Is Brown worth the premium over William & Mary in-state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree Brown is worth it, but only if you can afford it. W&M is also a great school, just doesn't have the same prestige.

I went to a top Ivy and think W&M has as much prestige as Brown.

But you didn't go to Brown. Where did you go?

I think Brown definitely has more prestige.

I'm the first PP. I went to Harvard, and I believe Brown is more prestigious due to the caliber of the faculty and affluent, well-connected student body.

[Anonymous]

Especially if you are a woman, go to brown - are we erally going to have the dating/marriage pool discussion for the nth time between state schools vs. ivy?

[Anonymous]

no not worth it to go to Brown unless the cost is similar or a non issue for your family. Wont open substantially more doors than W&M would open.

Honestly grad school might matter a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Not worth it unless the additional cost would be insignificant to the family finances.

Brown may be more selective, but the difference is diminished by Brown's reputation as the Ivy most likely to open its doors to anyone with a fat enough checkbook.

If we were talking about HYPS, Columbia, or even Penn, different answer.

[Anonymous]

From the perspective of this "top" Ivy graduate there are two ways of looking at it:

1. Brown versus W&M prestige - Brown wins, hands down. W&M has a good reputation locally and some repute beyond the region but Brown is much stronger nationwide, very strong in New England/ New York and DC itself and among the "establishment" - law, finance, consulting, media and even Hollywood (lots of Brown alum in Hollywood) the Brown name stands out more. High quality student body, lovely campus, stellar faculty.

2. Is Brown worth the extra tuition over W&M in-state? Truth be told, outside the following top colleges: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Caltech and Stanford, it really is almost pointless nitpicking among the remaining upper tier colleges. Agonizing over Penn versus Northwestern, or Chicago versus Columbia or Brown versus Hopkins, or Dartmouth versus UVA, sure, one school can be more easily "proven" to be better than the other but in the general scheme of things a bright, capable student will do just as well out of life and her college experience out of any of these schools, and this includes admissions to graduate/professional schools. There's a slightly bigger gap between Brown and W&M than the examples I listed but even that doesn't mean much. Leaving aside the issue of money, it's the soft factors that differentiate those colleges (smaller versus bigger, urban versus suburban versus rural, and so forth).If the money is an issue, and the financial gap between two given schools is significant enough, go to the cheaper one. If money is of concern and the choice is between full freight at Penn/Columbia/Brown/Duke versus instate at UVA or W&M, go instate. Only at HYPS/MIT/Caltech would I attempt to justify the extra tuition when money is clearly an issue for the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not worth it unless the additional cost would be insignificant to the family finances.

Brown may be more selective, but the difference is diminished by Brown's reputation as the Ivy most likely to open its doors to anyone with a fat enough checkbook.

If we were talking about HYPS, Columbia, or even Penn, different answer.

Like Penn and Ivanka Trump, you mean?

Or Harvard and Jared Kushner?

Actually, I do believe Ivanka is bright enough and her admissions was justified, but there's no question that Kushner bought his admissions to Harvard. All these schools will give preferential admissions to the right student with the right financial background.

[Anonymous]

Do you believe that you can learn as much from your classmates as you can from your classes? If so, choose Brown.

[Anonymous]

My grad school (STEM PhD) class had one student from Brown and another from W&M. I think both schools undergrad programs are similarly ranked in the specific department that we went to school in (good but not top 5). Hands down the Brown student was much, much better prepared for grad school courses. I suspect some of this was due to higher caliber classmates who challenged her, and due to a very different standard of teaching.

That said, they are both now similarly successful having gone in very different career directions.

I think a different PP had it right when they said that outside of HYP + Stanford, MIT, CalTech it's probably a bit of a crapshoot as to whether it's worth it to go to an elite school when you have a solid public option. But it matters a lot whether a school is a good fit for you and whether it's important to you to have peers who are as smart/smarter than you.

FWIW, of those two classmates, the Brown grad's family did sacrifice financially to send her there. She considers it well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No such thing as a "low ivy".

Yes there is and Brown is it. But I can't imagine not choosing it in this circmstance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M is a suicide school.

Horrible comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No such thing as a "low ivy".

Yes there is and Brown is it. But I can't imagine not choosing it in this circmstance.

No, Dartmouth & Cornell are the low ivys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No such thing as a "low ivy".

Yes there is and Brown is it. But I can't imagine not choosing it in this circmstance.

Brown is more selective than Penn, as well as Dartmouth and Cornell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not worth it unless the additional cost would be insignificant to the family finances.

Brown may be more selective, but the difference is diminished by Brown's reputation as the Ivy most likely to open its doors to anyone with a fat enough checkbook.

If we were talking about HYPS, Columbia, or even Penn, different answer.

Like Penn and Ivanka Trump, you mean?

Or Harvard and Jared Kushner?

Actually, I do believe Ivanka is bright enough and her admissions was justified, but there's no question that Kushner bought his admissions to Harvard. All these schools will give preferential admissions to the right student with the right financial background.

So you admit the Ivanka comment is irrelevant, while the Kushner comment doesn't negate the fact that Brown is perceived to do this far more frequently than Harvard or other Ivies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not worth it unless the additional cost would be insignificant to the family finances.

Brown may be more selective, but the difference is diminished by Brown's reputation as the Ivy most likely to open its doors to anyone with a fat enough checkbook.

If we were talking about HYPS, Columbia, or even Penn, different answer.

Like Penn and Ivanka Trump, you mean?

Or Harvard and Jared Kushner?

Actually, I do believe Ivanka is bright enough and her admissions was justified, but there's no question that Kushner bought his admissions to Harvard. All these schools will give preferential admissions to the right student with the right financial background.

So you admit the Ivanka comment is irrelevant, while the Kushner comment doesn't negate the fact that Brown is perceived to do this far more frequently than Harvard or other Ivies.

The Kushners are widely discussed on here and many have alleged Ivanka only got into Wharton through her family's connections and money. That itself is debatable, we will never know. But it's no secret that Jared Kushner and his brother were accepted at Harvard following a hefty multi-million dollar donation by their father and their HS counselor is on record as saying the boys didn't have the academic record to justify being admitted.

FYI you may enjoy this link: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard which talks about buying access into elite colleges, Harvard not excepted. I haven't read his book (https://www.amazon.com/Price-Admission-Americas-Colleges-Outside/dp/1400097975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479403171&sr=8-1&keywords=the+price+of+admission) but it sounds like Brown is far from being the only school guilty of this practice.

[Anonymous]

OP, what majors is your DC considering?