<p>Heeeyyy This is for the current Brown students</p>
<p>I wanted to know, </p>
<p>how are the classes at Brown?</p>
<p>Are they small, big or average?</p>
<p>Are they easy to learn from, or so big that it is distracting?</p>
<p>Are the Professors accessible? Classes are overcrowded?</p>
<p>My college counselor just told me to look into these things cause it can be a BIG factor…</p>
<p>So please…enlighten me</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>You should probably go through a course catalog and ask about some specific courses or at least a few specific departments. Classes vary widely within any university, and I would say every option you listed can be found except “so big it’s distracting”</p>
<p>Ehh I’d argue that, before the University placed a cap on it, POLS1510: “Great Powers and Empires” could be seen as “so big it’s distracting.” At 680 students at the start of this term, they didn’t fit into any classroom on campus. For what it’s worth, the largest room on campus can handle 594 students, so this would probably be the largest class possible.</p>
<p>Definitely ask about specific classes. In my two semesters at Brown so far, I’ve taken classes as large as 250-ish students, and as small as 10. That will be the experience of most Brown students, I would imagine.</p>
<p>Can any current Brown students tell me how difficult it is to get the classes you want as an incoming freshman? I have been on Brown’s online course scheduler, and though there are many intriguing classes, the ones I’m most interested in (specifically sociology, english, and lit arts) all seem to be already full. I know freshman typically pick classes during orientation, but I was just wondering how limited the choices are and whether they left with mostly lecture classes.</p>
<p>Also, what do you consider more important when picking classes: a professor you’ve heard is good or the class whose subject is most relevant to your interests?</p>
<p>As a freshman, it can sometimes be difficult to get classes because you’re last on the list. What you should really take advantage of is the First-Year Seminar (FYS) system; these are classes that are limited to only first-year students, so you’ve got a really good chance of getting in. There’ll be a pre-registration for those classes sometime this summer.</p>
<p>Definitely look at the professors, and don’t be afraid to shop classes. Though the topic may be interesting to you, sometimes the professor is just awful, and there’s nothing that can make up for that.</p>
<p>Is there a complete list of Brown’s FYS classes somewhere? Going through the course catalog, department by department, is rather tedious.</p>
<p>For fall classes, you can go to [Welcome</a> - Mocha](<a href=“http://brown.mochacourses.com%5DWelcome”>http://brown.mochacourses.com) and click on advanced search and then do a full-text search for FYS. It looks like they haven’t scraped the Spring courses yet, though.</p>
<p>@ current students: do you all actually have trouble getting into classes? PM me – I want to start a dialog about this.</p>
<p>Very cool list, Mgcsinc! Thanks!</p>
<p>Absolutely go after FYS’s. They’re a great way to take some really interesting classes and get to know a professor in a small setting. But don’t be too put off by things being full already – there’s so much flexibility and reshuffling during shopping period that in my experience it has never hurt to go to the first meeting of a class and talk to the professor (or email them in advance). I’ve almost never not been able to get into a class I wanted to take.</p>
<p>In terms of good prof v. interesting material, although I think we have enough classes here that ocmbine both that I try to aim for that, I’d say that a good professor can make something totally obscure absolutely fascinating, but unless you really love the material, a class with someone bad is going to be very unpleasant.</p>
<p>thanks so much for the advice/input everyone :)</p>