Brown: The Big Picture
The best thing about Brown is that everyone is an individual and individuality is totally okay. I love that I can be interested in Ancient Greek and Biology. Socially everyone is accepted. The group of friends I have met are all distinctly unique people but we all get along really well, and these are people I might not have associated with in high school, but Brown fosters friendships like these. The school itself is just the right size. I meet new people all the time, but it's just small enough that I always see people I know, and I can always find a table of friends to sit with at lunch or dinner (most people don't go to breakfast). Thayer St. is quaint...it's not quite Harvard Square, but it's got most of the essentails and a lot of good, not too expensive places to eat (Brown Dining Services is only so-so). Everyone loves our president Ruth Simmons, in fact, she even has somewhat of a cult following at Brown. They sell t-shirts with her picture on them, and most people have one (myself included). Most importantly, everyone is happy at Brown. I can't stress this enough, I don't know a soul who's unhappy here.
Brown Academic Life
In general the academics at Brown are good. Intro level classes, particularly in the sciences, tend to be big classes, you have to make a real effort to meet the professor, and it's tough and awkward to meet the professor unless you're having trouble in the class. Class participation is common in smaller classes, particularly humanities. In my classics class, for example, my professor knows my name. With the open curriculum, you can take any class you want to, which is really cool, because I've taken a class called Ancient Utopias and Imaginary Places at the same time as I was taking Organic Chemistry. That said, the advising program for freshman stinks. My advisor doesn't seem to have any investment in me, and my micklejohn (student advisor) is nice and insightful but not all that useful.
Brown's Student Body
In general, with Brown Students, anything goes. It doesn't matter what race, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic class, or sexuality you are, everyone gets along. Groups tend to be be a mesh of all different walks of people, which I know doesn't happen at other schools. While many (if not most) Brown students tend to be upper class, there are also a fair amount of middle, or lower middle class students, and everyone seems to mesh without a care. Almost all Brown students are democrats, but there is the occasional republican. Most students tend to learn and take classes becuase they love learning. In general, people don't think or seem to care about how wealthy they'll be one day, but do seem to care about doing what they love.
Brown Student Activities + Social Life
Like most schools there are numerous groups on campus ranging from Brown Democrats to gospel choir. I'm on the Brown Ski team, which tends to be like a group of brothers. We go up in January to a mountain in New Hampshire, and live in a house together and ski every day. In general, friends are easy to come by at Brown. Kids leave their doors open all the time, and friends always just walk in. It sometimes makes doing work difficult, but if I have work I really need to get done, I just go to the library. The dating scene is present, but not over present. Basically, you can theoretically get whatever you want. If you go to parties, the girls there will run the entire spectrum. Most parties are at frats, but Brown frats are not like animal house, and tend to be pretty mundane. Not everyone drinks either. You can go to a party and not drink, or you can go out to dinner, or around Providence on a Saturday and just chill with friends.
Brown Naked Truth
BROWN IS GREAT!!! I'm sooo happy here.
