<p>I hope this wouldn’t appear rude that I post this thread here…
but i’m a international, so all the information i can access to is from the internet.
hopefully i’ll apply as an ED applicant but i need some help to figure out some strengths brown possesses</p>
<ol>
<li>is Brown strong in environmental science? they don’t even have a major for this(only environmental study, but that’s BA) however i did find a program called environmental Change Initiative(hope i get the name right…),which combines different area to devote to environmental protection. does this fact shows any sign that Brown’s strong in environment?</li>
</ol>
<p>2.how’s brown’s physics compare to chemistry?(whoa i know there’s going to be some posts telling me that they can’t be compared… but i just want a vague idea)</p>
<p>thank you so much for every single information that you’ve posted, I value your reply greatly</p>
<p>There is an environmental science concentration: [Center</a> for Environmental Studies: Academics](<a href=“http://envstudies.brown.edu/academics/]Center”>Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society - IBES Homepage)</p>
<p>And there’s this: [Geological</a> Sciences at Brown University: Environmental Science Research](<a href=“Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences | Brown University”>Department of Earth, Environmental & Planetary Sciences | Brown University)</p>
<p>(All I did was search environmental science on the Brown website.)</p>
<p>Brown is strong in environmental science/studies – the urban environmental lab is a really cool concept. It is a relatively small department, that does some interesting things.</p>
<p>modestmelody is our resident expert here on CC for Brown physics and chemistry questions. Hopefully he’ll respond to this; if not, send him a PM.</p>
<p>Environmental science draws strongly on our geology program, definitely one of the strongest science programs at Brown.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what you mean by comparing physics and chemistry-- they’re similarly sized departments. They’re also fairly similar in that they both cover a lot of interests. I don’t think one is stronger than the other, as far as I can tell. I know that students in the chem department have no problems getting into top ten chem grad programs and I doubt physics is any different.</p>
<p>Could you be a bit more specific?</p>
<p>^
Geology is definitely THE strongest science program at Brown. </p>
<p>Brown is indeed fairly strong in environmental science. It should also be noted that Brown offers a marine biology program (formerly aquatic biology) with ties to the excellent Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole (not to be confused with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution).</p>
<p>to all:
thank you all for your posts. i’ve gone through the Brown website again and found some interesting information that you previously mentioned. thank you so much.
modestmelody:
sorry how about,
which department has stroner link with environmental science? if i aim to specialize in environment, which department might suit me the better?</p>
<p>Probably chemistry, as we’re housed in the same building as geology and environmental science and our work, technique wise, is far more similar. I don’t think there are pretty much any formal connections between chemistry or physics and environmental science-- the people using physics and chemistry to do environmental work are pretty much always geologists or in environmental science. The majority of physics in a traditional department, however, is much further removed from environmental science, in my experience. It’s not an “at Brown” thing, it’s an “in general” thing. The physics in environmental science is the domain of geologists. The chemistry is often geochemists as well, but I get that geochemists are thinking about their work more closely to the way a chemist would approach the same problem than with physics.</p>
<p>This is just my personal impression on how the fields divide up. Quantum mechanics, cosmology, high energy particle physics-- not much of that stuff on the level of a concentrator is going to be super applicable to environmental science. However, I can see quite a bit of inorganic chemistry as directly applicable.</p>
<p>Part of this may be my bias toward chemistry since I was a chemist and that’s what I know more about.</p>
<p>I’m asking because I don’t want to confine myself to environmental science since I’m actually not so determined to study environment. I know our discussion has come to a general concept, but I found you of great help so excuse me =)
although environmental science might give me a more comprehensive education in its domain, I would prefer to take more sophisticated courses in chem or physics than just scratch the surface of those related to environment. Is there any other options Brown offers that might help me?
P.S.I’m trying very hard not to ask any stupid question (this is Brown student i’m talking to!!!)…have I so far? but thank you for your willingness to reply and your posts are inspiring.</p>
<p>Brown’s chillaxed. Besides the fact that I’m up at 5 AM worrying about physics that’s not due till the friday (currently am breaking about worrying), you can do what you want. There’s nothing stopping you from taking more “sophisticated” courses (what do you actually mean? If you mean intro physics courses, phys 7’s one of the hardest in the nation. If you mean base chem courses, again, orgo’s even more legit than phys 7. If you mean upper division courses, so long as you take the intro sequences you can take whatever courses you want, even if they’re not strictly in your major). Then again, at most schools even taking environmental science you should have a chance to go farther in chem and/or physics if you really want to.</p>
<p>OK, that ramble may have been a bit off-base. Looking back at the thread, if you came to brown, you’d probably spend your first 2-3 semesters trying out the different sciences (chem/physics/geology). In only one semester here I’ve gone from wanting to do physics to wanting to do computer science to wanting to put off hard-science/math courses till later so I can seek out humanities, cognitive science and CS courses, and maybe get a double-AB, or just do CS while taking fun history/IR/development/africana/etc. classes. If you’re worried you won’t be able to explore the courses you want to, you probably shouldn’t, as most likely you will be able to, especially if the overlap in your interests means you’ll be taking the same intro courses anyways.</p>