<p>Even though Brown has an open curriculum, if you are interested in taking the courses typically offered in a core, are they available at Brown?</p>
<p>yeah... why wouldn't they be? open just means there's no set requirements that everyone is suppose to take... however you must take the requirements of your major.</p>
<p>if you want to be a poetry major, you can take all english courses all 4 years. no science no math, no NOTHIN. get my drift?</p>
<p>that's beautiful. after a year of ap chem, the possibility of never having to hear about any sort of buffer is like music.</p>
<p>I hear that....took AP Chem this year, probably got killed on the exam and love the idea of never having to figure out how much solution is needed to titrate something to its equivalence point....</p>
<p>kinda sucks that i want to be pre-med though =(</p>
<p>Open curriculum is fine, but I don't think it's practical, which is why I won't apply to Brown. However, I'm not ranking on Brown. It's an amazing school, but it isn't for me.</p>
<p>There is nothing more practical than an open curriculum, which is one of the many reasons that make Brown such an amazing place. A lot of universities have been "inspired" to modify their curriculums somewhat because of Brown's experience and success.</p>
<p>I fail to see any impracticality. It's encouraging experimentation, while the exact amount of experimentation is left up to each student. You get the freedom to adventure into something like a new language, and not have to worry about it dropping your GPA or taking the spot of a required course. What can be better? It's learning for the passion for knowledge, instead of a grade.</p>
<p>tux,</p>
<p>How is the open curriculum not practical? It gives you more freedom and more options, not less. If you wanted, you could model your Brown education off of the core curriculum of any school- just take the kinds of classes that are normally required at other schools. If that's not what you want, then you can design your own curriculum.</p>
<p>The argument that an open curriculum has all of the practical benefits and none of the flaws of a core curriculum because it could choose whether to mimic the core or not is, I think, largely based on the assumption that college-aged people always make responsible decisions that will benefit them in the long run. </p>
<p>That being said, the open curriculum is a very powerful tool for students who know what they want/need or can admit that they don't.</p>
<p>I am not assuming that college students always make responsible decisions. The open curriculum treats students as adults, giving them the ability to choose their own path. Whether or not they make good decisions is up to them. Freedom brings the ability to enhance or harm your academic life. That being said, I prefer more freedom to less.</p>
<p>Obviously it's all a relative matter. But for a student who has an idea of what they want to be doing, and what they have an interest in learning about, it's more than ideal. If you need to be taken by the hand and told what you should be spending your time with during college, then obviously it's not for you. Nothing is perfect. Still, the fact that Brown has taken so well to the open curriculum since it was first instituted shows that it clearly does something right.</p>
<p>i agree with ughawkward. my impression is that to be successful at brown, a certain level of maturity is required. perhaps the one thing that I don't like about Brown though, is that if you really wanted, you could get away with doing pretty much nothing. im afraid there are people who apply so they can get an ivy league degree without much effort. no one here of course :)</p>
<p>But... the whole point of the open curriculum is that the Brown administration trusts its students to be responsible and self-disciplined. I can't think of a more important lesson to learn in life. Ultimately, we all have to be responsible for our own lives. </p>
<p>Certainly at Brown, where students have passed the most rigorous of application processes, the majority of the accepted students will fit the criterion of being able to manage and succeed independently. That is the unique thing about Brown University. I trust the Ad Comm to find the right students for their school. Of course they will not always hit it right, but a huge percentage of the current Brown students and alumni with whom I have spoken (as a parent of a Brown class of 2011 student) have adored the place, and learned remarkably quickly how to be responsible for their own educations.</p>
<p>I agree with Franglish. I am sure there are some that will coast along, but most students are hard working and ambitious and realize that their education is costing them (or their parents) alot of money and want to make it worth their while. I know my son (just finished freshman year) did not take it easy and actually explored alot of options in several depts because he could. When I attended college, I was a bio major and wouldn't dare take things out of my "science" major for interest-afraid they might lower the GPA too. I think its wonderful that Brown trusts the students to make their own decisions about their education. Many of the core classes that I took were ridiculous and I only took them to fulfill a requirement-didn't really get anything out of them.</p>
<p>getting to explore across the curriculum while i was an undergrad at brown changed my life. i was a neuroscience concentrator and a pre-med, which at any other school (i'm sure) would have led me to a pretty cut and dry medical career. however, now i have the knowledge, resources, and ambition to leverage my research experiences and medical degree into a career in health policy. i credit this almost entirely to the open curriculum.</p>
<p>What about the argument that some make in favor of the core curriculum that it is an advantage to have a group of students enrolled in the same courses so they can discuss the readings and lectures among one another? It seems that if you can take whatever you want, you will be more "on your own" and will not be learning with a group of people.</p>
<p>You won't be learning with same group when taking courses out of your concentration, but within your concentration you will have the same common experience.</p>
<p>I am so happy I don't take any of the classes my friends take. Rather than have to hear them ***** about some assignment we both have to do I learn about what they're learning about in their classes as we tell each other all kinds of information that we've accumulated studying whatever it is we like. I am constantly learning from my friends because they know stuff I don't-- and more than just material in their concentrations!</p>
<p>Sure, common experience can be nice, but often, its just as nice to have so much diversity amongst students. It significantly reduces competition since comparisons are harder to make and greatly stimulates conversation because everyone knows a little something different about the world.</p>
<p>If you want a core then don't come ot Brown, it's very simple. If you want to take a huge variety of classes in a curriculum designed by you with your interests in mind, then come to Brown.</p>
<p>I am not against or for the core...I just wanted to get students' reactions to it.</p>
<p>What kind of core does Brown offer? I thought Brown didn't require a core with its open curriculum.</p>
<p>It doesn't offer any kind of core. There is no required courses at all to graduate. Graduation requirements are to pass 30 classes and complete a concentration.</p>