<p>why not? isn't 4.5 the average across US. It's strange cos brown seems to encourage 4 courses per term which is like. very. very. little. most people i know are taking 5</p>
<p>I'm not sure where most people you know are going to college, but I can tell you that in the Ivy League, the typical courseload is about 4 a semester. Many students at Brown take 5 courses, but mostly after their freshman year, and NEVER their first semester. Your first semester of freshman year, really the entire year, should be devoted to exploring what Brown has to offer socially, forming relationships and friendships that are going to last your entire life, enjoying yourself, adjusting, exploring new extracurriculars, etc. You do not want to be stressing out about 5 classes. Trust me, its much different than high school.</p>
<p>I second that. dalliance, you might be thinking about something like Notre Dame, where the average person takes 6-7 courses, but that's including Religion and Phys. Ed. I think it's also different in the Ivy league (at least Brown and Harvard, those are the two I'm familiar with) because you don't go by a credit system where different classes are given different weights.</p>
<p>At virtually every school I've seen, 4 classes is the norm.</p>
<p>Sign up for 5 and then drop whichever you like the least.</p>