<p>Given all the academic freedom Brown leaves undergraduates with, it’s perfectly conceivable that one can complete a major’s requirements within 3 academic years, or 90 semester-hours, for certain majors. Perhaps there are people who would be more likely to attend Brown if they can graduate early from it…</p>
<p>Do you think a 3-year BA/BS is a viable plan if it isn’t already implemented?</p>
<p>Students at Brown can graduate in 3.5 years with a degree, but students doing that lose the whole point of the Brown curriculum - taking a liberal, self-directed set of classes. A student trying to graduate in 3 years would spend the majority of his/her time taking classes for a concentration, and not be able to branch out.</p>
<p>also you would have to take 5 classes each semester since you need 30 credits to graduate</p>
<p>I mean, Brown leaves undergrads with near-complete academic freedom…</p>
<p>There are students for whom the costs of a fourth year at Brown would simply be unbearable to their families (for some of them, saving one year of room and board can be significant). Those unlucky students would benefit from a 3-year BA/BS.</p>
<p>I think a 3-year BA would undermine the point of a Brown education, which is to have the freedom to explore subjects that interest you, not to be forced to spend all your time completing requirements in order to get a degree as quickly and cheaply as possible and miss out on learning opportunities along the way.</p>
<p>I thought… a properly marketed Brown degree opened lucrative doors (or otherwise worth the difference between a Brown degree and a non-elite degree) in some fields and, for the people in those fields, the lucrative doors Brown open for its graduates would be enough of an incentive to attend Brown in the first place, let alone finishing a Brown degree as quickly and cheaply as possible!</p>
<p>But, if Brown started offering a 3-year BA/BS, that move would likely get more schools to do so than if, say, Purdue made that move. (I mention Purdue because Purdue’s current president looks like he wants Purdue to offer one such degree) However, not all majors can be completed in a 3-year timeframe.</p>
<p>you’re missing the point. Brown’s unique curriculum trickles down into everything and generally creates an ethos that is unique among other schools. The 3 year degree would be anathema to the whole mission of the university and the experience of being a student there.</p>
<p>catria: it’s the same ethos why, when you sit down to the expensive dinner at the 5 star restaurant to celebrate your 10th anniversary w/your spouse – that you aren’t snarfing down the food and chugging down the water and wine in order to get up and leave in 30 minutes like you might do at Waffle House.</p>
<p>If a 3 year compressed experience that gives you a diploma at the end is your sole goal, Brown (and many other schools) would say they aren’t the place for you. </p>
<p>Correspondingly, Brown and other schools have pretty generous Fin Aid as well.</p>
<p>Does Brown meet full need?</p>
<p>^Have you thought of looking on the B website for the answer to your question?</p>
<p>Brown meets full need for non-international students.</p>
<p>I don’t wish to attend Brown as an undergrad myself but maybe at the PhD level…</p>
<p>A university is not a gumball machine into which you place a requisite amount of cash and out pops a diploma in XYZ. It’s an educational institution with a strongly-held philosophy of liberal education. That goal would not be served by allowing students to take 14 courses in their field of choice and then leave.</p>
<p>Your proposal misses the entire goal of the gen ed / concentration system that underpins most American undergraduate colleges.</p>
<p>Do all majors require 14 courses? Or are there majors that require more?</p>
<p>If you ask if Brown meets full need, you don’t know Brown. Why do you ask these questions when you really don’t know much about the range of US colleges you seem to think you do? What’s up with these posts? Aren’t you in college and waiting for grad school responses?</p>
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<p>Ever heard of the University of Phoenix?</p>
<p>Devry University anyone?</p>
<p>Go to community college for 2 years and save a ton of money.</p>
<p>I don’t think kids go to Brown with the thought of saving money. Kids can go to state schools for that.</p>
<p>But Brown is all needs met for all admitted students…
It actually might be cheaper for middle-class families.</p>
<p>Even an “all-needs-met” school, like Brown, can still amount to a good chunk of money for some…</p>
<p>Anyhow, since the academic freedom given at Brown is in place to get a liberal arts education, how effective has academic freedom been at delivering a liberal arts education? Or Columbia/U Chicago’s method is more effective to that end?</p>