We asked Gregory...
What are the academics like at your school?
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.