<p>Brown is big enough that the presence of an older brother shouldn’t be a factor, unless your student feels strongly that he wants to blaze his own path.</p>
<p>My D chose Barnard over Brown, and my S chose Williams over Brown. We all like Brown a lot, but the schools they chose had an edge for them. </p>
<p>D would have done well at Brown, but S, who is also distractible, needed more structure, or at least thought he did.</p>
<p>However, unless your S feels strongly, it might not be worth the debt unless you all decide he can’t do well at Brown or is not inspired by it.</p>
<p>Both are wonderful opportunities.</p>