Brown University Top Questions

Describe your favorite campus traditions.

Paige

Everyone who's heard of Brown knows it as the liberal, easygoing Ivy League. People imagine the students as environmentally-conscious, liberal hipsters. They also know that Emma Watson goes here. People know about our open curriculum, where you can design your own education, essentially.

Rebekah

Liberal Open curriculum

Emily

Brown University is best known for excellence in undergraduate education. The professors are truly dedicated to providing knowledge, resources, and valuable experiences to undergraduate students. Brown has a liberal and accepting atmosphere. The academics are also top notch.

King

Naked Donut Runs are always a good stress reliever especially during exams. For those who are unfamiliar with this tradition, it is more or less like what the name indicates: people running/walking naked while serving donuts to students in the library.

Kathryn

PLME (8-year Medical School Program), Biology, Neuroscience, Geology

Joel

Liberal education as manifested by the New Curriculum, where a student can technically graduate by taking all their classes satisfactory/no credit. The freedom of the school's character is embodied not only by this pedagogic design, but also by all the allowances the school affords, from social, political, religious and fashion choices.

April

Brown University is well-known for its liberal curriculum. There are no core requirements, giving every student the freedom to learn what he or she wants. The curriculum is designed to encourage students to discover new interests by taking classes they might not have taken otherwise. Part of this curriculum involves the option of taking any class, and any number of classes, with a pass-fail grade option. This way, students at Brown are more focused on actual learning and less focused on getting straight A's.

K.

My school is best known for being very liberal. Brown has many student groups which stage many protests. The school is also well known for being academically challenging as it is a member of the Ivy League. The open curriculum, which eliminates general education requirements also distinguishes it.

Alyssa

Brown is known mostly for being an Ivy League School. It tends to be viewed as a very liberal school, full of tree-hugging hippies. Many people are under the impression that Brown is not challenging academically because there are no general education requirements, no calculated GPA's, and an S/NC option. While all this is true, I do not think it has a bearing on the academic rigour at Brown. I think it only promotes liberal learning and gives students the oppurtunity to take responsibility for their education, by exploring fields which truly capture their interest.

Matthew

Brown University is best known for it's "Open Curriculum" which essentially eliminates required classes that everyone must take. Brown is also known for it's talented and diverse student body, which in my opinion is the most important thing Brown has to offer a prospective student. Finally, Brown is known as an elite university and member of the prestigious Ivy-League.

Julie

Brown is known for overall excellence in academics with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary or nontraditional fields. Students are self-motivated learners who can benefit from the open curriculum by taking courses that they would otherwise never have the opportunity to pursue. I was an art major, but I also became involved with the Computer Science department because of an inspiring course in Virtual Reality Visualization that I took my sophomore year. That led to a whole new sets of opportunities, including employment as an artist for a videogame about human immunology. Fellowships and opportunities outside of academics abound.

Hazel

International Relations, Computer Science, the PLME program; the ability to do independent concentrations and student-created independent study courses; the mix of academic prestige with a more relaxed environment than most of its peer universities (e.g. Harvard and Yale).

Reuben

Its open curriculum (no distribution requirements)

Sarah

It's liberal culture and strong academic enviornment.

Elizabeth

Our open curriculum and being liberal for an Ivy.

Alison

Open-minded discussion and debate, expanding one's own horizons, having top students who are well-rounded prior to entering college

Tatiana

My school is best known for being very liberal and open to the community. There is a diverse community of people at Brown which I think makes people a lot more open-minded and friendlier.

Anne

liberal, the fashionable Ivy League, crew/rowing (I think), wealthy, smart, 'sex power god'

Dominique

Brown isn't the stereotypical "Ivy League" school. It seems to be more diverse in terms of the socio-economic background of students and it's a tad bit "artsy". People generally love it here. There are always things to do and the academics are great. It's a very open and encouraging environment.

Joe

Being academically liberal - the open curriculum. A liberal student body and undergratuate centered education.

Vincent

The open ciricculum. It's different from all the other Ivys in the sense that the campus mentality is "we're all going somewhere, let's help each other get there." It's a lot more about giving back to the community that we live in, being able to explore what you want to do and not be afraid to do something because of a grade or anything like that. There is no GPA and you can take any course pass/fail. It's much more about learning here and the people are fantastic!

Dana

Being the most liberal, attractive, and fun ivy league school.

Christopher

Liberal and relaxed campus atmosphere. Very democratic and politically active.

Carlos

LIberal atmosphere and activism.

Adrienne

being very diverse , having interesting students

Allison

It is best known for being the most liberal of the ivy league schools. People are smart, and focused on academics while still being involed in many other activities such as sports and volunteering.