<p>Hey guys! I’m very torn, and in an attempt to exhaust all my resources in deciding, thought I’d post my tough choice here and see what you guys had to say. </p>
<p>My areas of interest are neuroscience at Brown and illustration/graphic design at Brown, and some sort of double major in the two at Yale.
I’ve attempted to make a pro-con list, though it has turned mainly into a pro-pro list, but here’s my thoughts so far regardless. </p>
<p>Brown-RISD:
Pros
Brown has an amazing undergrad neuroscience program
Very exclusive program
RISD illustration is great, of course
Less graduate students means more research opportunities
I love providence!
Seems inherently designed for my interests</p>
<p>Cons
Lack of typical college experience due to division between schools
Less able to take classes outside of my majors that I’m interested in
Might be very difficult to actually schedule classes in my two areas
inability to switch my concentration if I decide I don’t want to study neuro</p>
<p>Yale:
Pros
Amazing facilities
Love the community provided by residential college system
Good art program
Able to take classes outside of my major (36 credits as opposed to 28 at Brown)
4 years instead of 5 at Brown-RISD</p>
<p>Cons
No illustration major at Yale, offer BA instead of BFA
No independent undergrad Neuro department (subset of Psych, not sure if this matters)
More graduate students = less chance for research?
More intense vibe at Yale?
Science hill and art quad are on opposite ends of campus</p>
<p>What do you guys think? I’m really in a pickle here!</p>
<p>I’m also happy to answer questions about my BRDD essay and what-not, as I personally know it’s a small number of posts on here about Brown RISD and the advice might help future applicants…</p>
<p>I don’t know if I’d really say that Brown-RISD keeps you from getting a typical college experience. Most of the dual degree students I know seem to feel like typical college students, except that they attend two schools. For me, it’d be an easy decision; the Brown-RISD dual-degree program is so highly thought of and so exclusive that it’d be extremely hard to turn down.</p>
<p>ummm, is there something about the dual degree program that locks you into your concentration at Brown because certainly Brown students don’t declare their concentrations until the end of 2nd semester sophomore year and aren’t truly locked in until the end of fall senior year if i recall (and even then I’m sure you could somehow still switch if you’d taken enough classes, haha).</p>
<p>I don’t know if this program is different, but…even declaring a concentration at Brown isn’t binding. You can still change it for several semesters after.</p>
<p>And there is nothing in that handbook that says you couldn’t switch. I just imagine it would be harder since the requirements are more stringent than the average Brown student.</p>
<p>The requirements may be more stringent, but if you ended up switching to an AB, it would seem doable provided you took some courses in that other area beforehand. Like you could almost certainly switch from neuro to cogsci pretty early on, but even more substantially, if you took 3-4 classes that counted for say, africana studies in your first three years, you’d only need 4 or 5 in your last two years to complete the concentration. I have yet to hear of a Brown student having a difficult time meeting all the requirements for ANY concentration (I’ve heard people who are engineering whining about fulfilling the ScB requirements, but not the AB, or even switching from engineering to an AB elsewhere).</p>
<p>i really want to get into the dual program next year and was wondering if you could give me any advice on the essay or anything that you’ve learned</p>
<p>any tips are greatly appreciated :)</p>
<p>and my advice for you is to do the dual program because as other people have said, it is super selective and a once in a lifetime oppurtunity</p>
<p>oh yeah, I didn’t think to mention the fact that RISD is like THE best art school in the nation, and you’re a pioneer member of this ridiculously competitive program whereas if you went to Yale, you aren’t really doing anything special (compared to going to any other high ranking school, Brown included).</p>
<p>I would love to hear any advice you have about getting into the program, and I think absolutely that you should do the brown/risd program…but again the decision should be based on what you feel most comfortable committing to!</p>
<p>Yale undergrad art is good, of course, but the better art program at Yale is its graduate one. RISD is a fabulous undergrad program. For the academics, I would say that Yale and Brown are different, certainly, but equally great. The dual program at Brown has its ups and downs (e.g. they are really quite separate-- that is when you are at RISD, you are a RISD student, when you are at Brown, you are a Brown student. That might feel that you are never really a part of one cohesive program). If you are able to visit and talk with students who are in the program you might become better informed.</p>
<p>First, as far as I know, most people at Brown take 32 courses, not 28. </p>
<p>Yale does require 36, but it counts them differently. At Yale, if you take a science course plus a lab, that’s 1.5 credits. At Brown, it’s 1.0.</p>
<p>If you major/concentrate in something else, then the 32 courses at Brown v. 36 at Yale is actually a difference–although there are plenty of students at both schools who take more than the required number of courses. However, for science majors, there really isn’t much difference because labs count as half-credits at Yale, but not at Brown.</p>
<p>Just thought I’d let everyone know that I did decide to matriculate to the Brown-RISD dual degree, and would be happy to share insight as I go through the program about what it’s like, as well as some info on the application process if you PM me. Cheers, and thanks for the advice!</p>
haha</p>