<p>Our child got into Brown, but we are not getting a warm cozy feeling. There doesn't seem to be the same kind of "hand-holding" from Brown as we have seen from some of the other schools. It seems the students really like it there, but it's starting to strike us as though you really have to figure out every detail for yourself, rather than being led through it more like the other schools. Does anyone have experience with Brown along these lines.</p>
<p>I have absolutely no experience with Brown post-admission (my kid was rejected)... but I just have to note that of all the colleges she visited pre-application, Brown seemed to have the least interest in personalizing the process for applicants. That is -- there were no campus interviews offered, and as far as I can remember, no advance scheduling of info sessions or tours, and definitely no overnights to arrange. I didn't hold this against Brown -- I kind of assumed that they just have too many visitors and prospies to accommodate. (I'd note that Brown was the only Ivy she visited). But at the same time, I did draw a message from that: there wasn't any warm fuzzy hand holding going in, so no particular reason to expect it down the line. </p>
<p>Given the fact that Brown pretty much lets students take any course that they like, and is very liberal with it's pass/fail policy, it may bet that there's no much needed in terms of freshman advising other than to mail the kid a catalog and let them pick out what they like. A good deal of the advising process for freshmen is making sure that the students plan appropriately to meet general ed or distribution requirements, but that's probably not a concern at Brown. In other words, as frustrating as it is to the parent, maybe Brown students really don't need all the hand-holding.</p>
<p>A basic tenet of Brown's educational philosophy is that students develop their own course of study. The assumption is that Brown students are mature and independent enough to figure out how to plan their academic future. So it would not surprise me if there appears to be less hand-holding at Brown than at other schools. </p>
<p>There are advising systems set up to assist students in figuring out what classes to take, etc. But yes, "you really do have to figure out every detail for yourself" -- to some degree, you've stated the Brown philosophy.</p>
<p>Calmom: I believe that most Ivies rely on alumni for interviews, so Brown is no different there. And there is most definitely opportunities to arrange overnights.</p>
<p>EastCoastDad, that hasn't been my experience at Brown. The folks at the admissions office are very friendly and more than happy to answer your questions. From the student perspective, all of your advisors from the faculty who teach your classes to deans to residential advisors are very much engaged and help you navigate all of the choices that Brown students have the priviledge of making</p>
<p>Actually, of the four Ivy League schools my daughter and I encountered during the admissions process, Brown seemed the warmest and fuzziest.</p>
<p>They also seemed the least efficient. When my daughter was admitted elsewhere ED, she wrote to all of the other schools to which she had submitted applications to withdraw them. Brown evidently did not process her letter properly; she received a phone call a month later to tell her that the paperwork for her application was incomplete.</p>
<p>My D graduated from Brown last year, and it was the most wonderful place on earth. It's the kind of atmosphere where becoming educated is the plan, and that is why there are no required courses. At the same time, the concentration (major) requirements are very tough. For example, for her major, there were 12 courses (out of the 32 she would take over the four years), plus 4 semesters of Greek before even getting to the 12. What Brown wants is for the student to explore without fear of GPA. If you are a grade-grubber, this is also not the place for you. If you are a person who needs to be told what interests you, it's not for you. The P/F gives you the opportunity to explore other areas, and my daughter always took one such course each semester. My D was a classics major, but she almost fulfilled the requirements for an art history major too. Most of her friends were double concentrators in very diverse fields, like physics and religion or neuroscience and creative writing. If your child goes to Brown, you will never be sorry.
The university has a visiting day for admits called ADOCH, so I am sure that all the info will be distributed there. I recall that they were very good about written communications. The sense of family there is incredible, and my D has lifelong friends among her fellow students and her professors. It's just run like a small community. If they've accepted someone, they know that the student is the right fit. No one ever transfers from Brown, and few juniors study abroad. They don't want to leave. Congrats on your admit to Brown. You will just love the atmosphere, and Providence rocks!</p>
<p>One more thing...</p>
<p>I remember that Brown didn't require a deposit. Your word was enough.</p>
<p>To respond to a few things that calmom wrote....</p>
<p>I have a daughter at Brown, who by the way LOVES it. They indeed offer pre-scheduled tours and information sessions and we attended both when she was a junior in HS. In fact, my D is presently a tour guide! (as an aside, last week, Steven Spielberg and D were on the tour) As far as interviews, hardly any of the highly selective colleges my D applied to offer on campus interviews and they offer alumni interviews instead. She had such a one for Brown and most of her other schools. I am an alum interviewer for Tufts and can tell you that you can't get an on campus interview at Tufts either. However, most applicants are afforded an alum interview. I have a niece in Alaska who even had a Brown interview this year! </p>
<p>As far as advising...there is PLENTY! For freshman year, my D had both a faculty advisor (which can be associated with a course you take and have that person also as a professor...this is an option!) and also what is called at Brown, a Mieklejohn Advisor, which is an upperclassman advisor to a small group of freshman. In fact, my D who is currently a junior, was just selected (after application, recommendations, essays, interviews) to be a Mieklejohn advisor for some assigned freshmen for next year. Once she selected her major, she has an advisor in her department, and in her case, it is the department head (she could choose). She meets with her whenever she wishes. I know she met with her last week to discuss her intentions to formulate a proposal for a Senior Thesis to graduate with Honors, and met with her a couple weeks ago just to share her photo album scrapbooks from her fall semester abroad. Her advisor has asked her to help man the table for her major at the upcoming ADOCH event for accepted students. She also can meet with any professor or Dean at any time. She also has a professor advising her on an independent study this semester. She has had no complaints about advising. </p>
<p>Anyway, back to the OP.....I encourage your child if at all possible to attend ADOCH. My D wasn't sure where she wanted to go to school and narrowed her choices to revisit at accepted student events and these were enormously helpful. Actually at the end of the two day ADOCH event, I met up with her and she stated enthusiastically, "I'm going here!" and so the events served their purpose in helping her to make that decision. I have to say, that the two day event at ADOCH was terrific...very very well planned out and included all aspects of the college and also had a lot of social and other things going on and included overnight hosting. By the way, you can get an overnight host at any time. </p>
<p>Good luck and congrats on your child's acceptances.</p>
<p>PS....in terms of a "warm fuzzy"....I will never forget something I observed shortly after arrival at ADOCH three years ago. It was a gorgeous spring day and there were hordes of current students hanging out on the main green. As newly accepted students arrived and signed in at Faunce House and then were assigned to small groups to be led to their hosts....as each small group emerged periodically out of Faunce house on their way to meeting their host, the entire green erupted in cheers and applause for each small group of admitted students....kinda saying..."yay, welcome to Brown!" It was really something and I saw nothing like it at the other schools.</p>
<p>Just a note: It's possible that my daughter's experience with Brown had something to do with the time of year that she planned a visit (October) - I just remember that there were campus tours/info sessions she could show up for, but no system to book an advance appointment. But other campuses she was visiting at the same time did encourage making appointments for info sessions. </p>
<p>As I already noted, she wasn't visiting any other Ivies. </p>
<p>Anyway, I wasn't trying to criticize Brown -- I didn't have a problem with it, I just didn't get the sense that it was a hand-holding sort of place.</p>
<p>I agree with ya, that they do not hold your hand there. But everything is available if you seek it out. </p>
<p>I do recall lining up our info. session and tour in advance during the month of November though. It was rainy. The impressions my D got 18 months later at ADOCH when it was sunny were far better, LOL.</p>
<p>We visited Brown, Yale, Columbia, and Princeton in February. None of them allowed you to reserve a tour or info session in advance. Next week we plan to visit Williams and Amherst. Same deal. On the other hand, they didn't deny anyone a place on a tour/in an info session either. You just showed up and were in. I noticed that students shouted "Come to Brown!" out of their windows a few times during the tour. They seemed like a very friendly bunch.</p>
<p>Those Brown kids kind of remind me of the Caltech ones. They didn't just ignore the tours like at most schools. It's interesting how you get impressions of schools. RPI has sent my son a love letter every few weeks since they admitted him way back in Nov. WPI didn't send anything early, but did just send a follow up letter from their president this week. Carnegie Mellon's "Big Fat Envelope" (so labeled in tartan letters) was the most amusing, and their website is also quite engaging. Harvard sent a very complete package of stuff, but it's pretty dry. No pretty pictures like CMU. Some things sent already that I would have thought they'd have waited to send once they knew if you were coming. (But I guess so few turn them down, this is more efficient?)</p>
<p>I definitely got warmer-fuzzier vibes at Brown than elsewhere in the Ivy League. In part because of its curriculum, it has to take advising very seriously, and the advising has a more personal tone (as opposed to "are you on track to meet the distributional/core requirements?").</p>
<p>I don't know what other schools you are looking at for comparison, but it doesn't make sense to me that Brown is colder than its peers.</p>
<p>A friend whose two kids both attended Brown and loved it sums up the experience in two words: independent learning.</p>
<p>We visited in March. Did not have to sign up for tour or info session, but schedules for both are available on line, and you are welcome to come to any of them.
Brown also has a highly affordable and convenient guest house on campus for the visitors.</p>
<p>For my son it is a decision between Brown and Yale, any opinions on how to chose. He can't make ADOCH but will be visiting on a friday and saturday nites to get feel of the school on a weekend. THANKS</p>
<p>Hey, just wanted to thank everyone for the replies. I like this board quite a bit, because there is not criticism, and it seems that people put serious thought into questions and answers. All of your answers have been very helpful and reassuring. The bottom line seems to be that, yes, Brown is more independence-minded, but overall that's probably a good thing as our kids go off to make their way in the world. Anyway, it's looking my mine is going to Providence! thanks again...</p>
<p>We visited Yale, Brown, Princeton and Cornell and didn't pre-register for info sessions/tours at any of them (maybe we did at Penn, can't remember). My son did overnights at Brown, Yale and Cornell). Perhaps the OP only experienced large schools where pre-registration is required because the tour groups are huge. Our Ivy tours were very small and personalized by comparison. At Brown, my son and daughter also sat in on classes. But no hand holding. Admissions just made the info available and off they went. They looked at the list of available classes and picked those they were interested in and showed up. My son had some questions about a summer lab class and the admissions dept called on the spot and set up an interview with the prof of the summer class. She had my son tour the lab and spoke at length with him. As for college interviews, only Yale offered my son an on campus interview. He did alumni interviews for all his schools.</p>
<p>Brown in particular treats students as independent and responsible people. They offer choices and it's up to the students to follow up. My son was just accepted to Brown and has received emails about visiting campus (ADOCH) as well as phone calls from alumni (one inviting him to a local gathering). Other schools did the same thing (Yale, Duke, UVA, etc). One thing I noticed about some other schools (UNC) is they are putting pressure on him to enroll and pay his deposit and sign up for housing. "Hurry up and commit" pressure has been strong from some schools. With Brown and Yale, it hasn't felt like pressure. It's been more "come visit and we'll show you how great we are." Maybe lack of pressure seems like lack of hand holding. I will admit it took my son about a week to figure out how to sign up for the A-train to ADOCH because he didn't read his acceptance packet (since he got his decision and Financial Aid online). He eventually went looking for the info and figured it out for himself (and made the arrangements). I offered to pick him up at Penn Station (NYC) but he said he would find a NJ train home from there.</p>
<p>nngmm, where did you find information about the on campus guest house? Is parking available?</p>
<p>The information about the guest house was in the most recent mailing -- there are limited rooms (10 maybe?) so it books up very fast for big weekends. It's also right in one of the dorms; I think there is parking set aside for the guest house.</p>
<p>But overall, parking is very limited. I don't know if they'll open up one of the lots for parents during ADOCH or parents weekend or move-in day the way they do for commencement weekend -- but in general, it is hard to find street parking around Brown (staff complain about this a lot).</p>