Brown is a fine school, but the full pay cost is too much.

Among all public universities, William and Mary is likely most similar to Ivy schools like Brown across a number of key categories, including undergraduate enrollment size, student-to-faculty ratio, class size, percentage of undergraduates living on campus (most of the Ivy league is residential), and alumni giving rate. It is close in metrics like 4 year graduation rate, percentage of undergraduates going on to earn PhDs and Fulbright scholarships, and does well in student surveys of teaching quality.

However, Brown still does better than William and Mary on pretty much all of the above (the possible exception being the most recent 4 year graduation rate, which may be Covid influenced). It is simply impossible for any public school to compete with an ultra-selective private in these areas. You would have to factor cost differential. The Monroe scholarship is a benefit in William and Mary's favor, and Monroe recipients likely have Ivy-level stats. Overall, though, Brown 25th percentile SAT and William and Mary's 75th percentile are about the same, showing the approximate overlap. Ivy League schools are just uniformly super selective these days.

Anonymous wrote:How is this even a question???

Agree, why would anyone attend Brown? Maybe if you didn’t get into NEU.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid graduated from Brown 4 years ago, breezed to a 4.0 double concentration (major) in the humanities. Was a little disappointed in how many rich, mediocre students there were but had 4-year access to top scholars in their field, had funded research opportunities, and got great recs that led to a phenomenal graduate program placement

Brown is one of the few Ivy League schools where top faculty engage full time with undergrads. The clout you get from a personalized Letter of Recommendation from a leading scholar combined with the research opportunities results in a very competitive grad school application that might be hard for a student from a public institution to match

Public has nothing to do with it. Is Michigan lesser than Elon? Didn't think so. Watch your mouth next time before spouting off.

Brown’s endowment per student is literally 5 times larger than William & Mary’s which is the relevant issue

Brown just had to borrow $300M to ensure liquidity, which isn't a good. These are challenging times for higher education.

How is this even a question???

If saving 120k over four years will make an impact on your child's financial situation during/after college, then go to WM. Otherwise, definitely Brown.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brown was kind of the asterisk school of the Ivy League along with Cornell. It was not well comparatively well endowed and had persistent financial issues. JFK Jr. really changed its trajectory. I think he had as much of a role in the change in perception of a school as any except Prince William and Kate Middleton and St. Andrews University. Now Brown has perhaps the reputation as being the most balanced, creative and happiest of the Ivy League schools. Not sure if that is warranted, but that is more of the vibe I get.

No it doesn't, Yale does. I have never personally heard of a happy kid at Brown.

Might be the crowd you run with, I know many happy kids at Brown currently.

Anonymous wrote:Brown was kind of the asterisk school of the Ivy League along with Cornell. It was not well comparatively well endowed and had persistent financial issues. JFK Jr. really changed its trajectory. I think he had as much of a role in the change in perception of a school as any except Prince William and Kate Middleton and St. Andrews University. Now Brown has perhaps the reputation as being the most balanced, creative and happiest of the Ivy League schools. Not sure if that is warranted, but that is more of the vibe I get.

No it doesn't, Yale does. I have never personally heard of a happy kid at Brown.

William and Mary if you’re extremely worried about competition, but otherwise brown. Brown is a much more well known and overall better undergrad experience.

Brown. W&M is an okay state school, but this is a slam dunk easy decision towards brown

Anonymous wrote:I think they are different socially.

W&M is full of bright kids also, but the community may be more welcoming? The kids less competitive (types of people, meaning more generous). Would Brown have more bro/finance types?

Doesn’t make sense at all. W&M is the one with the business school.