<p>If a student at Brown is taking 4 or 5 classes per semester, maybe two in his/her major, how exactly does the student choose what to take for the other classes? I understand that freshmen have “advising partners” who suggest what to take, but do they suggest specific courses (if so, which ones?)? The open curriculum idea is tantalizing, but do students truly take ANY courses they want?</p>
<p>As a follow-up question, do med schools/grad schools expect that students, in addition to coursework in their major, take an assortment of courses focusing on the classics and other solid areas? Or will a student be golden just taking whatever classes but getting good grades in them? (Aren’t students just tempted to take all easy classes outside of their major?)</p>
<p>My D is finishing up her first year, so I know a little, but I am sure that others who know more will chime in before the day is up!</p>
<p>You can take any courses you want! That is, providing that they are not filled by the time you register, and providing that you meet any pre-requisites (some upper level classes, for instance). It can be daunting for some folks who are more used to a set curriculum, but for others it is a chance to stretch and explore. Not only can you take any classes that you want, but you can also take them Pass/Fail-- any or all of them. It is not really recommended that you do that, because some majors (science, math, e.g.) may need actual grades for grad school, but Brown does not compute GPA. And, the Open Curriculum and Pass/Fail (actually called S/NC-- Satisfactory/No Credit) does not make for a bunch of slackers. It makes for a bunch of very interesting and interested people. </p>
<p>You do have advisers who are there for you if and when you need them. As for med schools and other graduate programs, I don't know much, but I am sure that if you want to pursue med school, you will do sciences and maths. But you will also do humanities and liberal arts, because you will want to know lots about lots of things! There are many threads on this site about Brown's Open Curriculum. I strongly suggest you read Modestmelody's explanation about the Open Curriculum, the link to which I am posting:</p>
<p>My son is a sophmore and I agree with Franglish completely. You will have an advisor your freshman year assigned to you by an interest you expressed as a possible major. You can change that as you go along. My son thought he might be a sociology major so was assigned a sociology advisor but has changed his major and thus his advisor. He also had 2 mickeljohn (spelling??) advisors who are students. He is now a mickeljohn for freshmen this year. They all meet with you and ask you about your interests etc. I was very impressed that his sociology professor made him think outside the box and suggested courses in topics he would have never thought of taking. They are all there to assure you get a good and well rounded education. The mickeljohns helped with suggestions about teachers, work load etc-they made suggestions that students like to hear-who is good, who is hard, etc
For those students who choose Brown, I think this is an amazing opportunity to stretch your wings-take classes that interest you and in subjects you might want to learn something about. When will you get this opportunity again?? My son has taken a diverse range of courses in his two years there. He only wished he could be there longer so he could take more! It is challenging to be given a book of 1,500 (not sure of exact amount) classes and told to select only 16-20 in four years.
By the way, my son's physician went to Brown and graduated as a classics major. He said he wanted to be a doctor so took all the required med classes he needed for admission to med school but had a passion for classics and took many humanities classes. It didn't prevent him from going to med school at all and he told us it was the best place for him because he could fulfill both desires-medicine and the classics. So it is possible to take whatever you want and still get into a grad program of your desire. By choosing what you want, you want to be in that class, and so the discussions etc are that much more interesting. Hope this helps. I am sure current students can add alot more.</p>
<p>looking back when i was a freshman, i just picked classes that seemed interesting, popular and went from there. after a while, it became obvious what subjects i liked (or conversely which ones i don't want to see ever again): the process of elimination.</p>
<p>maybe i just lucked out by taking math courses early on and realized this is what i want to do, but in general i rarely see people that is completely clueless about what he/she wants to do come junior year. talking with upperclassmen also helps convincing you to do a particular major.</p>
<p>by the way, most people i know that go to top graduate schools are the ones passionate about their concentration. that is, these people were able to demonstrate exceptional interest and aptitude in a particular subject through their course selections. most mathematics seniors i know that are going to top mathematics programs have basically done a good chunk of graduate level math courses here. the same thing also applies to my friends in the CS or Economics. i'm not saying that you would need to take grad level courses in order to get admitted to top grad programs, but i think it helps to prove a point to the admissions officer. </p>
<p>in other words, sure you can take easy courses, but if your destination is graduate school then you'd be at a comparative disadvantage to others who did well in the more challenging/relevant classes.. IMO. the example by AudiB4 is a possible scenario. and i'm not a graduate admissions officer so feel free to disregard this post.</p>
<p>in addition: there are not that many 'easy' classes. probably 8-10 courses tops. you'd have to do work for most of the classes at brown to obtain a satisfactory grade. if you'd have to work in the end, then you might as well do work for a class that interests you.</p>
<p>AudiB4: the correct spelling is Meiklejohn. Plus a random trivia fact: The granddaughter of Alexander Meiklejohn goes to Brown. She's a hardcore math major.</p>