<p>So I just took my last final and officially finished a semester at Brown. If anyone has any questions about Brown, feel free to post them here. I feel pretty qualified in answering many of them.</p>
<p>do we ever get big packages with decals and stuff? haha. I'm feeling unloved with a thin envelope. How's the neuroscience department?</p>
<p>how is the eng. dept? - ie in comparison with MIT (i got accepted there, like Brown campus and atmosphere better, but am worried about the eng dept. as I would prob be mech eng major)</p>
<p>Brown is currently engaging in groundbreaking research with both in Neuroscience and Engineering. In Neuroscience, Professors along with a team of Brown undergraduate, medical, and graduate students have created cutting edge technology called "mind-to-movement system." It allows a quadriplegic man to control a computer using only his thoughts. The future gains from this project are enormous. This has gained attention nationwide, and has been featured in the Boston globe, LA Times, and other prominent newspapers and magazines. This information was released to the public last month.
For specifics about this project, check out one of Brown's journals:
<a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol29/29GSJ05c.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/George_Street_Journal/vol29/29GSJ05c.html</a> .. If you want nationwide news articles, give me some time, and I'll find links to them. </p>
<p>In Engineering, ironically, Brown has teamed up with MIT. to restore arm and leg functions to amputees. This also has gained nationwide attention. Read about it here: <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-061.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2004-05/04-061.html</a> </p>
<p>So I guess Brown and MIT are on a par in terms of the quality of their engineering departments. Both schools have respectible programs, so that should not be deciding factor when choosing either school. </p>
<p>The great thing about Brown is that these innovative research projects are not limited to Graduate students or medical students. If you are qualified as an undergraduate and you want to work with a professor, just be assertive and most likely, it will definitely happen, as these two examples prove. Don't worry about the neuroscience and engineering departments, both are fine. My friends are in both, the intro engineering classes are VERY challenging from what I hear, and the neuroscience ones requires a lot of hard work. If you want more stories, let me know.</p>
<p>Last year, I wanted decals too, but they never came. Perhaps it might change this year, but I wouldn't expect it. If you want your own, you can order some from the Brown Bookstore.</p>
<p>How are the dorms? What classes did you take first semester and how were they?</p>
<p>thanks for the answers. i am sorely disappointed because i expected some massive stanford-like package. are roommates randomly selected or somehow matched by interests?</p>
<p>how is the economics department? good preparation for business grad school?</p>
<p>I heard there is a new major for people who want to be entrepreneurs, is that true?</p>
<p>MIT Engineering >>> Brown Engineering</p>
<p>There's no denying it.</p>
<p>MIT engineering is no doubt the best in the country. But if you want to study other stuff other than engineering, then look into Brown as well.</p>
<p>The dorms are nice, granted they aren't as nice as Harvard's dorms (e.g. fireplaces), but they definitely get the job done; especially, when all you want to do is sleep, study, and drink the occasional beer in your room. As for my classes, I took, an introduction to economics, introduction to urban studies, historical memory and slavery, and Calculus pass/fail. All the classes weren't conceptually difficult, but they all had a lot of work. These classes n addition to the major time commitments of my extracurricular activities, I hardly had time during the week for myself. I came from doing well at a prestigious prep school, and had difficulties balancing the insane amount of work while at Brown. </p>
<p>One thing that Ive learned at Brown is there's no way you can be an overachiever and expect to finish everything as you did in high school. This is an impossible goal. You really need to learn the art of just doing enough to make sure you understand the concepts and then move on to other things. This guarantee success at Brown both academically and socially. If i can offer one tidbit of advice: please DO NOT buy into the hype that brown is a "slacker" ivy. The work is not easy, and although everyone appears chill since it's cool to appear chill, Brown is a massive pressure cooker. Brown students honestly do a lot to not show that they are stressing; but, if you take a moment and spend time at the main library or one of our 24/hr study lounges, you will see panic.</p>
<p>No prob. Roommates are pretty much randomly selected, although in july, you will fill out a questionaire asking basic questions like "do you want to room with a smoker or non-smoker... What time do you go to bed?" etc. They typically don't match you through interests however.</p>
<p>Intro to economics is by far the worse class at Brown. Once you get into higher economic classes however, the work gets much more interesting, easier, and youll have better professors that teach. Brown is probaby one of the only schools that decides to teach both macroeconomics and Microeconomics in one semester. This translates too about memorizing a chapter (about 40 pages) each night; and having three midterms, that each covers about 8-12 chapters, and a cumulative final. The problem however is that intro to econ. classes are notorious for having bad professors. Granted that one of my econ professors co-edited the textbook, the other one was just a bad lecturer, hands down. So be weary of this. </p>
<p>But if you manage to get pass intro to econ and continue to pursue economics, then Brown has a wonderful department. I don't remember the statistic off hand, but around 95% of Brown students get into their top three choice business grad school. Don't quote me on that one though. I need to find where I officially read that at.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a new major which will be official next semester. It's called Program in Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship. Specific tracks on this major will combine and replace the requirements of these current majors: business economics, public and private sector organizations, and engineering and economics. </p>
<p>The main purpose of this new concentration (Brown term for major) is to eliminate so many double-concentrations in the aforementioned concentrations. Read about it here:
<a href="http://www.browndailyherald.com/news/2004/10/27/CampusNews/New-Business.Program.Secures.Committees.Approval-782574.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.browndailyherald.com/news/2004/10/27/CampusNews/New-Business.Program.Secures.Committees.Approval-782574.shtml</a></p>
<p>what kind of activities are you involved in?</p>
<p>BrownGuy... thanks for the info!</p>
<p>Can you tell me a bout about campus life? Is there a lot to do, are there parties, do you have fun there?</p>
<p>Mainly, I'm mainly of student government, which is a huge time commitment each week. </p>
<p>No prob. Campus life is pretty awesome... Brown is obviously not a party school, but if you want to find a party during the weekends its pretty easy to do so. I must admit, I enjoy partyin', but Friday nights tend to be duller than at bigger schools. On Saturday nights, there are parties going on constantly and I do my share of party hoppin. Sundays are typically dedicated to starting and finishing all the schoolwork that should have been spread out through Friday and Saturday. The rest of the week, everyone is pretty chill but manages to do everything on time.</p>
<p>this info is great! thanks a lot</p>
<p>Let me know if you have anymore</p>