Brown came in at number six on students' list of "dream colleges" and number eight on parents' corresponding list, according to the Princeton Review's 2006 "College Hopes and Worries" survey, which was released March 21.
The Princeton Review surveyed 3,890 college applicants regarding the "dream college" they most wish they could attend. In addition, the organization asked 1,012 parents what school they wished their children could attend. Students and parents were asked to respond without considering an institution's cost or their likelihood of being accepted.
For the second year in a row, New York University topped students' list of "dream colleges," followed by Harvard and Princeton universities. Parents' top choice for "dream college" was Princeton University, followed by Stanford and Harvard universities.
Last year, Brown came in ninth among students and was not on the top 10 for parents. Though he said Brown's high placement on both students' and parents' lists is "wonderful," Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73 added that he worries about "these rating things." He said "people should look at them all with some skepticism" and analyze "trends and patterns" in rankings of colleges and universities as opposed to numbers from just one year.
Nick Allen '09 expressed surprise that NYU claimed the top spot among surveyed students, particularly considering the school's lack of a unified campus. When looking at schools, he said he was attracted to those that featured a central campus and a main green.
But Robert Franek, vice president of publishing for the Princeton Review, said students are increasingly drawn toward schools in urban environments, and this is reflected in their top choices. This trend is partially fueled by a rising interest in experience-based, practical learning that many of these schools can provide. Students hope to explore areas adjacent to campus and take advantage of available resources to enrich their academic experiences, he said.
Many applicants increasingly come from high schools that emphasize community service, and they want to expand on these experiences with additional service and civic learning programs while at college, Franek said.
Franek also acknowledged that a school's name recognition holds considerable importance for both students and parents.
"I really wanted to go to an Ivy," conceded Michael Groth '09.
Parents also tend to think about where they or their friends went to college when choosing a "dream school" for their son or daughter, Franek said.
Perhaps more than students, parents typically favor schools located in a safe and secure environment, Franek said.
That might explain why parents picked the University of Notre Dame, located in South Bend, Ind., as number four on their list. The school did not appear in the top 10 for students. Additionally, urban schools like NYU or the University of California, Los Angeles, which both made students' top 10 list, did not appear on parents'.
Groth said his parents also considered schools' social climates when advising him on college choices.
"When my final choice came down between Dartmouth (College) and Brown, my parents were really pulling for Dartmouth because of its more conservative nature," Groth said.
The Princeton Review survey also asked students and parents about other aspects of the college search process.
Overall, "Students and parents were more in sync than one would expect," Franek said.
For example, high or very high levels of stress surrounding the college application process were reported by 59 percent of students and parents surveyed. Most students and parents indicated they believe standardized tests were the most stressful part of the college application experience.
However, both Groth and Allen said they were not very stressed about the college search and assumed their situations would work themselves out.
For Allen, applying through Brown's early decision program reduced his stress level significantly.
"I would have been very stressed for that next week if I didn't get into Brown (when applying early decision), because I hadn't filled out any other applications," Allen said.
When it comes to finally selecting a college, 55 percent of students and parents surveyed reported they believe "best overall fit" outweighs factors like academic reputation, affordability and program availability, according to the survey.
This statistic "fits perfectly with my sense of what people are going for in college admissions," Miller said, adding students seem to choose a school based on an emotional or gut reaction that comes from a mix of factors which is different for each individual. These factors can relate to academics, social atmosphere, personal wishes or geographic location, Miller said.
Geography was important to Groth, who wanted to leave California and study on the East Coast. Allen also indicated a desire to go to college somewhere other than Texas, where he went to high school.
Miller described students who will thrive at Brown as "intellectually entrepreneurial," meaning that they "come into a fairly complex intellectual environment and find it enriching and exciting."
According to Miller, incoming Brown students have to be comfortable with an "extremely cohesive student body" that is also "richly diverse" and forces them to be flexible and open to students with different values.
When considering the cost of a college education, 71 percent of students and parents surveyed reported they expect the cost of a degree will ultimately exceed $50,000, while 47 percent think it will exceed $75,000.
Students and parents were on target with these figures. The average cost of a four-year degree at a state university is $40,000, while attending a private institution typically costs $115,000, according to Franek. That average climbs to $160,000 for competitive private institutions, including Brown and many others on both students' and parents' top 10 lists, he said.
"People are very thoughtful about college education in terms of value, in all the ways you can define it, not just monetarily," said Miller, who added that "as long as we can sustain that value people will be willing to bear those costs."
The "College Hopes and Worries" survey has been conducted annually since 2003 and is published in The Princeton Review's book titled "The Best 361 Colleges."
