This is just not true. Brown is very well respected, both in finance and in tech. There are TONS of Brown grads working for Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc., etc. Google Andy van Dam to understand how much the Brown CS department is respected. Brown’s economic department is very strong. Lots of Brown grads in finance, too.
As for the rampant liberalism – I’m not a current student, so it’s really hard for me to respond to this from personal experience. I do think this is an issue, although one that exists on many college campuses. I think there are situations where if you’re not PC there will be issues, although I also think that in the vast majority of social interactions, this is not an issue. A lot of it depends on who you end up hanging out with, and luck of the draw. You could have a MCM-majoring purple-haired tattooed roommate with Bernie posters; or you could have a studious engineer who hasn’t given Bernie a second thought. The nice thing about going to a medium-sized school is that there are plenty of different types of kids around, that if you don’t like one group, you can just go out and find another.
I can promise you that most Brown students look really normal and don’t have purple hair. It is very possible that things will be politicized for the first few months you are there, because there is an election in November (although if Bernie does not get the nomination, I doubt people will be talking about him). Once that’s over, though, things will calm down and most people will not be discussing politics at all (except the poli sci majors, but they’re a minority).