<p>I really don’t want to offend anybody, but here it goes: I visited Brown yesterday and loved the school. The thing that may be a non-starter, however, is the student body. I assumed I would see a number of those rebellious ultra-liberal types, but I would literally have been able to count on one hand the number of “normal” people I saw during my entire tour. Are there a lot of “normal” people at Brown or are they all so artsy and different?</p>
<p>okay, remember that Brown is on college hill. One of those colleges are RISD students, one of the most prestigious art schools in the nation. There are a lot of artsy people in the Providence area. I’ve come to realize that the “weird extremity” are generally held by non-Brown students.</p>
<p>If you were there yesterday, a ton of people would have already left for Spring Break. (Most people I know left Wednesday or Thursday.) So keep in mind you were seeing a really skewed version of the student population. And as swim2daend said, it’s very possible you were seeing a bunch of RISD students (they’re not on Spring Break right now).</p>
<p>I’ve been at Brown for a few years now, and I can tell you that the majority of Brown students would likely fall under your category of “normal”-looking. I’m very surprised it wasn’t the case when you visited. But also what’s great about Brown is that you do get to meet a lot of great people from different backgrounds, and many of those seemingly artsy and “rebellious ultra-liberal types” turn out to be really cool people.</p>
<h1>1 RISD is on spring break right now, actually.</h1>
<h1>2 Normal is subjective.</h1>
<p>This is odd, because when I visited, I didn’t see anyone that you (based on what you just posted), would call “not normal”, if that made any sense.</p>
<p>When I went, everyone I met was rather dry, and unexciting to be honest. My tour guide seemed to be trying to get us to NOT apply to Brown, and the students I met at the check-in desk were a bit snobby.</p>
<p>For the record, I consider THAT to be unusual.</p>
<p>I still applied because I have a friend who goes there who told me that most people are very cool. I was just a little shocked.</p>
<p>This is kind of bothering me. People are people. Thousands (5?) of students attend Brown. Among those are as many different types as there are in any community. Sure, these students are among the brightest and best, but that still results in a very diverse community. There will be nice, nasty, artsy, athletic, geeky, self-involved, selfless, international, suburban, urban, varied ethnic groups, writers, scientists, actors, etc. etc. etc. What are you expecting?</p>
<p>My experience in visiting was very similar to seebo123’s. Very “normal.”</p>
<p>My experience was the same as seebo’s. My tour guide literally pointed out every building he hated & why certain things suck. It was horrible but still made me switch from ED to RD.</p>
<p>If you have an experience like that you should contact admissions and express your disappointment. There are 60 tour guides (give or take a few) and many more on the waitlist and they are all volunteer. If people are unable to be polite and helpful, honest but not overly negative or even apathetic, they should not be guides. Our job is not to lie to you, but it is to help you understand why we love Brown as a whole package. </p>
<p>I’m really disappointed to hear this about tours. We have had a history of excellent coordinators, and as a result, excellent guides. This year I have heard several complaints. I’m going to contact the Bruin club.</p>
<p>Yes my mom contacted Brown! She is an alum & was very upset with it. Please continue to contact the Bruin club, they should know about the CC posts on their tours.</p>
<p>That’s really disappointing to hear about the tours. My friends used to give tours when I was at Brown and they were great, too bad they all graduated! I have a few responses to this post. Brown is often considered the maverick Ivy and in my time there I have come to conclude that it is for two main reasons: the Open Curriculum and proximity to RISD. Many Brown students dont see the connection to RISD, but having taken two RISD classes (glassblowing and oil painting, I majored in Econ) the spillover between the two happens all the time. While you may not have seen many “normal” kids, the attributes that RISD brings to the table (and has brought for many years) make Brown the great place it is with the Happiest Students in the Nation 2 years running (was that US News? Cant remember). Every school has people you wish were not there, but my favorite aspect of Brown was its people. I was not alone. The five guys I met freshman year and lived with for four years all said the same thing. In fact, when I did ADOCH back in 2005, it was the great people that struck me and made Brown click. They are some of the smartest and humbling yet simultaneously laid back and fun loving group I’ve come across. Much more “normal,” in a sense, than the inflated egos you see so often at other schools of similar calliber.</p>