Current Brown students (or Brown parents), how are you enjoying your time at Brown? Any misconceptions? Anything you wish you would have known? Were there colleges you chose Brown over and why was that? Any advice specific to life at Brown? I have tried to find similar threads as these but they seem a little outdated. I would greatly appreciate anything that can be contributed to the conversation.
My D is a first year (that’s what they call it) at Brown. Overall, she really likes it and it is a great school. Good things are everyone is very caring and compassionate and committed to the success of the students. Lots of personal attention, especially if you seek it out a bit. Beautiful campus, obviously, and Providence is a great town. Open curriculum is fantastic, shopping period is great, and option for C/NC. Drawbacks are large first year lecture classes, old dorms, mediocre food in dining halls, not much sense of community in the dorms as far as she can tell. Also some safety concerns with a few assaults close to campus late at night this year. I think one piece of advice is to seek out activities and a support network. So not the paradise she expected but still a positive experience. Like life I guess…
@sunseeker You said it, like life, college experience is a mixed bag. My son has had a similar experience at his “dream school” on the West Coast.
My son is a sophomore and loves Brown. Became part of a group of 6 close friends from his freshman dorm and they’ve stuck together ever since. Agree with large classes for first two years, but that depends on the concentration and how popular it is. Very heavy workload but that’s no surprise. Very challenging, which in my opinion is what kids at Brown need.
It seems every kid has at least one “passion” as they say that they are very interested in besides their concentration. My son loves the dining system because of the opportunity to combine meals with “credits” so he can buy meals at more “restaurant” or “take out” type places at all hours and bring back to dorm; or he can go and eat at the traditional dining halls that have more set hours.
Campus is just a few blocks from the MBTA train so getting to Boston for flights home is easy. Thayer St. has a theater right off campus that often shows first run or arts type movies at a discount for students, and the kids also walk to the downtown theater often, or to the mall in Providence. The open curriculum is great, and allows the kids to explore their passions, but there are plenty of advisors keeping them on track. My son has not experienced any feelings of “danger” whatsoever and feels perfectly safe walking around campus at 2 a.m. There are on campus buses that run all day and night, and students who work as escorts, always visible on campus should anyone feel they need them to walk at night. However, the area around Brown is not what I would call seedy by any means, and often populated with students at all hours.
I am a recent graduate and had the best possible experience during my time at Brown. Similar to the user above’s son, I met a great group of people in my freshman dorm and found the sense of community in my dorm (and across campus) to be incredibly strong. Students are for the most part compassionate, interesting, and passionate about both what they study and whatever they chose to dedicate time to outside of school. I liked how diverse my friends were over the years in terms of their interests and passions - there is definitely a sense of community at Brown that transcends friend groups, academic interests, etc.
Entry level classes can be large - but you have the ability to get into smaller classes by your first semester so you can make sure that you are in smaller classes even if you need to take some lecture courses as well for your chosen concentration. Lecture classes almost always have some type of smaller discussion section once per week, and some of these are always led by the professor instead of just TAs.The real academic benefit of Brown (besides renowned professors) is the open curriculum. Because everyone picks their classes by hand, you get very engaged students who actively want to be in the room - which makes for a great learning atmosphere as well as more interesting discussions.
I’m a first year student and PLME here at Brown. Come to Brown! You will not regret it! If you have specific questions, feel free to message me. @tuty143
My daughter is in freshman year at Brown and loves it. Best year of her life! Hard work, rigorous, great town.