<p>Brown’s supplement: “Why are you drawn to the academic fields you indicated in the Anticipated Degree and Academic Interest questions above?”</p>
<p>Do they mean the degree, or the concentration? And since “fields” is plural, do they want us to write about both our first choice (degree + concentration) and our second choice (degree + concentration)? </p>
<p>Brown only wants 1000 characters; that’s pretty short.</p>
<p>Oh and what’s the difference between the Bachelor of Science degree and the Bachelor of Arts degree? I want to be a doctor and I saw that Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, etc… were in both degree programs. But the B.A. program has Visual Arts, which I really want to pursue aside from Biology. The Sc.B. program has Biochemistry, which some med. schools require.
Can students in the B.A. program choose classes from the Sc.B. program? Because it looks like I’m really leaning towards the B.A. program.</p>
<p>Question 1: I interpret “academic fields” as the specific subject matter (biology, economics, English). </p>
<p>Question 2: ScB means taking a lot more classes and means you don’t have as much room on your schedule to take classes outside your major. But ScB graduates may have more options for grad school and careers. You are better off starting out as an ScB, and then if you decide you want to go AB, it’s easier to change. </p>
<p>As a pre-med, you don’t need to do ScB. You could be a visual arts AB major and still be pre-med. You just have to take the classes that med schools require. </p>
<p>Organic chem is a killer. You may be pre-med now, but there’s a good chance that could change. Leave your options open – most students change their concentrations at least once.</p>
<p>And yes, as long as you have whatever pre-reqs are needed, you can take any classes you want at Brown.</p>
<p>Wow thanks that helped a lot!
Oh yeah I know a premed can major in anything as long as he takes all the classes med school requires, but I still want to major in Biology and minor in something art related. That’s why I was wondering if I should indicate Sc.B. or B.A. on the supplement.
Is the Biology major in Sc.B. harder than the Biology major in B.A.? Or are those the same classes?</p>
<p>Brown does not have minors. You can double major – but not in four years if you do an ScB. If you look at all the ScB requirements, you’ll see that you’ll have little room for any other classes – maybe one per semester. If you want to take a lot of visual arts classes, and also take classes in other disciplines, then ScB is not for you.</p>
<p>ScB is more difficult than BA, because you have to take more classes and there is a research component. I’m pretty sure the classes you take are the same – CHEM 0330 is the same class no matter what you are majoring in (there’s not a CHEM 0330 for ScB and one for AB, if that’s what you are wondering).</p>
<p>I am not an expert in the sciences at Brown, so I can’t be 100% sure of all this – just 95% sure.</p>
<p>I am in the interesting position of pursuing a ScB concentration and a BA concentration at the same time. I have talked with the particular dean who advises such students, and the understanding I got from meeting him is that one can concentrate in both in 4 years. One’s degree will say something along the lines of “ScB: Computer Science, BA: Art History.” One only needs 5 years if one wants two physical degrees.</p>
<p>Now, this doesn’t make much sense to me, and I read the websites as you did at first, so I’m not positive about this either. I just know what I was told by a dean.</p>
<p>With that said, unless you plan to take extra courses each term (which is not a good assumption when going in until you see what you can handle), completing an ScB and a BA in 4 years, especially as a premed, is nearly impossible.</p>
<p>Oh I see. But I don’t want two degrees, just the flexibility to take a lot of extra classes outside of my concentration. Sounds like the B.A. degree is better suited for this kind of mindset.</p>