons of people I know at Stanford, Harvard, and even here at Yale who chose where they are based on the name or irrelevant questions like your own and are very unhappy with their decision.</p>
<p>I advise you visit, analyze your feelings, and go from there :).</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s really helpful!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>the hell it isn’t.</p>
<p>Sorry, this is pointless. Brown is far more prestigious than my state school: however, if someone got into both, but lacked the independent drive to make use of Brown’s open curriculum and self-driven atmosphere, I’d recommend they stay at home. It truly is a matter of where you’ll most thrive, especially as any difference in prestige is relatively small (both have low acceptance rates, both have well-renowned fields, both have great grad-school placement, etc.)</p>
<p>“The Northeast isn’t the world (granted, I know this realization can be shocking to some). Go down to the South, and 9/10 haven’t heard of Brown but at least vaguely know of Stanford as a good school.”</p>
<p>I find it hilarious that you are honestly calling Brown “BS” JUST because more people have heard of Stanford.</p>
<p>Both of these schools are brilliant. They wouldn’t be continuously ranked at the top if they weren’t.</p>
<p>WHO CARES if more people “heard” of Stanford or Brown?</p>
<p>It depends on where one is situated in the world.</p>
<p>Anyways, I would go to either school based on the preferred way I like to learn, the academics, the local atmosphere…not prestige. They’ve both obviously got those.</p>
<p>National academy of science membership:
Stanford (134 members),
Brown (10 members)</p>
<p>National Academy of Engineering:
Stanford (92)
Brown (4)</p>