<p>As a Brown alum and a Princeton parent, I find that the quirkiness of the former and the lack of quirkiness of the latter are both greatly exaggerated.</p>
<p>agree with aparent (Brown Alum but only lots of nieces, friends, neighbors, cousins at Princeton). Also, to ALH’s point-- my quirky son has found plenty of “his people” at MIT, and I don’t think that MIT differs much from the other schools in terms of building a diverse class. They need kids who’ll take Urban Studies and Lingusitics and Music as much as anyone else… with the difference that since all of these kids must complete the core (which is HEAVY DUTY math/science) these quirky kids must also be solid MIT citizens in addition. I don’t think that negates their quirkiness…</p>
<p>And don’t confuse PC’ness with quirkiness. Brown has the former in abundance, but I don’t know if a Republican quirky kid would feel comfortable at Brown (mine didn’t).</p>
<p>my take on semesters vs quarters ( trimesters)
For myself- I like quarters better-because you don’t have time to get behind,and finals are not nearly as overwhelming as they could be.
However I am not really of an academic bent- I am not a strong writer, and I have never really developed a strategy of planning my schedule.A quarter may seem a more reasonable length of time for me, but I have also had the experience of missing a day or so and never being able to get back on track.</p>
<p>My daughter attends a school which has semesters- although most of her classes are a year long( I think she usually takes 3 classes,- but she also has labs which are time intensive- non science majors probably take 4 classes- not including PE). My observation has been that the longer structure, can give the classes more of a chance to go deeper, into the material and into projects and papers. It can be more difficult for someone who is distracted/procrastinates, but I have seen students who are definitely ADD learn to get support and plan their work. My D for example: at Reed every student has to write a publishable thesis for graduation, which is an enormous undertaking, but she has learned to pace herself, and get support when she needs it.
Their ADD doesn’t go away, but they can learn to cope with the longer semesters. The course schedule that I was originally interested in, but now think it would be a mistake for many students w ADD, is Colorado Colleges block plan ( one course for just a few weeks)- I would be concerned that it would be too intense.
My D likes to balance out Calculus with Art, to have some breathing time, I understand their reasoning, it enables long fieldtrips and can give the prof flexibility but I need time to absorb the material- compression doesn’t work for me.</p>
<p>SBDad,</p>
<p>Aside from the ADD, your son and mine would seem to have much in common in terms of personality and interests. He is considering a philosophy major, helped start a jazz ensemble at his school, and would definitely call himself “quirky”. So I am approaching this thread from a personal vantage, thinking that your son might be interested in his choices.</p>
<p>His own choice was to apply to U Chicago EA, where he was accepted. Son had done a summer program there in biology research and loved the feel of the campus. He also made a number of RD applications including a few Ivies that seemed “right”. His top choices now are Chicago and Brown. Many have questioned why he is attracted to such “different” schools. It’s true that you can’t get further apart in terms of required classes/core. Yet he was attracted by the fact that both campuses had intellectual, quirky, free spirited kids who have a lot of passions. (He had taken summer classes at Brown as well as Chicago, and I am a Brown alum, so we knew something about the student body.) </p>
<p>There were a number of other schools he looked at that fit his criteria. He might have applied to these except they did not have the Jewish component he needed: Reed, Deep Springs, Grinnell, Carleton. Another possibility is Swarthmore where son does have an application in. If he gets in there, he’ll have to take a close look at the campus because we haven’t been able to do that before.</p>
<p>I wish your son good luck in finanlizing his list.</p>
<p>Cami,</p>
<p>Thank you for your input, it’s very valuable.</p>
<p>Your son’s list pretty much mirrors my son’s, with the exception of Reed (he doesn’t want to be that far away).</p>
<p>I have to admit that we go back and forth on Brown primarily due to the reasons you have cited.</p>
<p>I’m kind curious why Columbia was not on the list?</p>
<p>cami
not to divert the thread but I read that Reed wants to offer a Hebrew class for next year.</p>
<p>Interesting. About a third of the students at the school are Jewish and my impression is that Jewish related activities are growing on campus. I know that some of the kids used to take Hebrew at Portland State Univ. which you can get to on the bus. </p>
<p>My son actually exchanged several e-mails with one student at Reed who was very involved with Hillel. He explained there’s actually a few Reedies who walk on shabbat morning to a nearby conservative synagogue. </p>
<p>Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread…</p>
<p>I just saw aparent’s comment re Brown being less quirky than its “image.” I agree that there is a healthy conventional-wealthy-preppy contingent, as I suspect there will be in any school that is that expensive to attend…</p>
<p>Brown’s quirkiness tends to be more along the lines of “kids with passionate interests.” Some of these are indeed normal-appearing preppy kids, others are more visibly “quirky.”</p>
<p>Edit: I accidentally bumped this assuming it was a new thread. Just noticed the 2006 date. But just for informational purposes…</p>
<p>MIT would be a GREAT choice for a philosophy major/philosophy concentration interested student; even if it’s not his main course of study the philosophy class opportunities would be incredible. I mean, Noam Chomsky is a faculty member!!! (Pardon all the exclamation points, as a Philo major I thoroughly enjoyed learning about syntatic structure and linguistic related theories.) I have a few friends who have attended who would definitely fit the definition of friends of your child/your child and they LOVE it.</p>
<p>[MIT</a> philosophy home page](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/philos/www/]MIT”>MIT Philosophy)</p>
<p>On that note (and regarding his jazz interests) MIT students can cross-register at Harvard. So while there may be some jazz musicians at MIT that your son may met/hang out/play with, there’s an opportunity for him to meet even more jazz musicians from a different school. He’d also be in an urban area which opens an even broader opportunity of finding his kind of music scene.</p>
<p>As many posters before me have mentioned, I definitely recommend your son also consider applying to schools that would suit such a personality/interest combo. Such as Amherts/Williams, Bard. All the sweet little LAC gems that compliment a student like yours well. The only caveat on the LACs is that unless they’re in a consortium with a school that offers musical breadth (classes/opportunites), has a strong music program itself, or is somewhat close to an urban area it might be harder to find the breadth of jazz music opportunities he desires.</p>
<p>Also read this article:</p>
<p>[The</a> Philosophical Gourmet Report 2009 :: Undergraduate Study](<a href=“http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp]The”>http://www.philosophicalgourmet.com/undergrad.asp)</p>
<p>It’s often cited when someone posts a “Good philosophy undergrad program?” question.</p>
<p>Not Brown. No core, and no hand-holding.</p>
<p>Harvard actually does way more hand-holding than Brown (proctors and deans and tutors and houses for 3 years etc.). And Harvard has a good core program that has been revamped.</p>
<p>How about Oberlin or MacAlaster or Lawrence?</p>
<p>Oberlin has a “low wall” between college and conservatory so he could consider either or both (double degree). They just built a beautiful jazz building.</p>
<p>Good sciences and philosophy too.</p>
<p>Many kids choose Oberlin over an Ivy.</p>
<p>This thread is years old. I think the kid went to U of Michigan.</p>
<p>Yes he did - very happy there. Spending the summer in Ann Arbor doing bio-math research.</p>
<p>Every Ivy has its share of nerdy/quirky kids.</p>
<p>SBDad, having just read through this thread, I wonder if you would give us a quick update:</p>
<p>Where did your DS apply?
Where was he accepted?
How has U Mich worked for his “quirkiness”?
How have you seen him grow and change (or not) through his college years?</p>
<p>Thanx so much</p>
<p>I would say don’t pick brown there is no core there. </p>
<p>Also if he has stellar grades ect., I’d recommend doing the MIT and CalTech EA combo. There are plenty of nerds there. Although you have to be close to a genius to get into either (MIT is slightly harder).</p>
<p>^^^ Please note that this dad was helping his son look at colleges back in 2006-- 4 years ago. The decision was made long ago!</p>
<p>DS applied to Carleton, Grinnell, UChicago and Michigan - no Ivies. He was accepted to all. </p>
<p>The upside of Michigan’s size is that there are all types of kids, programs, clubs, etc. He very quickly settled into and academic and social niche that fit him very well.</p>
<p>He has grown intellectually and personally. His maturation has led him to examine himself very closely resulting in a change of career paths. Michigan offers so many programs and has so many academic opportunities that you are able to explore myriad options.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>This is a key advantage to big schools that many of those obsessed with small schools tend to discount or pretend doesn’t exist.</p>
<p>Agree.</p>
<p>For instance, he knew he loved math and will end up with a degree in theoretical math. However, along this journey he tried out actuarial math and is now in bio-math. He found he loves bio-math the most, is volunteering at Mott’s Childrens’ Hospital, doing an REU in bio-math and plans to take a 5th year to get pre-med reqs and try for med school.</p>
<p>I won’t say those options don’t exist at small schools, but it would be rare.</p>
<p>SBDad, thanks so much for the update. It’s very encouraging to read the rewarding outcome for your son. It can alleviate worries to read about families who make their decisions and find everything turns out well. With Michigan (a great instate choice), your son’s decision to do a 5th year and move on to Med school will have less of a cost impact, too, than had he taken one of the other wonderful, but more $$, choices he had.</p>
<p>Put me down as another fan of large well-regarded universities which feature multiple great departments and lots of sub-specialties. The opportunities for very-specific types of kids to find more of their kind increases with the larger pool, especially when there are diverse specialties offered within a student’s area of interest.</p>