<p>I also recommend checking out the Indy (another Brown newspaper, except its a weekly) at <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Students/INDY/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Students/INDY/index.php</a>. Brown also has a blog which I just saw a poster for before school ended that I think is either <a href="http://www.browndailysqueal.com%5B/url%5D">www.browndailysqueal.com</a> or <a href="http://www.thesqueal.com%5B/url%5D">www.thesqueal.com</a>. Dunno if thats officially affiliated or what. RISD is basically on top of Brown, living in Keeney there were RISD buildings just as close to me, even closer, than some Brown buildings. You can take classes at RISD and they can take classes at brown, though it can be difficult to arrange due to different school schedules (its much easier to do in the fall), there is a movement among students to make it even easier. people definately do it. we also share parties, clubs, and some publications. RISD is known to have some of the craziest parties on college hill and I have several friends who are RISD students. I've heard people talk about Brown and RISD one day merging in the next ten years but I have no idea if thats true or not.</p>
<p>Moat, do you know where the university's musical groups have traveled in the past? Also, I learned at ADOCH that Brown Band was a scatter band. Got any insider info on them? One last thing: Since you placed a lot of priority on study abroad options at schools, how are Brown's?</p>
<p>MoatToMoat,
I noticed in reading your posts that you are interested in IR and considering premed. My D is interested in cultures, languages, anthropology and maybe med.<br>
Are you talking about combining the two areas? If so, how would you make that happen at Brown? Curriculum-wise I mean?
Thanks for your thoughts on this.</p>
<p>Sorry Liquid, I don't know where the university's musical groups have traveled, but I've seen several a capella groups from as far away as Europe visiting Brown so I imagine our groups return the favor. Obviously the Brown Band travels to wherever the football team is playing to cheer them on and play. I'm not sure what a scatter band is, if you tell me I can probably help. The Brown Band is incredibly popular on campus though, some people go to the football games just to see them play (and make fun of our opponents on the loudspeaker during halftime!) Brown's study abroad is amazing, you can do a Brown sponsored program like Brown-in-Whatever which is where Brown profs fly to that country and lecture. Or you can directly enroll in foreign schools through Brown and be taught by their professors, sitting next to their students. For example, one could directly enroll in the University of Paris and be taught by French professors sitting next to actual French students. Brown also almost always approves study abroad programs that are run by other schools. Additionally, students are allowed to design their own study abroad programs and submit them to be approved. About a third of students chose to spend at least one semester abroad. Not only does Brown encourage study abroad (I really liked that, while Yale discouraged it, and some schools were sort of neutral, Brown actively encouraged students to go abroad), but students can fulfill major requirements at foreign schools. This is really incredible. Most top schools give you a hard enough time just getting regular credit for courses taken abroad, and you'd have to be crazy to want to fulfill general requirements abroad (which of course, we don't have). Brown goes one step further by allowing students to fulfill major requirements abroad, making it even easier for students to attend a foreign school for one or more semesters. I suggest googling Brown University study abroad to learn more about it from brown.</p>
<p>YoMama, Its very possible to combine the two areas. IR at Brown is divided into four tracks, which have fancy names and descriptions, but are essential a Poli Sci track, an Econ track, an Antro track, and an Environmental Science track. IR majors take many of the same courses and all the diplomas just say IR, but this allows students to gain some kind of focus on a HUGE discipline. I'm on the Poli Sci track, but I also plan on taking courses from the other tracks. Your daughter could do the Anthro track. I haven't really thought about combining the areas, I'm interested in IR so I want to major in it, but I'm also fulfilling the premed requirements because I'd like to be a doctor. I'm a bit confused at this point, but you can go to med school with any major so long as you fulfill the requirements, so I'm just doing what I'm most interested in intellectually and leaving my options open for now. We'll see what happens next year. If you're interested in the Anthro track, and its more fancy description and name, I'd google the Watson Institute for International Studies, thats Brown's IR department/IR institute, its very well respected and renowned. They'll have more info.</p>
<p>Thanks. It sounds awesome. I'm so glad to be going there in less than 2 months! Woohoo! A scatter band, from what I can gather, is a band that doesn't march and just runs onto the field and "scatters"...</p>
<p>What tracks are available for students interested in business?</p>
<p>Liquid:
Hmmmmmm, that sounds a little like the Brown Band, but I've definately seen them march around campus a bunch of times, and they're also famous for making bizarre shapes on the field when they play (once they did "The Economy", a jagged line going down). Maybe when they roller skate/ice skate they just scatter. No clue, sorry.</p>
<p>in4me, Brown has the typical business classes, but also just started a new concentration called "Commerce, Organization and Entrepre-neurship" with three tracks: business economics, organizational studies, and entrepreneurship and technology. You can search on the Brown Daily Herald for more on this, they had an article about it recently.</p>
<p>thanks moattomoat....your posts are really helpful...btw...i'm also planning to major in IR...but i'm deferring so i have another year before i do that ...still really excited though...</p>
<p>Great, Brown's IR department is amazing. Its the second most popular major at Brown, and it has its own Institute, the Watson Institute for International Studies, that has its own endowment to supplement the money it gets from the University. We have amazing IR professors like Xu Wenli (Chinese dissident, founder of Chinese Democratic Party and planner of Tianamen Square protests), the former presidents of Estonia and Brazil, Gorbachev's son, etc. We also get a lot of great visiting faculty, like professors from the Navy War College, etc. Good luck with your year off, enjoy it. Glad I've been helpful so far.</p>
<p>There's lots of good information about the band/chorus/orchestra/etc. at <a href="http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/studentlife/theartsatbrown.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.brown.edu/Administration/Admission/studentlife/theartsatbrown.html</a></p>
<p>It even has a clip of the brown band playing "smells like teen spirit" which rocks my socks.</p>
<p>MoatToMoat, what's the dating scene like at Brown?</p>
<p>Well of course it varies from person to person. Some people may meet the love of their life on their first day, some may have 5 or 6 girl/boyfriends and 5 or 6 heartbreaks during their 4 years, and some may never have a single commited relationship during their college years. Still, I can probably generalize a little bit for you. People usually describe Ivy League dating scenes as "random hook-ups" and people dating like their married, and not much in between. While there is some truth to that, there are a lot of random hook-ups (especially at SexPowerGod and Star*****, but even just at most parties), and its easy for a relationship to become serious in college, I think that, at Brown at least, there is a decent amount of casual dating. Though Brown is a bit too small to guarantee that you won't run into an ex now and then, people aren't afraid to have a relationship for a little bit, see how it works out, and if its not going in a way they like, end it. There's just too many other options, and too much going on in each person's life, to stick around with someone you aren't thrilled with, or to waste time and energy on a relationship you don't truly want to be in. For example, almost every relationship within my hall, some of which lasted 6 or 7 months, and all of which were quite serious (owing to the close proximity of the people in the relationships) ended before finals. Not for summer reasons either, just because people weren't happy with the relationships. So its not like people just start dating one person and stay with it all four years. I should also say that the dating scene isn't a lot of people meeting and then asking the other out on a date. From what I've observed, and from what happned to me, its more of either a random (or not so random) hook-up turning into a relationship, or an acquaintance from class or an extracurricular turning into less and less of an acquaintance and more and more of a romantic interest until something happens. So yeah, there's a lot of random hook-ups, a decent amount of dating, a bunch of less commited "friends with benefits", and some very serious and committed relationships too. And a ton of single people looking to get into one of those situations. People say that 30% of Brown grads end up marrying someone they met at Brown, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they started dating when they were at Brown. I'm not sure if that statistic is right anyway. But don't chose a college based on this sort of thing, its so different for everbody. Hope that helped.</p>
<p>*Like they're married, sorry for the typo</p>
<p>Moat, are the kids cliquey at Brown? D is likely to major in science (physics) but also likes arty kids as well as other acad. & ec interests.
Do the various groups mix? Are the science kids "geeky" at Brown or are they a bit more well-rounded? Thanks.</p>
<p>Thats a good question. While people tend to hang out in groups of friends that they've made thoughout their college career, there is definately no cliques based on major or even on interests, I think mostly because of the way Brown does freshman housing and distributes upper classmen housing. As freshmen, all students are divided into "units" of about 80 students each, which each have three residential counselors (its a system that I can explain in more depth later if anyone is interested, just ask). Sometimes an entire dorm will be a unit (if its small, like wayland) or just a section of a dorm (like West Andrews or a section, or "house" of Keeney). Units tend to be very close knit, especially the ones that are an entire dorm. All units can mass email each other, have a lot of bonding activities the first couple weeks, have Study Breaks with faculty fellows throughout the year, have academic and social get togethers organized by RCs during the year, etc. Its a LITTLE bit like a residential college system, but a lot less intense. Still, everyone remembers their old unit, its themes, etc. So your first year most of your group of friends will come from your unit, which is always extremely diverse. After freshman year, Brown has a housing lottery, which is also pretty complicated and I can explain later if someone wants. The effect is that unless you do a greek or theme house, the rest of the dorms tend to be incredibly diverse and not divided up based on anything other than grade (as older students tend to get more prized housing). So you continue to meet new people, make new friends, and be exposed to a very diverse group of students. Of course people end up making friends thruogh common interest groups, theater, classes, etc, but almost every "group" of students I know has no discernable common theme running through them. Makes for interesting conversation. Furthermore, people are always looking to meet and hang out with new people. I met/made one of my best friends in February, long after I thought I had solidified my "core" group of friends, and then another very close friend in April, which then exposed me to a whole new set of friends who I've become close with. I really think the unit system is perfect as it allows students to make a core "safety net" group of friends, but also allows them freedom to meet new people, and then meet all their friends from their units! By not forcing units to stay together after freshman year (like a residential college system would), people are able to really pick and chose who they want to hang out with, and constantly be exposed to new poeple. </p>
<p>In response to your second question, I think people at Brown tend to be very well rounded. The admissions department says that they pick studnets who they think will take advantage of the New Curriculum best, and that often means students who are well-rounded and interested in everything. My roomate was very much a science student, but was very NOT a geek by any standard. In fact, some of my craziest stories involve him. Furthermore, the most hardcore science students, the PLME kids, tend to be pretty laid back (since they have such a sweet deal). Of course, there are all kind of geeks and nerds at Brown, but no common stereotype really. And even the "nerds" end up letting loose and having fun eventually. Did that help?</p>
<p>It sure did...a great reply. Thanks so much, we are going to visit the campus in August, I am sure we will have lots of questions for you afterwards.</p>
<p>Sounds good, I'll be around. If you can do it though, I definatley recommend visiting during the school year. Its SUCH a different feel and a different vibe, and your tour guide will probably be more happy to be there (since it won't be the summer). I was on campus over President's Weekend, when only 2/3 of the students were gone, and it felt like a different planet. Still, if its your only choice than take what you can get.</p>
<p>Yeah, could you do me a favor and explain that crazy lottery system that you touched on?</p>
<p>Yeah sure. Its probably one of the few things that students tend to dislike about Brown and yet seem unable to change. One of the things I love about Brown is how responsive they are to the students, the amount of power the students have is incredible and unique (first UCS in the country, the New Curriculum was completely student driven, the ASL debate last spring, etc). Nevertheless, the Housing Lottery remains, probably because its good for Seniors and Juniors, and many Sophomores too, and the people who get a bad deal (that's me, unfortunately) just tend to complain loudly. So here it goes:</p>
<p>Firstly, Brown guarantees housing for all four years, so everyone always gets a place to live. There are four segments of the Housing Lottery, one for 8 person suites and 4 person suites, one for 6 person suites and three person suites, one for 5 person suites, and one for singles and doubles. Each segment happens on a weeknight, spaced out over four weeks in the spring. People go in for housing with a group of people that they want to live with, say 5 people go in for a 5 person suite (I say "people" because this year Brown gave the option of having 5 person co-ed suites). They are all assigned random numbers the night before the segment, and all the numbers are averaged. On the weeknight designated for that section, everyone going in for that type of housing gathers in a huge auditorium, usually Sayles Hall, and an official at the front reads of the list of names, in order, from lowest numbers to highest numbers. The group with the lowest number goes first, and goes up and picks what room they want off a huge map of campus. And so on down to the highest numbers. People yell and scream as others take rooms that they want, and cheer when people don't show up, its actually kind of fun. The reason its unpopular with sophomores is that seniors automatically get the best numbers, followed by juniors, followed by sophomores. So even the best sophomore is behind the worst junior. Sophomores are protected from getting totally screwed by the University reserving housing across campus as "sophomore only," in fact, two of the nicest dorms on campus, Barbour (apartment style suites) and Caswell, are reserved exclusively for Sophomores. There are others too. Still, some sophomores end up with terrible numbers, and are forced to chose between "crappy" housing (usually meaning on Pembroke campus or very rarely tucked away in a freshman dorm) or going on the wait-list. The "crappy" housing actually can end up being good because then you are surrounded by other sophomores to get to know and befriend. The waitlist gives you a chance to see if any good housing opens up (people decide to go abroad, move off campus, logistical screw up, etc) and take that before just chosing an available room. This year people on the waitlist lucked out because the University was renovating Minden (a converted Hotel right on campus, it still says "Hotel Minden" in the front) and thus didn't offer much of it in the lottery. Now that its finished, many people on the waitlist will probably end up there. One nice thing about the waitlist is that people can enter, say, the doubles segment as a group of four, two sets of doubles, and then pick together - that way they can pick two doubles next to each other or something. Anyway, its sort of a right of passage, and everyone I've talked to has told me that even if they ended up living in Keeney basement their sophomore year, they still had a great time. The advantage of the whole system is that its very fair, and that you get to pick exactly the room you want. For example, you'd want the first two floors of Caswell, but if you couldn't get that you'd want the first floor of Minden, and if not that...etc. If you know you want to live near a stairwell, near a bathroom, have a huge closet, its all under your control. The bad part is that it heavily favours juniors and seniors. Ah well. Each year they have a contest for "first pick in the housing lottery." People this year made hilarious videos about why they thought they deserved first pick, one parodying the Real World (it one), one an emo music video, one a short that sort of played off of Dr. Strangelove, etc. It really produced a lot of entertainment for those not involved. Hope that was helpful.</p>
<p>Lol, yes, thank you. That was extremely helpful. I didn't get it at all when the guide explained it ADOCH, so thanks again. So when did you end up getting the shaft this year (er, next year, actually), or what?</p>