Hi! I’m a high school senior that was just accepted into the first-year class at both Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design!! I applied for the Dual Degree Program that allows you to obtain a degree from both colleges in five years, but did not get into the program. I feel extremely blessed to be accepted into both of the schools, but now I’m faced with a really difficult decision as I really wanted to be in that program and attend both schools.
I have a few questions about my situation, if anyone is able to give insight:
if so, would it be better to go to brown and cross-register at risd or go to risd and cross-register at brown? I would love to experience the Foundation Year at RISD as I have not had that much experience with art classes in high school and I think it would strengthen the level of my artwork and develop my skills at giving and accepting critique. Or would it be best to matriculate to brown and get a good foundation in my liberal arts education first?
Would Brown allow me to defer my acceptance for one year in order to participate in the Foundation year at RISD? I realize that colleges do not want you to go to other colleges during a gap year, but would this be a special circumstance that might be considered?
Brown’s website states that Brown students are limited to registering for 4 courses at RISD. Do you think that this limit could be extended in any circumstances? I have a passion for ceramics and would love to focus in that area, but Brown does not offer courses in clay, while RISD has an entire concentration for ceramics. Is it possible to appeal this limit?
do you have any other suggestions for ways to go about this situation? I would love to get a degree in anthropology and ceramics/sculpture, which is what I wrote my dual degree application essay on, and I still really want to do this despite not getting into the program.
I was offered a decent financial aid package at risd ($38k), but my family still cannot afford the additional room and board fees. I haven’t heard back about Brown’s financial aid yet, but hope that it will be very substantial as my family cannot really afford to support any of my college education.
If you’ve read this entire post, thanks for hanging in there I’m planning on contacting the admissions office with these questions, but thought I’d get other’s insight first in case there were any new suggestions!
I don’t know if you’ll be able to get both degrees without being officially accepted to the dual degree program; I’d rather doubt it, unless you can be admitted after first year. Out of the two admissions, I’d suggest enrolling at Brown and cross-enrolling at RISD for additional classes, assuming Brown offers you decent financial aid. I’m no expert on financial status, but if your paperwork made clear that your family is unable to contribute to your education, and Brown admitted you, they may indeed give you a workable package.
You might consider RISD for graduate school. It is excellent and prestigious, but if you’re not certain that an art- or design-related field will be your ultimate career, I’d think the Brown admission may serve you better for your future: many more options, great faculty, peers, resources and network. And those in the know realize what an accomplishment it is to be admitted to Brown.
Having parsed your long post, you may try petitioning Brown into allowing you into something like a minor in ceramics, while taking some classes at RISD, and obtaining the Brown degree. Brown seems like it is flexible enough in its resources and depth to allow students to pursue their passions while still developing themselves intellectually.
I can’t help you but just want to say that I’m genuinely confused as to how Brown and RISD could both admit you but not admit you to the dual degree program.
Anhydrite–thanks for the helpful advice! One of the main reasons I applied to Brown is their flexibility in working with students, so hopefully that will hold true in this case.
When I was at Brown, many years ago and well before the dual program, one of my classmates started at Brown, transferred to RISD, and then transferred back to Brown. He’s listed in the alumni directory as having earned a degree from Brown, although 3 years later than if he had stayed at Brown for 4 years.
I’m concerned about the money. If RISD hasn’t given you enough money, then I don’t see how you can go there. RISD financial aid is not as good as Brown’s. I’m confused why you haven’t gotten Brown’s financial aid package – why didn’t you get it when everyone else did? Anyway, if Brown gives you enough money, then your decision is made. And if money is an issue, then doing things like taking fifth year at RISD just doesn’t seem feasible.
Brown’s curriculum is remarkably flexible – that’s its hallmark. It encourages students to do independent study, group independent study, and has an option to create your own concentration. Perhaps get in touch with the office that handles independent concentrations and find out if anyone has done a ceramics concentration in the past.
Do you have any concept of what type of work you want to do? Is your goal to become a sculptor, or do you want a job where knowledge of ceramics would be helpful? If it’s the latter, then I would think taking ceramics classes at RISD or as an independent class through the visual arts department might be sufficient. It’s not easy taking classes at RISD – most students don’t take four, so the idea of taking more than that seems very unrealistic.
So are you saying it took your classmate 7 years to complete both degrees? Do you think this is because of scheduling conflicts and the amount of classes the person needed to complete or some other reason?
As far as financial aid is considered, The package I got from RISD covers the cost of tuition, but not the room and board fees, which would be 12k a year. I don’t think it would be a good idea to rack up 46k in debt by the time I graduate, so sadly. I don’t think RISD is a viable option at this point. I haven’t received my financial aid estimate from brown because they requested additional paperwork that has not been filed yet due to various issues. Do you think that this will effect the amount of financial aid I get?
I don’t have an extremely clear idea of what type of work I want to do yet. I would love to become a professional sculptor or ceramicist but I also think it is important to be stimulated academically. I like the idea of possibly working as an art advisor/consultant or to work as a curator of some sort while still creating my own body of work on the side.
I don’t know if he got both the Brown and RISD degree. I think he took some time off, too. This is someone I’ve lost touch with, and he has no social media or online presence (which drives me nuts since I’d love to catch up with him, but can’t find him). It did take him 7 years to get the Brown degree. I know that he spent at least one full year as a RISD student, possibly two.
No, you should not have $48,000+ in loans, especially as ceramics major.
Brown is committed to meeting 100% of your demonstrated need, so the delay shouldn’t matter. Just remember that its definition of need and yours could be different. The timing is what concerns me, whether you’ll get the information with enough time to appeal if necessary and make a decision.
Hello. I don’t know that this necessarily helps you figure out what to do, but I thought it might be worth passing on. My daughter is studying engineering at Brown, but was very interested in studying some fashion courses at RISD. The problem she ran into, as I understand it, is that she would have had to take some foundation courses before taking fashion courses at RISD and the RISD courses have multi-hour studios that, at least for her, made it literally impossible for her to take them due to conflicts with required engineering courses. Bear in mind that engineering has a lot of required courses and those courses have labs, sections, lectures, etc. that take up a lot more class hours than many humanities courses, so that may make her situation different from yours. But the point is that you may want to see if you can get some insight into scheduling issues as part of your decision making process. That is, it may be easier to schedule Brown classes as a RISD student than it would be to schedule RISD classes as a Brown student. Ultimately, though, if your intended concentration is not a RISD concentration, it seems like Brown would be your choice and vice versa if you want to concentrate in something Brown doesn’t offer – and I know that a) you’re not sure of where you want to concentrate and b) you still don’t know about Brown’s financial aid award. Good luck. It’s great that you have two great institutions to choose between. And, finally, while nobody would want loans if they could avoid them, don’t be too shortsighted – $46k is a lot of money, no doubt, but as an investment, maybe not as much as you think.
“all students of Brown University…may elect certain courses at the Rhode Island School of Design…Registration is on a space-available basis and is subject to written permission of the RISD instructor and the RISD Registrar…”
I’d say, if you have the experience in ceramics and want more than an occasional art course, you could contact the RISD dept and see if they’ll allow a certain sequence as a Brown student. Agree that Brown may let you then incorporate those into your concentration IF it makes sense, from Brown’s perspective.
You may then get the art experience and some mentoring but not the higher level things like the chance to exhibit and go through the official critiques. There’s still only a small number who get into the Dual program, for various reasons.
A lot of kids want the allure of RISD. It has a great rep and certain depts are a strenuous experience. Kids have to ask themselves if they want an art degree and all that entails from RISD. Or just the experience of having pursued some classes that interest them.
I disagree with bonenz. Do not go to RISD if it means taking out such large loans. If you need $12,000 the first year, that will go up in subsequent years, so in the end it will be more like $50,000. I just ran a loan payment calculator – that comes to $575/month. That’s a lot of money for someone who wants to major in ceramics. Making an investment in your education is one thing – but don’t exceed what the government suggests, which is about $27,000 total.
However, bonenz’s point about scheduling is why it is so hard to take RISD courses as a Brown student. The schedules don’t align well. You would have to arrange all your Brown classes so they met Tues-Thurs or M-W-F, leaving whole days free for the RISD studio-based classes. That’s tough. Doable, but tough.
I agree with @I-Wanna, as I said, that for some humanities courses it would probably be easier to schedule around RISD’s long studio classes. As to the loan issue, @fire, I was not saying definitively that loans should be taken. I was just pointing out that a high school senior may not take the long view of an investment and that would be an appropriate analysis to make. Whether that makes sense for a ceramics major, I don’t know. But for a RISD architecture or computer graphic major, maybe. Same for Brown – some concentrations might make a substantial investment make sense while others might not. My daughter will graduate with loans, not overwhelming, but I, myself, am making a significant investment in her education. That’s a decision that a lot of people make for a lot of different reasons, so I was just suggesting that any decision think about loans in investment, not absolute, terms. Also, bear in mind that the analysis could really be: for a payment of $50k, which I will get in the form of loans, I will be getting $150k worth of education for free. Looked at in those terms, the loans may not look so bad.
I hope you are rushing to deliver whatever documents Brown needs so you can get your package if they don’t have it already. I think you need things settled. I do think you are likely to get a better package at Brown and it will enable you to go. You will have to work with the art department on what you want to do. The limit on cross registration between Brown and RISD may have been contracted at a high administrative level and getting exceptions may not be possible and may require payment to RISD, so you can only ask but it may not be as simple as someone saying okay because you want to.
Once you matriculate to one of these colleges the offer from the other is gone and you are a transfer. That affects aid. Do not try any of this without permission. Especially do not defer Brown and enroll at RISD without them knowing.
The problem with the financial aid at Brown is that they are requesting tax returns that have not been filed yet due to issues that my parents are currently dealing with. My parents do not want me to send in the current tax returns as they are because they may contain errors that they are currently trying to resolve. The problem is the taxes may not be filed for another week and even though I will upload them to the IDOC serice ASAP I am concerned I won’t hear back from Brown financial aid until after I have to decide on a college (I have also been accepted to a few other good schools besides RISD and Brown that I am considering).
Should I just email Brown’s financial aid dept. and explain the circumstance I am in?
^ And do the other schools also need a look at 2014 taxes to finalize offers? If this is a small problem with the taxes, I can see parents wanting to get it right for the IRS. Bu a small problem shouldn’t always hold back for FA.
I’m planning on contacting the admissions office with these questions, but thought I’d get other’s insight first in case there were any new suggestions!
I haven’t received my financial aid estimate from brown because they requested additional paperwork that has not been filed yet due to various issues. Do you think that this will effect the amount of financial aid I get?