The Yearly: Brown student taking questions thread

<p>i have a question! kind of random, kind of general, but i was wondering if class attendance is closely monitored at brown like a part of your grade or otherwise. not that im planning on slacking or anything, but you know, curious :)</p>

<p>Okay....I don't mean this to be rude. But, Dragon, I think you are being a bit unrealistic in your expectations. I'm sure they would do their best to accomodate you if you have a medical condition but, this is college. Organic foie-gras type-fare is not common anywhere. Generally, colleges serve fairly moderately costing food made in bulk. You could eat grains, fruits and veggies I suppose but I mean I'm not sure what your expectations are exactly. Regardless of where you go be it Brown or elsewhere -- they do seem to need some adjustment. Colleges or at least the better ones should try to meet you half-way but, you should be a little out of your comfort zone too.</p>

<p>Also, basing your decision on food is probably a decision you will come to regret. But who am I to stop you. </p>

<p>PS - Employers do come with great regularity. </p>

<p>My Advice: Stop Micromanaging since you don't really have that much control or really don't know what you're getting yourself into at either Brown or Dartmouth and just go with your gut. There's no wrong choice. Just different ones.</p>

<p>That's right Fred. Comparing things that are relatively minor and out of your control is not hte way to go. I don't know how we stack up against Dartmouth for food and such, I don't go there and was never interested in that. There were about a million things more important to me that effecting my decision and though many of these thigns are questions worth asking once you're coming here, etc, they're not essential to decision making.</p>

<p>That being said, Career Fairs are regular, though I'm not doing anyhting remotely preprofessional so I never go-- they're primarily for business and CS, but that's common everywhere.</p>

<p>Think about the big things-- education philosophy, locations, departmental offerings, research, etc, then worry about hte small stuff.</p>

<p>I love Brown, and always have. But I recently read something rather disconcerting in a college book (I <em>believe</em> it was something with a number... 361 best colleges or something? I'll double check). It said that about ~10% of classes or so were taught by TAs! I was under the impression that mostly none were. As a result, Brown only received an academic rating of 85, or around there, while comparable colleges (in my opinion) like Dartmouth and Columbia got scores well into the 90s. Don't get me wrong, numbers are not all that important to me.. but does anyone have an opinion about this? Can vouch for or against? (Or perhaps, had a TA class experience, and can give a little insight?) I would have thought that with undergrad being Brown's main focus, it would have none of that.</p>

<p>On another note, I was wondering about the International Relations program. I know that it's one of Brown's most popular majors, but what internship opportunities would be available to us? And would we stay in Providence or venture into Boston? I mean, I understand it's no NYC (as is the case for Columbia), but how would people compare the two? I live on Long Island, so I figure if I was really desperate for experience in the city, I could get it over the summers (how feasible do you think this would be? i.e. would the career center be able to hook me up?)</p>

<p>Also, how is the English department? During ADOCH, I checked out a couple science things, which were surprisingly good, so I can only imagine that the humanities would be even better. But how would it stack up to, say, Columbia?</p>

<p>Sorry for the obnoxiously wordy questions, but I really need to clarify these things. I know where my gut is telling me I belong, but my Asian parents need to see some hard data.. haha.</p>

<p>Okay...way to blow it out of proportion. I was just wondering.</p>

<p>On classes, I heard that intro classes can get up to 200 people in lecture, but there are seminars with caps at 15? Though those are led by TA's. So following brownbound, is this true?</p>

<p>Re: departmental offerings
How are Brown's Neuroscience, Engineering, Astronomy, Asian Language, and Visual Art programs? Concerning the latter, I know that you can take classes at RISD but how are Brown's actual facilities? Out of all the departments at Brown, which are probably the weakest?</p>

<p>As stated in many thread all over, the only classes actually taught by TAs are some of hte lower level math classes and the literary arts classes. Everything else is taught by professors. Please search my posts, it may have been in this thread or another on the first page where I discussed that mayn times I've chosen the TA over the professor taught section of calc classes because the TA was a better teacher.</p>

<p>Yes, intro classes in certain departments (Economics, Biology, Chemistry) can get to be quite large but those class sizes drop off dramatically as you increase the level.</p>

<p>Seminars are often capped at 18 and there are many of then. Check out <a href="http://mocha.cs.brown.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mocha.cs.brown.edu&lt;/a> for course listings. Most of those classes will have huge caps because they're not capped courses...</p>

<p>I can tell you that Brown started undergraduate neuroscience and that every undergraduate program in the country is modeled after Brown's undergraduate program in neuro. I have no idea what departments are weakest, I consider all of them to be very strong. I don't know of one field where I feel we are weak, though there may be aspects of that field that we're not as strong in versus other areas of that field (due to faculty interests).</p>

<p>Does Brown have a course book that lists all courses, or are the courses only described online?</p>

<p>There is a course book, and there's a long story behind it. It's still easier to use:
<a href="http://mocha.cs.brown.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://mocha.cs.brown.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>but there is a print version that was stopped last year but now is back and almost certainly here to stay.</p>

<p>In terms of academics (I'm considering Econ/Math towards Business) and quality of life (which wasn't so impressive during ADOCH), what makes Brown better than Dartmouth?</p>

<p>We're the top recruiter for Goldman Sachs and the COE concentration is definitely something worth checking out if you're interested in that kind of path. Brown is basically the top entrepreneur school-- many of our undergraduates no matter what htey study here end up in some way running their own business etc.</p>

<p>What do you mean by quality of life? We're the self-reported happiest students in the country? I'm not sure what's a better indicator that we are very happy where we are, enjoying our lives, and ending up where we want to be...</p>

<p>Why do you think Brown students are so reportedly happy?
I personally found the dorms to be average, the food mediocre (especially at the Refractory), and the classes rather impersonal.
But I guess what I'm trying to say is that a lot of people really like Brown for reasons that I do not know of; there's probably something that I'm not entirely understanding that make Brown so wonderful in the students' eyes?</p>

<p>Open curriculum, my classes are always very personal (well, besides the intro chem classes but I made an effort to know my professors and that made it far more personal), the social environment...</p>

<p>What was so impersonal and what did you go check out? Food is mediocre, but so what when everythign else is great? On any given weekend I can do anything from hang out and listen to a jazz combo sipping wine to drinking cheap ****ty beer at a huge frat party, to spending my time at Italian restaurants on Federal Hill, or even going into Boston. The professors by in large want to teach and I've never taken a course that I didn't want to take and learn the information that's being taught (though I have hit a couple of busts... it was my own fault and I still learned and many fo those classes are still very well taught and coordinated). Basically, I don't find food to be so bad that my life quality is affected, and the dorms are also not that bad-- though I am going off-campus next semester, having a guarantee to get a single if you want it as a sophomore is pretty great, especially since I'm living with 12 friends all of us in singles sharing two bathrooms to ourselves...</p>

<p>And of course, the best part is the people. Brown people are amazing.</p>

<p>I thought about making a separate thread for this, but I'm going to ask here first: I know it's still early but, as a frosh, what should we bring (for my dorm room)? I know the usual things like sheets, mattress, lamp, etc. but is there anything in particular that would be useful? I read something about octopus lamps in another thread. I was also told to get a little fridge.</p>

<p>Go under the College Life thread on the home page-on the top is a list of what to bring from A-Z. There are so many things to think about. Bed, Bath and Beyond has a great service where you go into your local store and scan the items and then pick them up when you get to Brown. There is a big mall 5 min from campus with a Bed, Bath and Beyond store. You just give your name and they bring your selected items out on a dolly and even load them in your car. We found this very helpful. A fan is a necessity for the first few weeks, hooks, under bed storage bins, bed lifters. A closet pole helped with additional clothes in the closet-it made another row to hang things. There are so many things and then also, when you get your room assignment, you can coordinate with your roommate so you both dont bring the same items.</p>

<p>1.Health Insurance ID card
2.Dental Floss
3.Guitar
4.Speedo sandals (for shower)
5.Amplifier
6.Cologne
7.Small wall mirror
8.Windex
9.Hand lotion
10.Staple remover
11.Mini Fridge
12.Microwave
13.Gladware disposable containers, table setting (enough for two) and a few small cooking utensils.
14.Music CDs
15.DVD movies
16.Toothbrush
17.Toothbrush holder
18.Tooth paste
19.Zip Lock baggies (various sizes) 
20.Egg crate pad
21.Extra-long mattress pad
22.Computer
23.Laptop
24.Laptop backpack
25.Medicines
26.Desk chair
27.Computer lockdown kit
28.Printer
29.Printer toner (black and color)
30.Towels
31.Over door hook
32.Small Bucket (to carry shower items)
33.Laundry Soap
34.Softener Sheets
35.Laundry Bag
36.Toiletries
37.First aid kit including lots of band-aids, sterile antiseptic, aspirin, and Pepto-Bismol
38.Robe
39.Small Sewing Kit
40.Checkbook/ATM card
41.Wastebasket
42.Pillow
43.Hangers
44.Paper Towels
45.Alarm Clock
46.Fan
47.Cordless telephone for dorm room.
48.Cell phone/base charger
49.Three Prong Adapter
50.Power Strip - Extension cord
51.Cleaning Supplies
52.Air Freshener
53.Can Opener
54.Garbage Bags
55.Long Bed Sheets
56.Stapler
57.Desk Lamp - No Halogen Lamps
58.Notebooks
59.Pencils - Pens - Highlighters
60.Paper Clips
61.Tape and tape dispenser
62.Pencil Sharpener
63.Calculator
64.Hole Punch
65.Book Bag
66.Note Cards
67.Notebook Paper
68.Printer Paper
69.Rubber bands
70.Scissors
71.Post It Notes
72.Report Covers
73.Ruler
74.Band Aids
75.Stomach Medicine
76.Antibiotic Cream
77.Pain Reliever
78.Throat/Cough Lozenges
79.Vitamins
80.Q-tips
81.Cold Medicine
82.Lip Balm
83.Nail Clippers
84.Kleenex
85.Storage Crates
86.Television
87.Stereo
88.Batteries
89.Bulletin Board
90.Winter jacket
91.Sweaters
92.Sweat shirt
93.Pajamas
94.Underwear
95.Socks
96.Pants
97.T-Shirts
98.Boots
99.Sneakers
100.Laundry Supplies
101.Stereo/CD player with headphones
102.Swimsuit
103.Masking tape
104.Hammer
105.Pliers
106.Screwdrivers
107.Umbrella
108.Flashlight
109.Rain gear
110.Athletic wear
111.Sleeping bag
112.Paper clips, pens, pencils
113.Stapler/staples
114.Insect repellent
115.Lint brush
116.Super glue 
117.USB hub
118.USB Flash Drive
119.Blank CDs/Floppy Disks
120.Sharpie pens (CD markers)
121.Mouse
122.BROOM or SMALL VACUUM – You might want to sweep or vacuum the linoleum floor or carpet in your room. Custodial Services cleans and maintains the common areas in the residence halls, but does not enter students' individual rooms to clean.
123.BACK REST – For a variety of reasons, you may find yourself studying on your bed or in other unconventional places; in these cases, a back rest is a handy thing to own. It's also good for parking on the floor and lounging against during late-night music/TV.</p>

<p>That was my list. I'm sure if I look back some things were more important than others, but that gives you and idea.</p>

<p>Id add a Nintendo but that is just my opinion</p>

<p>I stayed up all night to get my Wii the day it came out.</p>

<p>I mean I'm stuck in the eighties so I love the NES, but, Wii certainly is more interactive and advanced.</p>

<p>I play more N64, SNES, and NES games on my Wii than anything else...</p>

<p>Mocha is good, but if I want a course book, is it only available on campus, or do they send in mail over summer? Might be interesting to hear short version of story behind course book.</p>