Slight increase over 2018 despite the record low admit rate for 2018. Most popular intended concentrations include biology, engineering (!), biochemistry and molecular biology, economics, and business, entrepreneurship and organizations.
Engineering has been a popular concentration at Brown for years. Curious why you felt the need for the exclamation point.
Back in the dark ages, there was much greater interest in history, English, psychology and political science. (Although engineering was still a popular concentration when I went to Brown.) As the campus leans more and more to STEM, I can’t help but wonder if the atmosphere and ambiance will shift.
^ I recently took a fantastic Brown Comp Lit MOOC with Arnold Wienstein ( a brilliant man ) and during the course he expressed your similar concerns.
That really saddens me, and I’m an engineer.
You are reading my posts very carefully!
It was not a feeling of neediness that impelled me to include the punctuation you referenced…maybe my thoughts harkened back to some recent threads on the forum here!!
arwarw: I took that class, too!
fenway: As a proud recipient of a liberal arts degree from Brown where I took many English and history classes, you bet I read things carefully!
Re: the ambiance at brown changing bc of the shift toward more STEM concentrators:
Brown & uchicago were my older son’s top choices because they’re equally strong in the humanities and the sciences, and both emphasize interdisciplinary cross-fertilization. He’s now a senior at brown and it was all he thought it’d be. Many of his science friends love literature and many of his humanities friends are intrigued by science, as he is. For example, his freshman year roommate is a PLME who’s concentrated in English. Another is a double concentrator in neuro & education, using neuroscience research to figure out how our brains best learn math and how that can be incorporated into early through high school curriculum. He’s a member of a co-ed literary frat whose members include other science concentrators who just happen to love literature and creative writing.
Brown, I think, is particularly good at attracting these kinds of people because of its open curriculum and P/NC…it encourages students to explore disciplines outside their relative strengths. But I also think, after meeting a number of my son’s friends, it seems to attract students who are equally capable in both the humanities and sciences. This last point I think is probably true at all its peer institutions as well because to be admitted these days, these students are taking APs in both the humanities and sciences and are acing them, and this strength across disciplines is reflected in their standardized test scores as well.
I’d say what’s inviting about brown is its atmosphere/culture: it’s one of respect between the disciplines, and it isn’t like that everywhere. Last year my younger son spent an overnight at a peer institution known for its sciences and its engineering school (it’s ranked top for biomedical engineering). He was going to apply ED because it has a leading creative writing seminars major and top history dept., his two primary interests. His application was ready to go as this was the week before it was due. Two people living in the hall where he stayed told him that as humanities students they felt like second-class citizens…that the engineering school kids call the school of arts and sciences, the school of arts and crafts. They regretted their decision to attend bc there wasn’t a more respectful, collaborative atmosphere. The campus felt divided, and it does tilt strongly toward the sciences/engineering in terms of number of majors, despite having some very strong humanities depts. There didn’t seem to be a lot of cross-pollination. And it didn’t help that the workshops he sat in on were silent to the point that a prof dismissed one early. My son most definitely felt that brown presented differently. This experience is a good example of why it makes sense to do an overnight at a school a kid is considering for ED. It may well change your mind, even if the school looks perfect on paper and in your initial tour/info session.