There is no such thing as perfect school. Among the ivy schools, Brown is distinguished by its teaching and focus on undergraduate students. Most of the “college rankings” are based on research at graduate level. During the Family Weekend 2017, when I saw how happy my child is at Brown, I know we have chosen the best school. The worst part of the first semester is the basement dorm room at Keeney Quad. However, with a great roommate, a bad room really does not matter. I have seen several students at Brown who keeps changing majors. To me, it is a sign of failure. Open curriculum is really not for everyone.
@TheOldTimer When I talked about rankings I was referring to their football team’s ranking as #8th in the ivy league, not the meaningless college rankings. Also, I don’t think that changing majors should be seen as a sign of failure; a real sign of failure is not being brave enough to try something new or pursue what you’re really passionate about. That’s the point of the Open Curriculum! For people to expand their knowledge, try new things without being afraid of failure, and find what they are really meant to do. Those are the people who really need the Open Curriculum; I think you’ve got it backwards. It is unreasonable to expect 18/19 even 20 year olds to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives.
But whatever, Brown doesn’t even want me so who cares.
At Brown, you need only 30 courses to graduate… potentially all can be English courses (a joke heard in school, 30 courses really are not a lot. Check Yale to find out). A lot of students these days identifies themselves as premed when they enter school like Brown. However, they don’t know a committee letter is needed to apply to medical schools. A good grade and high MCAT scores are REQUIRED. Here, there is no holistic approach. For students who enter Brown from holistic process and suddenly find themselves not good enough to get committee letter, frustration cannot be avoided. Johns Hopkins is notorious for committee letter. I found out first hand that about two third of students entering JHU are some kind of premed. At graduation, still about one third are some kind of premed majors. Brown is much, much better in this regard.
If someone keeps changing focus, more likely at the end there is no focus. I want to focus on the words “keep changing”. Brown is a great school for people who can motivate themselves to explore as opposed to those who really don’t know what they want to do.
@latinvibes and @iwannabe_Brown My daughter got into Brown and Berkeley. She thought Brown was her dream school until she visited the campus during ADOCH. She just wasn’t feeling it - did not dig Providence OR the students. Those are two basic elements of a school you cannot avoid. I think her hosts for the ADOCH visit may have played a role in her decision to go with Berkeley. They were very on the spectrum. They should have paired her with some POC for the night.