<p>I read a lot about the open brown curriculum, but I still can’t imagine how it really works.
What can you choose, how many subjects do you HAVE to take etc.
Could anyone give me more details? (Can’t find that much on the website)</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html</a>
This will have a great explanation.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot, what an awesome post.
Well, that kind of led me to another question.
Let’s say I graduate e.g. with a usual (Sc.B.) in physics.(The Brown Physics Bachelor is considered as a normal Bachelor, right? Although you probably took lots of different other classes?)
How will all the other grades affect my final grade?
Could a bad English grade lower my final Physics Sc.B. grade?</p>
<p>We don’t calculate GPA.</p>
<p>Externally, when people calculate GPA, they may calculate it from the entire course record, but for science in particular, they most often will only look at how you’ve performed in math and science courses.</p>
<p>@modestmelody,
I couldn’t find this on any of the other threads, maybe you can clarify it.
Since there isn’t a calculated GPA, Brown says academic honors are based on the number of As or S with distinctions that you earn. What is an S with distinction, and how difficult/rare are they to earn?</p>
<p>If you take a course pass / fail and the professor thinks you did well you might get an S+ (I think) on your transcript. Idk how commonplace they are.</p>
<p>^^ I believe the distinction or the “+”, is only noted internally, not on your transcript</p>
<p>S* is solely indicated on the internal transcript-- the external transcript does not have any <em>. The Faculty Rules and Regs define S</em> as being “A level work when a student took a course S/NC,” however, in practice, far fewer S* are given than As. They are used, however.</p>
<p>That being said, magna is essentially the top 20% of the class as determined by the number of As or S*s received as a percentage of number of semester at Brown *4. So if a student spend a semester abroad it’s #As/28. If a student takes more than 4 courses a semester, it is indeed like a “bonus” (as in, your score could be over 1). The Registrar’s Office makes a list from top to bottom of students with these “scores” and then creates two groups-- one which includes all of the students with the same score and is slightly below 20%, and one that is slightly above 20%. The number has traditionally almost always been within 1% in either direction and never was greater than 2-3 % in either direction. We do not release number of magna recipients or percentage for each year because there are no guarantees on how this works out from year to year.</p>