<p>Brown sent an e-mail to incoming students yesterday which mentioned the Catalyst pre-orientation program for students interested in concentrating in sciences. I had heard about EAB, UCAAP and TWTP but nothing of Catalyst until the e-mail. Have any upperclassmen participated?</p>
<p>Must be a new program. Catalyst is a sciences magazine that publishes every so often.</p>
<p>In that case, who else from '16 is applying for Catalyst? I feel relatively well-prepared for the science curriculum, but frankly I would love to move in early and find my way around before orientation starts. From reading about various science classes, it seems that the biggest change will be 4 hour lab sessions every week in addition to lectures.</p>
<p>Could you post the information about the Catalyst program? I’m interested in what its goals are.</p>
<p>Here’s the information posted on the Brown website:</p>
<p>Catalyst is a unique blended-learning program at Brown University that prepares incoming first-years for the rigors of a science concentration at Brown. Funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and run by the New Scientist Program at Brown University, Catalyst embraces the belief that through collaboration with peers, continual engagement with problem solving, and the support of an entire community, students can thrive in the sciences.</p>
<p>Catalyst is divided into two sections: a one-week residential program and an online lead-in to the program.The online lead-in begins August 1. Students engage in approximately 12 hours of coursework over a two and a half week period. The coursework is designed to engage students in collaborative study and introduce the concepts and foundational material for the academic portion of the program. Students will be expected to follow a common schedule dedicating about 1 hour per weekday on the course.</p>
<p>The residential portion of Catalyst begins August 20. The focus shifts to intense collaborative problem solving over a one week period. Students are also introduced to a variety of professors, administrators and labs, to gain a sense of what options they can pursue while at Brown and who will be there to support them in their academic and personal journeys.</p>
<p>All costs associated with Catalyst, except travel to Brown, are covered by HHMI. Students must participate in either TWTP or Excellence at Brown following Catalyst both of which end at the beginning of first-year orientation. Consequently, students should consider moving in to Catalyst as an early move-in to Brown.</p>
<p>Sounds like it’s remedial.</p>
<p>Hard to tell without seeing the specific coursework. Considering that it’s affiliated with HHMI, which has funded some awesome courses at Brown recently, such as this one.</p>
<p>[A</a> first-year fast track to the excitement and challenge of science | Brown University News and Events](<a href=“http://news.brown.edu/features/2011/11/phagehunters]A”>A first-year fast track to the excitement and challenge of science | News from Brown)</p>
<p>Hard to tell without seeing the specific coursework. Considering that it’s affiliated with HHMI, which has funded some awesome courses at Brown recently, such as this one.</p>
<p>[A</a> first-year fast track to the excitement and challenge of science | Brown University News and Events](<a href=“http://news.brown.edu/features/2011/11/phagehunters]A”>A first-year fast track to the excitement and challenge of science | News from Brown)</p>
<p>I doubt that the course is purely remedial. Catalyst might involve some review of lab techniques or something, but the description is clearly vague.</p>
<p>Considering that this is a pre-orientation program, I am guessing the projects will be more of science fair/science camp variety than hard core labs. Which is fine by me. Pre-orientation and orientation are designed to allow us to meet each other and learn our way around.</p>