Is it difficult to get into classes at Brown? According to the Fiske Guide some writing and art classes are “impossible” to get into… Any feedback would be welcome. Thank you.
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While the demand for most classes is a function of how often they are offered (alternating years etc.) and how specialized they are (i.e. intro classes tend to be more in-demand b/c of the Open Curriculum,) you’ll definitely be able to get into some, not all, of the classes you want, or you might just have to wait a year or two for class seniority----this is true at most schools.
The one art class with high-demand and an accompanying lottery that I know of is VISA 0100, which serves as a gateway to many of the courses at RISD. However, the lottery’s only for First-Year students, and as you progress at Brown, you’ll have more and more seniority in the pre-registration process (which happens a few weeks before the start of the semester.) Introductory English classes tend to either be large lecture courses or small seminar courses, but the more popular seminars (like ENGL 0900, which is basically a composition course,) tend to have multiple sections.
Looking at CAB (Courses @ Brown, which we use for online course search/registration,) the more specialized english and literary arts seminars are primarily small seminars of ~20 people, but many require writing samples, preferentially enroll concentrators (majors,) or are limited to concentrators and require override codes by non-concentrators i.e. the professor has to give explicit permission to students not majoring in the field.)
Feel free to browse through Courses @ Brown (this semester’s an anomaly when it comes to course offerings and enrollment, so I would suggest looking at 2018/19,) to get a sense of how much demand/space there is available in the courses you’re interested in. While you won’t be able to access the syllabi until you are provided with a Brown applicant portal, you WILL be able to access enrollment data (separated by class year for some courses,) descriptions, course materials etc.
CAB: cab.brown.edu
TL; DR: While you might not get every class you want, which is true at every university, you WILL get the classes you need to graduate as long as you work with your advisor and stay on top of things. 
Hope that helps! Good luck with admissions!
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Thank you!
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