Anonymous wrote:Brown. Cornell and Dartmouth are too isolated. Dartmouth social scene sucks unless you like a boarding school 2.0 setup.

Tell me more about the Dartmouth social scene

Brown's urban campus feels like Harvard or Yale and is connected to east coast urban vibe. Dartmouth is very much a LAC, if you fit in it can be great, if not it can be very isolating both due to location and lack of social scene outside frats/campus. Cornell is the largest and most diverse, more like a top tier state R1.

If your child loves the outdoors, Greek life, drinking, and can handle remote then Dartmouth. It’ll be fast paced for harder premed rec courses with quarter system. It’s near their medical school and only level on trauma center in NH.

Cornell is significantly larger than the others and will offer something for everyone. One negative we heard at admit days was the rural location making shadowing and clinical hours difficult. There was one regional option and it is too small to support amount of interest, so students will need to be mor strategic on breaks and summers.

Brown is in a nice size city for ample opportunities. Mine had paid research starting sophomore year and was able to create their own independent concentration (major). It’s landed very well in interviews and a great talking point for application narrative. Collaborative students that work together, exams are very rigorous but prepare them well for MCAT. Don’t expect to breeze through with A’s as people claim.

All have pros and cons, great options.

Lax bro type will fit in much better at Dartmouth or Cornell vs Brown. However somebody seeking a more "traditional" Ivy experience would choose Brown.

My academically and socially mainstream DS (also an athlete; no recruitment) (no spikes at all) declined Brown and Cornell to go to UVA OOS. Business major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which school would you pursue for a kid who wants a social school combined with strong academics?
Which school appeals to you most personally and/or would you choose and why?

Major will vary by school but end goal is medical school.
Rising senior athlete.

Dartmouth then Cornell. We know many boarding-school Brown athletes who hate it there due to most peers being non-mainstream.

Interesting.
What does non-mainstream mean? Nerdy? Artsy? Furry?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown is roughly 40% LGBTQ, so that is part of the quirky reputation.

Where are you getting that crazy talk from?

It was a voluntary survey done in 2023 by the school newspaper and it was 38%. My student told me they were outside some dining halls and it was not taken seriously. I assure you campus body feels no different than any other top school. People will cling to that stat for dear life until 2043 like it’s gospel. I believe I read Brown actually has the highest marriage rate amongst its students in the paper too.

If you’re coming to Brown for quirky, you’ll be disappointed. The open curriculum attracts very broad interests and collaborative students, but the grind is real and there is no shortage of pre-prof these days. Don’t trust all you read on here, people parrot old stereotypes that have no direct knowledge.

All of the top schools have a lot to offer, no bad choices, just personal preferences. I’d argue more based on location type factors than student body. They are all interchangeable by and large.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mainstream doesn't go Ivy

Truth. I say it as an ivy parent x two different ivies, unhooked. Most unhooked ivy students are slightly quirky, brainy 1500+ intellectual types yet do have fun on weekends in addition to studying a lot, participating in research and clubs, or arts. They are overall busy, driven, accomplished people who have a level of intensity that is decidedly not mainstream compared to above average advanced/honors high school students.
However the athletic recruits are more mainstream if you mean 1200-1300 SAT, more into partying, not likely to pick engineering or premed or math, less likely to line up research jobs or participate in academic-related clubs.

That is not what “mainstream” means here. In this context, “mainstream” just means not woke and leaning conservative.

Anonymous wrote:Mainstream doesn't go Ivy

Truth. I say it as an ivy parent x two different ivies, unhooked. Most unhooked ivy students are slightly quirky, brainy 1500+ intellectual types yet do have fun on weekends in addition to studying a lot, participating in research and clubs, or arts. They are overall busy, driven, accomplished people who have a level of intensity that is decidedly not mainstream compared to above average advanced/honors high school students.
However the athletic recruits are more mainstream if you mean 1200-1300 SAT, more into partying, not likely to pick engineering or premed or math, less likely to line up research jobs or participate in academic-related clubs.

Anonymous wrote:Which school would you pursue for a kid who wants a social school combined with strong academics?
Which school appeals to you most personally and/or would you choose and why?

Major will vary by school but end goal is medical school.
Rising senior athlete.

Dartmouth then Cornell. We know many boarding-school Brown athletes who hate it there due to most peers being non-mainstream.

Dartmouth no contest. Brown should not be in the conversation.

Anonymous wrote:Cornell is huge and has something for everyone. Brown isn't nearly as quirky as it used to be.

This.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown is roughly 40% LGBTQ, so that is part of the quirky reputation.

Where are you getting that crazy talk from?

NP. The school newspaper.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So different, you need to visit. I would say you named the top 3 quirky schools for intellectual kids

We went to Cornell’s admitted students day recently, and it did not feel quirky at all. Intellectual yes.

Can you elaborate on this?

It is just a vibe. A lot of the kids came across as athletic, confident, and put together, DC got the impression that the campus culture is more balanced. There was plenty of intellectual energy, but it did not feel self consciously quirky.

Anonymous wrote:Brown is roughly 40% LGBTQ, so that is part of the quirky reputation.

Where are you getting that crazy talk from?