Brown University is a co-ed, Ivy League University located in Providence, RI. It is commonly known to be one of the more laid-back Ivies in personality, with a program particularly strong in the humanities. Brown is also considered to be a campus more liberal than its peers, with a strong community and emphasis placed on diversity and activism .

How hard is it to get in?

Well, it is an Ivy League college. Most freshman come from extremely successful academic backgrounds.

That said, Brown places emphasis on diversity, and particularly recruits and seeks well rounded students. In 1997 and 1998, they had more applicants apply per opening than any other Ivy League school, including Harvard. However, they place more emphasis on the personal interview and essay portions of their applications and extra-curriculars than most colleges, striving to make acceptance decisions on people, not their statistical accomplishments.

What are the other students like?

Brown's student body is particularly hard to characterize. What I loved most about the school was that no one fit neatly into one little box or category. However, some trends I noticed were:

Typically, what you will see at Brown includes:

* Politically active students.

* Students with opinions, who were not likely to just accept things at face value, but to question the status quo.

* Quietly wealthy students.

* Students who don't go along with the crowd in their musical tastes, dress, appearance.

* Students who are usually ultra politically-correct. "Mountain out of molehill" campus debates weren't uncommon, although I think that's typical of many colleges other than Brown.

* Unique classes, with fairly atypical subject matter.

* Students exploring areas outside of their expertise (because Brown offers a pass/fail option and does not have required core courses, students have less fear of grades and more classes available to try something different)

* Professors who get to know their students personally. Professors that will challenge you beyond "phoning it in" because they know you personally and know what you are capable of.

* Classes where participation is expected, minimal efforts get minimal recognition/grades, and other students are actually interested in being there, and aren't just filling a requirement.

Typically, what you won't see at Brown includes:

* Grade Grubbers

* Stereotypical fraternity/sorority types (Brown has a rather low interest in the Greek system, although it certainly exists and is somewhat participated in)

* Students who work full time (very rare, because of both income statistics and the rigorous curriculum. However, it can be done - I'm living proof.)

* A cult of Athletes. Athletics is not heavily emphasized at Brown, although many of their teams are top notch. Athletic scholarships or lower admission standards for athletes do not exist (well, supposedly they don't); all students are there on their own merit, and are given financial consideration based on need, not the playing field. As a side note, Brown is particularly careful to equally offer and fund men's and women's sports, because they were accused a few years ago of bias in that area.

* Run-of-the-mill classes. There is no core curriculum at Brown that is required. Most classes offer a unique twist on their subject matter; they have to to generate student interest.

* Professors who will hold your hand, force you to do your work and pass their classes, spoonfeed you information, or bore you in class.

* Classes that you and everyone else in them "have to be there" and could care less about the subject matter.

* A competitive atmosphere, where students are so grade-conscious that they will refuse to help other students, horde their class notes, compete for ranking, etc. It just isn't done at Brown, but I've been to other schools (Harvard comes to mind) where it seems the norm.

What are the classes like?

Brown classes tend to be small, with very focused subject matter.

Freshman classes

Generally, one will find both the "typical freshman" classes that are large, lecture hall style classes sectioned off once a week for more individualized attention. This is similar to most schools, but set apart by accessible professors, specialized subject matter, and one on one interaction

One will also find a large selection of smaller, more specialized classes geared specifically for the Freshmen. Lecture-hall hell is avoidable!

What is nice about Brown's freshman year (and beyond) is that there is no core curriculum , meaning freshman year is not the year you "have to" get your core requirements out of the way whether you're interested in the classes or not. There is no "English 101" "Math for Dummies" or "Science for English majors" (read: waste of your time and tuition) to go through.

In addition, most of the senior seminars and higher level courses within the humanities majors are accessible to lower level students on a case by case basis, and have unrestrictive prerequisites, meaning that if you *really* want to take a certain course senior year, you don't have to plan your first 3 years' schedules to get the prereq's to get into it. I was taking senior level courses by my junior year, and even one in my sophomore year that I lobbied the professor until she let me in!

Upper-level classes

Advanced coursework at Brown is usually both challenging and fun. Most courses take unexpected approaches to their subject matter, with highly specialized or focused subject matter. In the humanities, there is a special emphases on classes with culturally diverse points of view or focuses.

The Rhode Island School of Design

Brown students have the unique opportunity to study art at one of the top art schools in the country, the Rhode Island School of Design or RISD, for credit towards their Brown degree and without having to *get into* one of the top art schools in the country.

Students can take classes at RISD each semester, in a variety of disciplines, for regular class credit.

What's the catch?

Well, classes at RISD can be tough to get into, as there is limited space available. Some are done by lottery, some by presenting a portfolio, some by waitlist. Also, the class scheduling is done differently at RISD, so logistically it can be harder to fit into your schedule.

What's the Reward

A determined student can take a large number of credits at a fantastic art school and receive top notch visual media training, and still receive a humanities diploma from an Ivy-league liberal arts university as a "backup" in case they choose not to go into visual media professionally. A "dabbler" can take an incredible art class or two while pursuing a more traditional educational route.

Theatre and Dance

For a liberal arts college, Brown also has a very strong Theatre and Dance program, and excellent facilities for performance.

Grades and Requirements

You can truly decide the path of your educational experience at Brown.

* You can take 3,4,or 5 classes per term. Many people start with 5, and drop the one they like the least a few weeks into the semester.

* Classes dropped at Brown do not show up on one's transcript, regardless of when they were dropped. One semester, I took a class that I enjoyed immensely, but was doing poorly in. I continued to take it for educational value, but put increasingly less time into in in comparison to my other courses for practical reasons, and dropped it toward the end of the semester so as not to hurt my GPA.

* Classes can be taken for a grade, pass/fail, or audited for no credit. This option can be re-chosen several weeks into the semester. This allows students to explore subjects without fear of hurting their GPA.

For example, I took most courses outside of my discipline pass/fail, and ones in my major for grades. When crunch time came, I put the best of my efforts towards the graded classes, and if I stressed less about the pass/fail ones, at least I learned something different. Some of the pass/fails I actually changed to graded status after a few weeks of the class, when I knew I would love the class enough to put all my efforts into it.

* Student teaching is possible during undergrad. I became a TA my junior and senior years for an engineering course that I loved. If it weren't for the pass/fail option available, I might never have even taken the course in the first place! I gained valuable real-life skills teaching it in my last two years.

Brown Majors

* Brown allows some flexibility with major selection as well. One needs to declare a focus in their sophomore year, but can change it at will (as long as you will have time to get the required courses to meet the requirements) anytime. One can also design an independent major with a faculty member's help, dual-major, or create a focus within a major.

In my case, I declared an English major my sophomore year. I didn't really care for the prerequisites (conservative, dead white men's point of views), so I changed Junior year to American Civilization, and designed an ethnic literature focus within the discipline with faculty support.

Popular majors at Brown
- Note, I don't pretend to have a well rounded view of Brown's majors and their strengths, but some popular among my friends were these.

* Organizational Behavior and Management is one of the easier majors at Brown, often taken as a dual major. It is your typical "business" major.

* Education Brown has a particularly well regarded Education major. It combines a strong department with practical teaching experience. It is one of the most competitive majors to get into.

* Pre-med Brown has a unique program where one can
go PLME as a freshman undergrad, meaning apply to Brown for both undergrad and graduate medical school. This means to students that they can do their entire 8 years at Brown, and from what I gather, eliminated the "application to medical school" stress.

Resources at Brown

* Brown's academic advisors are there to help a student make sense of the almost overwhelming array of choices. They can be as involved or disinvolved as a student wishes in designing their path through Brown.

* Libraries are what you would expect of a school of Brown's level. There are several to choose from, plus a multi-media center, historical collections, and art collections and resources at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design at student's disposal.

* Lab facilities are also excellent, as one would expect of a campus that also has a strong medical school.

* Theatre and Arts at Brown are very well represented and have great performance facilities.

* Computers and networking Brown's dorms are all networked for an ethernet internet connection for students wishing to use their computers in their rooms. Students are also provided with excellent computer labs, at times open 24 hours, at others open until 11, for use outside the dorm or for those without computers.

The Bottom Line

Brown was everything I hoped for in a college; challenging, supportive, and rigorous, but in an environment where I was allowed to think for myself and make my own choices. Students design their own experience at Brown, which leaves room for making mistakes, exploration, and for incredible rewards. It is possible to focus more fully on your interests at Brown than at schools who have stricter core curriculums.

To support this free-spirited environment, Brown's faculty and facilities are top-notch, lending themselves to a truly rich educational experience for an intellectually adventurous student.


*This epinion is intended to focus on the Brown classroom experience. For financial aid and tuition info, please see my separate epinion at http://www.epinions.com/content_24949460612. Brown has a policy that takes a student's financial need into account when making admissions decisions, i.e., it is not "need-blind". This can mean for a borderline candidate for admission that they will be less likely to be accepted if their financial aid needs are high. I felt this topic was important enough to cover it in a separate epinion, and won't rehash the same info here. I also hope to cover dorm life and social aspects of Brown in their own epinion.




Recommended: Yes