<p>For 1 week.</p>
<li><p>Is it worth it?</p></li>
<li><p>Anyone have any experience with it? (which classes did you take?)</p></li>
<li><p>What do you do on your free time?</p></li>
<li><p>Are they very strict?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it hard to get into?</p></li>
<li><p>What does the average day consist of?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks a lot!!!</p>
<p>also, what is the housing like? Are the dorms nice? What would you bring?</p>
<p>just wondering, thanks</p>
<ol>
<li><p>it rules, but I'm not sure if 1 week would be worth it. </p></li>
<li><p>I took understanding the 60's: sex drugs and rock n roll (a two-week history course). both the course and the experience were pretty awesome but I wish i could've stayed longer.</p></li>
<li><p>you only have two things you're required to do: go to class, and check in at curfew, 11:30 on weekdays (kind of annoying, but if you make friends with the people on your floor you hang out with them and stay up as long as you want). so most of your time is free.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>there's loads to do. they do put on some formal/structured events, but they're all voluntary and so most of your time isn't spend on them. the RAs put on parties and interesting events and stuff, which are usually pretty good, and there are also a lot of forums/workshop event about college life, etc. </p>
<p>but other then that most of what you do is up to you. there's a lot of frisbee and capture the flag. just hanging out with your friends (from class or from your dorm) on the greens, in the dorms or on thayer st. we went to movies, the mall, concerts in the city. providence is a pretty small city but if you do need to get some where kind of far away you can use the bus, it's free for students. there were a few parties at night, especially on weekends but they're kind of lame. on the weekends there are often trips to other colleges, boston, or newport. some people also took buses on their own to go the beach. etc.</p>
<ol>
<li>they claim to be really strict about drugs and alcohol: if they catch you, you get kicked out. but I'm not sure if it was just talk that they have to say or if it actually is as serious as they say. I heard about stuff going on but never saw it, and I also heard about other people getting kicked out but it was no one I'd met. the RAs aren't out to get you, but if they do find out about something, obviously they do have to act on it.</li>
</ol>
<p>other than that it's really, really lax.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>not all. well, some courses fill up fairly quickly and some get canceled. but being admitted is not selective at all. I'm not sure if the 7 week credit courses have more requirements, but for the minicourses it's just a teacher recommendation and I don't think it's really important. I don't really think there are people that don't get in.</p></li>
<li><p>see #4. for me a typically day went like: wake up around 10, finish the reading for my class if I hadn't already, go pick up something to eat with a friend at vdub, get coffee, go to class, do some reading on the green, shmooze, find people to get dinner with, hang out in the lounge, go hang out on thayer until curfew, chill in someone's room until I want to go to sleep. I did a lot more than that, but it changed every day.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>the dorms vary; they're not the ritz carlton but you'll survive. I was in a sorority house I think and it wasn't as nice as some of the others. the floors are all the same gender but there are people of the opposite gender on other floors. the lounges are cool though. you should no that there's no a/c in the rooms which means that you should bring fans. yes, multiple. </p>
<p>if you're extremely introverted and don't make any effort to make friends with other people though, you'll probably just be stuck in your room doing nothing, and then it's not worth the money. but this is not the case for the vast majority of people there, people of all sorts find other people to connect to. just go up and introduce yourself. I mostly hung out with the people in my dorm just because it's the most convenient.</p>
<p>most important things: bed stuff (they don't have sheets or pillow), shower stuff including towels, rain gear, laptop (you can live without one but if you have one you should bring it), FANS, possibly food like cereal/energy bars that you could eat for breakfast (the ratty closes pretty early). DVDs and maybe board games would be good too.</p>
<p>say your going with a friend, can you choose to room with that person??</p>
<ol>
<li><p>As a CCer who went there this year, I'm not just recommending you to go there... I WANT you to go there. But for the price, if you can go there a week, you might as go for 3 weeks. More time = more experience. Plus, S@B has great weekend activities. Some weeks they take you to the campuses of other schools. I got the chance to tour Yale. </p></li>
<li><p>I took International Financial markets and Investments, 3 weeks. Instructor was totally awesome. Always made cool jokes. Plus, I learned a ton, but the final exam was very challenging. There was also alot of work.</p></li>
<li><p>This is probably the best part of <a href="mailto:S@B">S@B</a>. They offer some social stuff (like there was this sort of dance where they had a live DJ, movies night, and minor sport events - like flag football and soccer -- I'm not terribly athletic so I didn't do that). My RA sucked because he never held many events (we usually shared with another RA on our floor), and on a few days he stumbled in late high or wasn't even there. Good news is that I heard that they were firing him... </p></li>
</ol>
<p>They also offer some really useful workshops on college admissions, and college life (how to balance workload, survive). You also had the opportunity to meet with Brown profs and talk with them. I met with a few, including a Medical School and a history prof. I even got to talk to a Brown admissions officer. She scared me at first because I thought that she would bite me (because admission officers at these schools tend to be a little scary)... but she turned out to be a really sweet person. Oh yea, if you go 3A (first 3-week course), they also host a College Fair where 100+ colleges come to persuade you to come. Stanford gave me a bad impression here tho because when I tried to talk to the admissions person, she kept looking the other way. I don't want to know how she's gonna handle my app. LOL. </p>
<ol>
<li>NO WAY. You can pretty much do anything there. I don't think they even took attendance in class -- but since you're there -- GO TO CLASS. Beyond that, they only have a curfew: I think it was 11:30 PM on weekdays and 12:30 AM weekends. But the curfew ends at 5 or 6 ... something like that on weekdays.</li>
</ol>
<p>Yea I also heard that they kick you out if you do drugs or drink. But I don't think they work that hard to maintain the rule because they never do random searches of your room. In fact, there was this guy who always smoked OUTSIDE my dorm. It was kinda funny because he was a part of my class and never came to class. He came from Turkey (yes they have people all over the world) and when he was in class (like 3 times) he criticized Americans for being lazy. Totally ironic.</p>
<p>My RA was virtually never there except for curfew, so we had free reign. But I know that some RAs can be anal because they don't want to lose their jobs.</p>
<ol>
<li>If you don't have a C, you're pretty much in. Even if you apply in May. You just need to make sure that your class choice doesn't fill up. Some of the popular ones do fill up quickly ... usually they're bio or economics related, because that's what Brown is more known for. I knew someone in engineering, and they had only like 6 or 7 people in the class. My class (Int'l Financial) had 40 people in it. It was pretty packed. </li>
</ol>
<p>I kno that the leadership ones require an essay. I BSed mine, and I still got in, but I decided to go and take Economics b/c I'm alot more interested in that class and being on the Brown campus.</p>
<ol>
<li>Do what you feel like! The academic freedom Brown offers in undergrad applies here to. But I recommend you to take advantage of all that they offer, because they offer a ton at no extra charge. (Unlike ahem Harvard) Plus, if you work hard in class, you can leave with a really good rec from a Brown prof. Now wouldn't that sound nice when you apply to college? (Ok really it won't count that much because I got DEFERRED from Chicago ... grrrrr)</li>
</ol>
<p>Really your day depends on when your class is. My class was 8:30 to 11:30, so I usually woke up at 6 and took a morning jog, showered and ate breakfast at 8 then headed to class. The rest of my day was free but I always showed up at the college seminars/admissions workshop, and I was always there to hear lecturers speak.
I wanted to make use of every hour that I spent there. I know ALOT people blew off their time there... but that's totally not wise. Of course, at the seminars there were usually 30 or so people there even though there was like ~2000 people (I'm exaggerating) at the program. </p>
<p>They don't take attendance at the cafeteria, so you can eat whenever you want to. The food is so-so, which is why some people bring extra spending money to eat out on weekends. The dorms aren't air conditioned, so when there weren't any activities (this doesn't happen often) I usually spent my time at the library because it was air conditioned.</p>
<p>Last: DO NOT GO WITH A FRIEND. GO AND MEET NEW PEOPLE. THERE'S A TON OF INTERESTING PEOPLE TO MEET. THAT'S WHY YOU GO TO SOMEWHERE NEW. In fact, I think they have people from all the states and 35 different countries.</p>
<p>Ditto jarsilver. I was stupid so I didn't bring anything except for my usual vacation stuff. Totally wrong. You need to bring bed sheets and whatever. Make your room feel as like home as possible. You won't be seeing home for a few weeks, so you should make yourself as comfortable as possible. The dorm will be your home.</p>
<p>Oh yea ... (I ran out of time so I'm making a new post ... I can spend days talking about my time at Brown) </p>
<p>The dorms aren't very good. They're pretty big, but they're not very good in quality. I had a double (and my room mate sucked)... The bathrooms are unisex (surprise!) and the floors aren't coed. The good news is that you could go to a different floor to talk to someone with a different sex on the condition that you leave the door open. </p>
<p>The bed was not comfortable. I came back home and collapsed on my bed and slept for 13 hours the first night I was back (yea it was that bad, because I had trouble sleeping at Brown). Also, you won't survive without a fan. In fact, you won't survive with one fan. You need MULTIPLE fans. It's really humid and oppressive in Providence, so bring one otherwise you'll find yourself renting one from them (like I did). Good news is that when you come back home, you'll save your parents some money b/c you won't need the AC as much. (haha my parents thought they had picked up the wrong person from the airport)</p>
<p>AND AGAIN GO OUT AND MEET NEW PEOPLE. There's tons of opportunity for this. Usually the people you know best are the people from your class and from your dorm. For me, that was easily 45 people there. I also met Brown people on trips. If you don't, you might as well not go there because you'll be miserable. My roommate spent all day out side of class in his room playing video games ... Warcraft with people on-line he didn't know just like at home. Had he not played all night and kept me awake, I would have felt sorry for him. I, on the other hand, was only in my room to try to sleep. That's was it.</p>
<p>Oh yea one last thing (if i'm ever going to leave this thread) ... keep track of all things at all times. I lost my wallet there ... so I lost my credit card and $50 in cash. (Good news was that I had $50 in reserve) They suck at Lost and Found, so if you lose something, don't expect to get it back. I also dropped a cell phone while crossing the street so a car ran over it but that was my fault because I'm a total klutz.</p>
<p>Oh yea: You also get free access to Brown's gyms (the ones that are open). That was nice and convenient for people. But if you wanted a treadmill you had to go to grad center. I'm more outdoor-ish so I ran outside. On Brown's campus, you can easily make a 2 mile route around the main campus perimeter. I ran it twice to make it a 4 mile run.</p>
<p>More info on trips (this is never gonna end): They offer trips to like Newport, Boston, the beach. I also met new people on trips. You can also make trips of your own because you have free access to the buses and such.</p>
<p>Go there and make the most out of your time there. Grab life by the horns. I did. I think I only spent one hour during the entire time watching Fox episodes on-line (House!) ... I had to come back home to catch up on TV with TiVo (the greatest thing ever invented) because there's so much to do there.</p>
<p>Also one last thing: I liked the ice cream machine and desserts at the V-Dub. But after a while you get sick of soft-serve ice cream b/c you'll have too much of it.</p>
<p>I loved my life there so much ... it was the best 3 weeks of my life. It went by sooo quickly that I want to go back. That's why I'm applying to Brown because I want to spend 4 years there.</p>
<p>Since you've already got a ton of great info, ill make mine short and sweet. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it worth it? HELL YES! BEST TWO WEEKS OF MY LIFE. I'd recommend it to anyone and everyone :) </p></li>
<li><p>Anyone have any experience with it? (which classes did you take?) This past summer I took at two week course on Leadership and The Civil Rights Movement. I learned sooo much about it, had AMAZING lectures and hands on learning and make tons of friends that live across the country and I still talk to them weekly! </p></li>
<li><p>What do you do on your free time? Hardest question ever, we did so much. Shopped around Providence, movies, Yoga on campus, hang out dorm sessions, forth of july cheese cake factory run, water fire. There is so much to do, you'll never be bored. </p></li>
<li><p>Are they very strict? No, in the sense that outside of attending class, you can do whatever you want. Your free to roam around the city just a long as you're back by the alloted time (11 I believe it was).
However, my RA was VERY strict about no drinking and smoking with is totally understandable! </p></li>
<li><p>Is it hard to get into? Not at all. I mean, I do fairly decent in high school but from what i've heard pretty much everyone can get in. </p></li>
<li><p>What does the average day consist of? Breakfast, going to class, lunch, bubble tea stop, chill in the dorm for a bit, go to the lounge, go out to a movie then dinner then chilling with boys and girls in someone's dorm.
But thats just my day, you can do whatever you like practically. The city of Providence and Brown itself is full of fun things to do!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I'd recommend going, you'll love it. I've never met anyone who hasn't!!!</p>
<p>oh yeah I forgot about waterfire! it's sweet.</p>
<p>re: the uncomfortable beds, I brought a plush mattress covering to make it more comfortable. if you have one, I'd recommend bringing it. I agree with ab2013 about meeting new people.</p>
<p>also, BRING YOUR KEY EVERYWHERE. I attached it to my belt loop and then put it in my pocket so I always knew where it was and wouldn't lose it. all you have to do to get locked out of your room is groggily go to the bathroom after your roommate has left and then you're left in the hallway in your pajamas with no cell phone, looking like an idiot. yeah, this happened to me. you can keep the doors unlocked, but normally they lock automatically. if you get locked out of your room, you either have to wait for your roommate comes back or call someone to let you in, and they charge you $25. and losing your key costs like $75.</p>
<p>I didn't go to waterfire ... it's around July 4th from what I remember and though it was schweet they said it only lasted 5-10 mins despite a long wait. </p>
<p>Also, for some dorm bathrooms (I know that was the case in mine) ... I learned that some guys at S@B don't have very high hygiene standards ... I thought I was a sloppy guy (my Mom constantly bugged me about it) ... boy I was wrong. Some people actually can't remember to flush the toilets and leave USED toilet paper on the floor. If you can't stand that kind of stuff, bring along some ANTIBACTERIAL air freshener. I bought mine at CVS. Good thing they had it on sale - 50% off. You share bathrooms with your unit (usually a group of 8-12 people). If you feel uncomfortable being the bathroom with other people at the same time and you want more privacy (say taking a shower), go early (6 am-ish) or right after dinner.</p>
<p>And I'll reemphasize again: GO MEET NEW PEOPLE. Don't bring along a friend. It'll ruin your Brown experience, because you'll be spending more time with your friend than meeting with new people. Sure, keep in touch w/ e-mail, but save spending time with your friend until after you get back home, because you'll have tons of time to catch up with your friend once you're home.</p>
<p>Key: Ya about that ... they're lax about it on your first day ... cuz I lost my key the first day before they told us that policy so I had it replaced free of charge. (Yea I'm that much of a klutz). But I guess I should have lost the keys instead of my wallet because the keys cost a lot less. Grrrr .... that's my advice: Yes, have TONS of fun there, learn A LOT, but make sure you pay attention to your belongings and your surroundings, 'cuz if you don't you'll feel very sorry and you'll end up like ab2013. Yup. </p>
<p>(Brown still has yet to find my beloved wallet...)</p>
<p>just remembered from reading jarsilver's post- I have a really "funny" story about losing a key. I am one of those people who misplaces everything! So, I was coming back from the shower around 12 am and I get to my locked door only to find my key isn't in my bag! I knock on my door but of course my roommate was dead asleep. I was locked out, WEARING ONLY A BATHROBE. Long story short, I had in fact truly lost the key, paid 75 bucks on the last day :/, and had to sleep in my friends dorm, having to borrow her sleep wear. Funny story, not a fun experience :P. </p>
<p>And like others have said before me, bringing a friend ruins the point! You want to meet amazing new people! And you will!</p>
<p>Yea! You'll meet people like us. I think we're pretty decent people. We try not to bite. </p>
<p>Seriously, if S@B didn't cost that much, I would consider enrolling again even if I get rejected by Brown (99.99% probability of happening, 0.01% if the admission officer is drunk reading my app or if a miracle happens). </p>
<p>Another story: I remember this guy in my unit who always tried to recite Romeo & Juliet. Loved spending time with him. We even sat down and dissected the lyrics to a few Coldplay songs. I love Coldplay (and Brown!).</p>
<p>anybody know of any good 2 week programs?</p>
<p>At Brown, you can't go wrong with english/math/social science (econ/history)/or premed/bio. Just go with what you're interested in studying. Remember you're going to S@B to learn and experience. S@B isn't really that prestigious to actually serve as a huge factor in college admissions, unlike MIT's RSI program, but that's seriously REALLY hard to get into. </p>
<p>Actually, taking the initiative to learn over the summer is already a very good thing.</p>
<p>the 2 week leadership courses are amazing; I took the one on civil rights.</p>
<p>One thing; the one week course is not worth it. You get no evaluation and if you go there for only one week, you will not get a feel of what S@B is. Go there for three weeks, and then do a one week or two or three. Make sure you GO OUT AND MEET PEOPLE!
What is key is that your RA's and those who oversee the RA's (CR's or something) they are good people. The one weekers stay in the Grad Center, and building that is cool but I wish I was an undergrad there. The rooms are singles and you have SOO MUCH privacy!</p>
<p>The people are nice, but my RA group was NICER! WOOOOWHHHHOOOOW!!! We had the best time of our lives. Waterfire is lovely; the college essay and application sessions made me soo SOOOOO confident. If I were to go on TV and advertise Summer @ Brown, I will do it for free!!</p>
<p>It made me the person I am now, brought out the HUMOR in me, and told me that there are a lot of people out there who are the most open minded blokes and sheilas! Love my flooor! Love my class! </p>
<p>OH! ONE ONE ONNNNNNE MORE
I met this girl there and I had a crush on her. I wanted to hook up with her but I have never kissed a chic before. Sad, nothing happened. I regret it.</p>
<p>haha, thats funny. but it sucks that u never hooked up w/ her. im going to summer@brown this summer for their SPARK program (7th/8th grade [ya, im that young])</p>
<p>do people hook up often?</p>
<p>@Coca yes! Although it is officially prohibited, the unofficial rule is close your door and have fun!</p>
<p>Wait, when you mean hook up…do you mean making out or like actual sex? hahah</p>
<p>There would be a need for drugs/alcohol and a very slutty girl to have sex within a 1-3 week time span</p>