<p>Both Ancient and Early Modern are excellent choices. On most years, Ancient is taught in the fall and Early Modern in the spring. This year, due to some scheduling issues, both will be in the fall. Usually, doing the year-long sequence is a safe bet. But if you can only take one the two this fall, here are some things you might want to consider:</p>
<p>Ancient has a relatively light workload (3 five-page papers (one each on the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle) and weekly short discussion postings on MyCourses). I didn’t take Early Modern with Larmore, so I’m not too sure about the workload. However, it definitely involves in-class exams of some sort, and probably some papers thrown in as well.</p>
<p>In terms of prepping you for later Philosophy classes, I definitely think Early Modern is more relavant. For example, many ideas we discuss in Epistemology can be eventually traced back to Kant or Hume. It is also an all-round solid survey course which is an excellent introduction the the major figures of that era and their philosophical thinking. When I took the class we did Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. But this list may vary slightly with Larmore.</p>
<p>Another option to consider is one of the lower-numbered courses that introduces Philosophy through a more specialized perspective. I know Existentialism (PHIL 8) was a huge hit when it was offered. For example, if your interests lie towards scientific questions (as mine do), you might want to consider Science, Perception and Reality. I have personally never taken any class numbered below Ancient, so I can’t really comment on any of them individually. Just putting this out as a suggestion.</p>
<p>Question about dining halls, residence halls, and the meal plan. During the breaks (Thanksgiving, long weekend, Spring Break, etc.), are the dining halls open? If not, are any shops open that accept the meal plan credits (20 meals/week for me). How do students deal with these periods of the university being shut (with regards to food)? Keep in mind, I’m poor.</p>
<p>Dining halls are open over the long weekends (Columbus Day in fall and Presidents’ Day in spring), but not over Thanksgiving or Spring Break. Nothing that accepts credits (or points for that matter) will be open. I usually just got food from Thayer. It’s probably not that expensive if it’s just for a few days, and there are relatively cheap places like Subway. This is pretty much how I eat over summer as well.</p>
<p>It’s cheaper per day to eat on Thayer than to be on the meal plan (if you’re a tiny bit frugal). I’ve found that the cost of going home is more than the cost of eating out (at least going home to a mountain state). And we have kitchens in the dorms, so if you and a group of friends are staying, it’s not too hard to make a few communal meals over the breaks.</p>
<p>Spring Break, one can buy a week-long meal plan (the Ratty is open for athletes), but it’s literally cheaper to eat on Thayer at Subway or Nice Slice/Antonio’s, and probably Chipotle too.</p>
<p>Hi everyone. Do most guys use shower caddies or just put their stuff in large ziplock bags? Also, do any freshman dorm rooms have sinks in them?
Thanks!</p>
<p>In my experience, we have quite a few vegetarians, with more coming out than going in. There’s (what seems) a small vegan community, with a good portion of them being “ethical” vegans (e.g. they’ll eat locally farmed eggs/milk). There’s also BARC (Brown Animal Rights Club), which got a vegan panini maker put into the Ratty (or one of the existing ones converted to be vegan-only, or something of that sort), and a couple years back they brought Peter Singer to campus. Sorry I don’t have many good details, but I’m only passively (through my friends) involved in the vegan/vegetarian community.</p>
<p>Is it possible for someone with no knowledge of Greek and Latin to concentrate in Classics…?</p>
<p>Also, I’m confused by what the requirements for Economics concentration are (I’m just re-checking out all concentrations). It says “<em>The standard mathematics requirement may be met through Advanced Placement tests, but placing into a higher level mathematics course than Math 0090, without actually taking that higher level course, does not satisfy the requirement.</em> The AP mathematics credit must appear on your Brown transcript.” as well as "The economics concentration requires a course in calculus and a course in econometrics (statistical applications in economics).</p>
<p>The <em>calculus requirement may be met through high school Advanced Placement courses, providing you pass the AP exams at the required level, and the AP credit is recorded on your Brown transcript</em>.</p>
<p>I’m not quite sure what the “placing into” a higher level mathematics course means…even with AP credit, you need to take some other kind of math?</p>
<p>What that means is that your AP credits have to be officially transcripted through the Math Department, and the appropriate Brown course equivalent has to show up on your transcript.</p>
<p>Placing into a course simply means that Brown is satisfied that you have the necessary background to take the course. For example, if you didn’t do AP in high school, but did well enough in the placement exam, you can be placed into (say) MATH 10. Along with this is the underlying assumption that you know the material in MATH 9. However, this is not sufficient for the purposes of the economics concentration, because you can’t have anything transcripted based on that. If you do in fact go on to actually take MATH 10 (instead of just being placed into it), the math requirement would then obviously be fulfilled.</p>
Yes, but it’s tough. You will need to complete a 5th semester Latin or Greek course by graduation. So that’s an additional 4 courses beyond the stated requirements.</p>
<p>I believe they have to be separately requested for through the dean responsible for AP credits, though I’m not 100% positive. Perhaps someone else can chip in.</p>
<p>When you send scores, things like math are automatically granted, unless they lose your scores TWICE like they did with me. You have to separately request anything where credit is contingent upon successful completion of a class. At this point I’ve decided it’s not worth 1 more AP credit on my transcript to go back and try to deal with them again.</p>
<p>Labyrinthine (and others interested in Brown’s vegetarian/vegan scene), you should check out West House, one of the residential communities at Brown. They have an open dinner on Friday nights. It’s a great opportunity for first year students to enjoy home-cooked food and check out cooperative living as a possibility for sophomore year.</p>
<p>In my freshman dorm, there was one small laundry room on floor 1 for the entire dorm. I would not be surprised if this is normal, as it has been the case in all dorms I’ve lived in so far.</p>