Current Brown students taking questions!

<p>I’m yet to take an APMA class (I’m taking 1650 this fall), but the handful of professors in the department to whom I’ve spoken have been incredibly accessible and helpful – I’m deciding between a Math-CS and APMA-CS concentration, and have been talking to several people about this.</p>

<p>Also, a note about 1650: the professor who usually teaches it (Lawrence) is considered terrible by most. However, he’s away on sabbatical this year, so the class is being taught by a different professor. Hopefully this improves its quality.</p>

<p>hey guys! So I’m just wondering, if I were to send something to Brown today or tomorrow would the mail room have it ready on the third? Or would I be better off bringing it with me? Thanks!</p>

<p>I shipped things that arrived at the mail room today, and I got an email from Brown Mail Services within an hour or so. So I know that they are on top of things now. I don’t know what type of shipping method you plan on using, but as long as it is supposed to arrive by the 31st of August you should have no problem. But then again, I haven’t had much experience shipping things right when students are beginning to arrive.</p>

<p>I don’t know about this year, but in the past 2 if you sent something big and bulky, esp via UPS or Fed X rather than USPS, it was routed to a receiving and pick up spot close to the Grad center (farther to lug, uphill if you live on Pembroke campus). (so break up the shipping into smaller boxes for lugging and to get it a bit faster if you live Pembroke way.)
My student ordered some books which arrived at Brown in 4 days per web site tracking (day 1 or 2 of class) but took another 5 days to sort at the Brown mail room to where they could be picked up. We actually suggested to the mail room that it would be a great short term student job to hire on some extra hands for the heavy load the first 1-2 weeks of each semester. Maybe (hope, hope) they followed through!</p>

<p>I have a question! What do you think is the biggest asset or set of assets that an aspiring Brownie (sorry, but is sounded funny :)) should showcase in his/her application ASIDE from academics/ECs? Basically, what would make an applicant stand out from the other (I’m guessing for this year) 35,000 applicants? Is it personality, unique life stories, or love for Brown?</p>

<p>Side note: I didnt realize it was move in weekend. Holy hell campus is a mess. All I wanted to do was use the grad center gym!</p>

<p>Also, WELCOME!</p>

<p>^ yeah, move in day and commencement weekend really show you that Providence is basically just big enough to hold what’s normally there.</p>

<p>1st day of class is always Weds after labor day.</p>

<p>^Not always. Sometimes it’s before Labor Day and then students get Labor Day off. For example, last year, classes started Sept. 1 and Labor Day was the 6th.</p>

<p>I’ve been here for over a week and I’m going to miss the quiet I’ve had :-P</p>

<p>^ weird, I wonder what was different last year since the previous 5 years were always the Wednesday before labor day.</p>

<p>^ Rosh Hashanah fell on the Wednesday after Labor Day last year.</p>

<p>what in your opinion separates brown from the rest of the ivies/competetive schools in any way?</p>

<p>We are visiting Brown on Thursday and hope to speak to current upperclassmen. My daughter is considering applying early decision to Brown. Considering the rain that is expected, where should we go to find students to chat with?</p>

<p>Maybe the buildings that house the departments she is interested in? Especially if they have lounges where students hang out and study. Also anywhere there’s food – Ratty, Blue Room, etc.</p>

<p>Bear in mind that this is a weird time to visit. Shopping period and classes start this week; convocation is tomorrow; everyone has just gotten to campus; first-year student anxiety is at its peak. Etc. To be honest, I’d wait a week or two before visiting, if I could.</p>

<p>Thank you Bedford. Unfortunately, the plans have been made so we will have to make it work. Is there a student union or a more central gathering spot? If not, where can I find Ratty and Blue Room?</p>

<p>The best central gathering spot is the Blue Room, which is located in Faunce House (on the corner of Brown and Waterman streets). It’s a campus cafe and also houses a lot of meeting places and good study areas.</p>

<p>And the ratty is not far from it, on wriston quad, closest to the intersection of george and thayer (you can enter the quad right near the ratty on thayer st. If you’re going on thursday, know that from 12-1 it will be a madhouse.</p>

<p>Would you say there are a lot of on campus dancing opportunities? I am thinking of extra curricular/club’s that are for dance?</p>

<p>YES! We have TONS of dance opportunities, some of which are prestigious and hard to get in to, some of which are open to anyone, some of which are utterly salacious (pole dancing!). </p>

<p>I was just working a booth at the activities fair last night, and was right around the corner from the dance groups. I was really impressed at all the diversity (and at the displays they made for the freshmen). </p>

<p>There are dance shows throughout the year. And did I mention we have a series of dance classes for credit? In the performing arts department? Cuz we do.</p>

<p>(We also have juggling and acrobatics clubs in case that’s your preferred type of coordinated rhythmic movement.)</p>

<p>WOOO! Thank you! I’m so glad to here the abundance of dance there is at Brown :)</p>

<p>On another note:</p>

<p>How would you all classify the “school spirit” at Brown? Would you say a lot of kids love that they go do Brown? Do the students support each other? Are sporting events a big deal…like do people get really pumped - i’m thinking face paint, school t-shirts, general fan-manship? or is the school spirit more generated towards art related things, such as gallery openings, drama productions, etc?</p>

<p>School spirit is very high. As my friend says, “everyone drinks the kool-aid at some point” such that after you graduate you’ll always tell people you loved it. This attitude is definitely absent from sporting events which are sadly unpopular. Camping out for SPG tickets is probably on par with buying bball tickets at duke though.</p>