Summer@Brown

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brown University
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<p>I am considering applying to this summer’s Summer@Brown, I might come with a friend, not sure yet.</p>

<p>Ok, I have a few questions, I just heard about this program, So my research on it wasn’t very thorough, if my questions have already been answered, I would appreciate if you sent me a link. And, yes, I have read the few threads on this topic.</p>

<p>1) Is there a required age to apply ? (I am 14, this summer I’ll be going on my Sophomore year) Is that too early ?</p>

<p>2) Is there a maximum classes you can take ? From past threads, I understood that you could only take one, but again, I was so excited I didn’t pay that much attention to what I was reading (No, I’m not usually like that)</p>

<p>3) Is it too late to apply ? (Considering it might take a few weeks/ months to convince my parents)</p>

<p>4)How expensive is it ? Is there anyway you can get finaid for this kind of program ?</p>

<p>5) IS it worth it ? Well, of course, it is BROWN, but is the experience similar to actuallly being a student enrolled at Brown ?</p>

<p>5)Is it selective ? </p>

<p>6)When I will apply to Brown, is the fact that I did Summer@Brown gonna give me some kind of boost ?</p>

<p>7)How long would you recommend to stay there ?</p>

<p>8) I’m from France, is my less than perfect english going to handicap me ? I can manage a conversation, and overall, I’d say that I’m almost fluent. But I have trouble writing in english.</p>

<p>I plan on doing courses on History, Literature and Political Science. (Probably what I will major in) Should I stick to these, or should I take completely different classes, to explore ? Any recommendations ?</p>

<p>Also, if you don’t mind, I would really appreciate if you shared your experience.</p>

<p>Thank you sooo much. (happy new year !!)</p>

<p>OMG, I am so excited!!</p>

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<p>I don’t know anything about summer@brown, but your written English is better than a lot of native speakers on this website, so I think you’re fine there.</p>

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<p>5) IS it worth it ? Well, of course, it is BROWN, but is the experience similar to actuallly being a student enrolled at Brown ?</p>

<p>No, it is not similar to being a student at Brown.</p>

<p>5)Is it selective ? </p>

<p>No. I think there are some programs that are, but most are not. </p>

<p>6)When I will apply to Brown, is the fact that I did Summer@Brown gonna give me some kind of boost ?</p>

<p>No. Absolutely not.</p>

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<p>Background: I’m a current senior in high school. This past summer I stayed for 7 weeks at Brown and took two undergraduate classes.</p>

<p>1) I believe that as long as you are in high school you are fine for the majority of classes. There are also programs for middle school students and rising seniors/graduated students (7 week courses).</p>

<p>2) You are able to take more than one class, but you have to pay for both and make sure the times work out. I’m fairly certain the courses can be in either different sessions or in the same one.</p>

<p>3) I don’t remember exactly, but I think I applied in February. I met a few people who applied right before the summer term started, but they didn’t receive any scholarship money. You have to apply by a certain date for that.</p>

<p>4) [Dean’s</a> Scholarships | Brown University Office of Continuing Education](<a href=“http://brown.edu/ce/pre-college/scholarships.php]Dean’s”>http://brown.edu/ce/pre-college/scholarships.php)
[2012</a> Pre-College Program Fees | Brown University Office of Continuing Education](<a href=“http://brown.edu/ce/pre-college/fees.php]2012”>Pre-College Program | Brown University)</p>

<p>5) I can’t speak for the majority of the people who attend, because they’re with other high school students. I stayed in a dorm with other 7-week students and attended classes with both them and Brown students. While there is a curfew, you get an idea of the social life of being a Brown student on Thayer Street and around Providence. Since I’m not actually at Brown, I can’t say what it’s like. As for being worth it, I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. I’ve met some people who I truly consider the best friends I’ve ever had. I still talk to a lot of the regularly and say that it’s worth it just for the people you meet.</p>

<p>5) I’ve heard that it’s not too selective. Some of the programs apparently are, but if you get decent grades in school you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>6) People say both ways. On one hand, it just shows that you have money to spend on a summer camp. on the other hand, it shows interest in Brown, which is important in their admissions process. Personally, I took two college courses there (and received an A in each course) plus have a letter of recommendation from one of the professors (who has said, outside of the letter, how my essays were “brilliant”). While I won’t receive my decision from the school until next year, I’d like to say that those factors will help my chance to get in.</p>

<p>7) At your age, I’d say maybe 2 or 3 weeks. You’re two young to take the 7 week courses, so I think that length would give you a good amount of time to experience all that the summer program has to offer. Of course, base it on a course you want to take - I’d say that’s the most important factor (along with what you can afford, because the program is not exactly cheap).</p>

<p>8) The program has a decent amount of foreign students. Not all of them had perfect English, but they managed just fine. Depending on your course, your writing skills could make it difficult, but based on your writing here I think you’ll be fine.</p>

<p>I hope that this is helpful, and let me know if you have any other questions (anyone else can ask them too)!</p>

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<p>@SilentiumCado: Thank you that was really helpful, I hope you’ll get into Brown.</p>

<p>I still have a few questions, though.</p>

<p>1)On the link you provided, it is said that (the) “Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States” Does that mean International students aren’t offered finaid, or is there a different finaid offer for internationals ?</p>

<p>2)I read somewhere that one of your teacher has to do a phone interview with the admissions office, is that true ? If it is, Can they have someone from the french departement do the interview, because my english teacher is the only theacher I have who speaks english, and let’s just say she’s not my biggest fan…</p>

<p>3)How are the room, what should I bring etc. Really anything I should know…?</p>

<p>4) Should I bring a friend, or would you recommend going alone ?</p>

<p>5)Any course you took and really loved ? </p>

<p>6) Do you know where I can some kind of High school courses recap ? I some of the courses in the catalog, they say i should have taken for example biology, how do I know if the biology I do in school is enough to understand the course ?</p>

<p>7)Can I attend courses I didn’t apply to ? For example, I have the afternoon free, and there’s a course on… Philosophy. Can I attend, just this once ?</p>

<p>8)A typical day ?</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

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<p>In response to the question: “will it help you get into Brown”:
In general, no. Just having done the summer program does not necessarily indicate interest in Brown, does not count as “more” than any of the other parts of getting into Brown (grades, class rank, SATs etc etc.) HOWEVER, there is one definite place where I have seen it help, and that is for a student who has all the “right” stuff to get into Brown, but who is still a relative “unknown” for Brown. eg a home-schooler, or as might be true in your case, a student who goes to a school for which Brown has no reference as to the academic rigor etc. (new/small private schools in the US have that problem.) In this case attending a summer academic course at Brown (or other similar school) in the summer before senior or junior year of HS can demonstrate the ability to do in part the type of academic study needed. (and the recommendation from the prof being the biggest part of that). All the better if it is to the same school, but not absolutely necessary. </p>

<p>re bringing a friend:
depends on your interest, maturity, homesick potential, friend who would fit, etc. If you have done a few weeks away and your parents are comfortable with you being away, I would tend to say no. You will be more likely to meet more new friends without the home link, be more likely to actually do some studying?, etc. if you are up to “doing it solo”. But you and your parents would be the best judge of this.</p>

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<p>BrownAlumParent,</p>

<p>Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, you’re comments only refer to the 7 week option, correct? The shorter ones are not courses that are supposed to be college level rigor, correct?</p>

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<p>@Iknowwhocares</p>

<p>For your second set of questions:</p>

<p>1) I honestly have no idea if there is any financial aid for internationals; I don’t see anything else and that is the only money that I know of that Brown will give out for the program. It’s not something I had to consider.</p>

<p>2) While I believe the application process is slightly different for the 7 week program, I only remember having to send in a teacher recommendation form, a high school transcript, and an application (with a fee). I don’t know of a phone interview.</p>

<p>3) The rooms weren’t the greatest, but they weren’t awful. Also, there are different dorms so I can only speak of where I was (Chapin). I know that Brown has a list of recommended items to bring (either on the website now or when you get accepted - or both). You’ll definitely want a fan (which can be rented there) because there’s no air conditioning and it can get pretty hot. Also you need bed sheets, and I’d recommend a pillow, because the ones there aren’t very comfortable. I brought standard toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, etc.), a lot of clothes (because I didn’t want to have to do laundry a lot, but it wasn’t so bad - also a laundry bag is a good idea if you’re there for a while), an alarm clock (I think it’s better than having a phone alarm), and a everything else I thought I’d need to live. If you forget about anything, there’s a CVS on Thayer Street plus the Providence Place Mall which is a short bus ride/walk away, and the Brown Bookstore has a lot of supplies as well.</p>

<p>4) I know some people who had friends from home there (almost all in different programs), and from observing I think it’s best to go alone and get a chance to meet people. You have a lot of time to see your friends at home and not nearly enough to see the friends you’ll make here. If you have a friend take a program too, you may regret spending less time with people you meet at Brown. That’s only my opinion though.</p>

<p>5) The courses I took (7 week undergraduate courses) were Introduction to Neuroscience and Harmonic Convergence. I loved Harmonic Convergence - I’m really into music, and it looked at music across all fields - science, math, history and literature. We read some amazing books and learned a lot that I thought was fascinating. Neuroscience was a lot of work, and not “enjoyable,” so to say, but I think that everything we learned made the course worth taking. </p>

<p>6) [Khan</a> Academy](<a href=“http://www.khanacademy.org/]Khan”>http://www.khanacademy.org/) has good videos for a lot of different subjects I believe. For my neuroscience course, I needed biology and chemistry. I had taken two years of chemistry (1 year AP with a 5 on the test) so I was good on that, but I was worried about only having biology freshman year. I can’t speak for every course, but we went over some basic concepts briefly to refresh everyone. I’d say if you’ve taken a course at some point that’s required, you’ll probably be able to recall the information once going over it.</p>

<p>7) I’m not sure how easy that would be for smaller courses, but I can’t imagine that any teacher would really care enough to kick someone out who wasn’t enrolled. If I were a teacher I’d be honored that someone would take time out of their life to sit in on my course just for the sake of hearing what I have to say. </p>

<p>8) For me it depended on my classes. For the shorter programs the classes are (I think) five days a week at the same time each day. For me, I had class MWF 9-11:40 and M-Thurs. 1-3. I’d usually get up, shower, go to breakfast (if I had time - the main dining hall - the VW - was on the opposite end of the campus from my morning class), and run to class. I’d go to lunch after and then go to my afternoon class. After that, I’d go back to my dorm and either read/study/do homework or hang out with friends there (or sometimes nap). Sometimes we would go to the mall, sometimes we’d play frisbee on one of the greens, other times we’d go out for coffee. There’s really an unlimited amount of things to do. I’d go to dinner either at a dining hall or somewhere around Thayer (Mama Kim’s, Antonio’s, and Cosa Nostra are all really good!). I’d usually do my reading when I got back to the dorm to meet curfew.</p>