Hi I am thinking about doing a summer@brown with a few friends this summer. I was wondering what the homework load is for a psychology class and what it would typically be. Does homework take up most of your free time and how long does homework usually take. Also, during the free time are you allowed to go of campus freely or is it just on weekends? Thanks!
I attended summer@brown last year, and while I took a three week neuroscience course instead of one in psychology, I’d imagine the workload would be fairly similar. Different teachers assigned varying amounts of homework depending upon the subject matter they were teaching. Most of my friends who were taking classes in the humanities had anywhere from 30-60 pages of reading that they would discuss the following day in class. They would be graded solely on their in-class discussions and did not take any tests or quizzes. In the sciences, however, teachers regularly assigned tests. Personally, I had one test a week and a final project due on the last day of class. We were assigned approximately 50 pages to read from a college level textbook and managed to complete the textbook over the three weeks. Homework took about 2-3 hours at the most.
There are absolutely no restraints on what you do during your free time. As long as you are back in your dorm room by 11pm to check in with your RA, you are permitted to go anywhere, including out of state. For example, I had several friends who took a bus to Boston for the day. The RAs are a great resource for figuring out how to spend your spare time - our RA actually wrote out all of the busing information for anyone who wanted to go to Boston. There are always activities going on in Providence, and I would definitely recommend WaterFire if you get the chance! There is also an app that Brown will have you download at orientation which presents all of the Brown sponsored activities that they will be holding both on and off campus. They range from educational workshops (writing, how to write a college essay, how to improve SAT scores, etc.) to sports, arts & crafts, walking tours, and weekend trips. The weekend trips are generally to surrounding cities such as Boston or to the beach.
Actually, I took the Psychology course! I’m not sure if you’ll have the same professor, but our courseload was minimal – only 1.5 hours a day, if that. Most of it was reading and reflection to prepare for in class discussion. The rest is covered pretty clearly by the last reply!
Which psych class? I’m taking Abnormal Psych 2nd session! Super excited!!!