<p>Amherst and Grinnell also don't have a core curriculum or distribution requirements.</p>
<p>I just heard from the counselors at my daughters school that Brown really wants to increase diversity and they have lots of money no more work study just grants.
They apparently even called the high school in an effort to get more applicants, is that unusual? They do have several go to the Ivies including Brown every year but I thought surely they don't need to drum up applicants ?</p>
<p>Emerald....I hope I can clarify. I am not up on the "increasing diversity" if you mean ethnic diversity as Brown is quite diverse. However, the two things I THINK you are referring to are this:
One is that for those who get financial aid, like my D, the president, Ruth Simmons, initiated a policy that freshman do not do work study but get grants for that portion of their financial aid package as she does not want to burden freshman with work study the first year. </p>
<p>Secondly, a generous gift was given to Brown this fall from a man who had attended Brown but had never graduated (humble beginnings) and this gift is to help enable students from fairly low income families to be able to attend Brown. That is a type of "diversity" as well so maybe that is what you heard about.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I figured the diversity was just to get more people from the west coast. The counselors didn't actually mention "diversity" just said that Brown was eager to have more applicants and wanted the counselors to stress to the students that they had very generous aid and that students job was to "study".</p>
<p>I'm interestied in the collolary to pass/fail in general, that is freshman pass/fail or no grade arrangements. I understand that Swarthmore and Johns Hopkins (and surely others) have procedures by which freshman grades are either pass/fail or concealed. I'm not really sure how it works and that's the question. If the grades are hidden, what happens when they "reappear" later? How are P/F classes figured in the transcript? Do the kids like the system?</p>
<p>Williams doesn't work that way and although, as at many other colleges, talking about grades is strictly verboten, the kids are for the most part fiercely driven to succeed and going gradeless would have alleviated a lot of pressure during the already stressful adjustment period. (This is just a parent's opinion.The students may well think otherwise.)</p>