baadassmonkey

Among Asian parents, there seems to be a bad rumor about Brown. That it's filled with rich, white kids and Asians do not really get along there. My friend's mom also thinks this is true so I told her that it's the same in every other Ivy League school. But she says that it's particularly true for Brown; can anyone comment on this?

IlikeDice

Asians are minorities?

mgcsinc

Your parents' friends are, in a word, crazy.

What they think lacks any basis in fact whatsoever.

Kristina

FWIW, both the Asian Brown students that I know are very happy at the university.

modestmelody

FWIW, there is a tremendous amount of Asian students and Asian student organizations.

dcircle

i'm not sure what the break down is but asians make up an ostensible proportion of the student body. being asian myself, i thought brown was an incredible, diverse, welcoming place.

crzy2rite

1) Asians aren't considered minorities, but are an overrepresented minority

2) I think according to the website, Brown's student body consists of about 14% Asians. That's a decent number!

negru

Plus you get a whole month of asian awarness

rhwsndp

I dont go to Brown, but from what Ive heard, Brown is one of the best Ivies when it comes to diversity

kjcastillo1990

It really is one of the most diverse Ivies, and they do a great deal for cultural awareness, events, etc. Trust me, Brown is not full of white kids. It's very down to earth there.

ClaySoul

There are a ton of asian kids here, and they get along just fine. Your mom is just wrong.

One thing I did notice (at least in my dorm last year) is all the asian kids hung out together. I had one group of friends made up entirely of east asian, middle eastern, and south asian kids, one peurto rican kid, and me (white jewish girl). But that's probably just experiencial and not true everywhere.

baadassmonkey

I guess she's wrong. I'm still not sure whether to put Brown to my 'wishlist'. I get turned off by its library. I know that it's 1) no core curriculum, 2) teeming with creative, open-minded people... can somebody add to this?

ClaySoul

Dude, it took me until the end of my first year to even step FOOT in the sci li. Libraries, while a nice perk, are not something to decide your school by. I personally just study in my room or the studio.

Brown is also full of supportive deans and faculty
Has a tremendous variety of cool classes from which to choose (huge plus)
Has an A/B/C/No Credit grading system focused on learning and not grade-
mongering
is in Providence, which is a fun college town
Has the best women's rugby team in the country
Offers you the ability to create your own classes (GISPs) or major
Is full of very friendly and welcoming people
Has a good social life
Has a good balance between social life and academics
Allows you to "shop" classes for a few weeks before committing to them,
and even then you can drop at any point in the semester
Allows you to take classes pass/fail (S/NC) so physics majors can study
faulkner without worrying about screwing their GPA's...and vice-versa
Has a ton of cool clubs and EC like ballroom dancing, intramural improv,
contra dancing, cricket, FMLA, FemSex and MSex, etc
Has a great Queer Alliance, if that's your thing -- and if it's not, it's a tribute
to the open mindedness of the student body
Has a student body that is brilliant, passionate, interesting, and likes to
learn as much cool stuff as possible.
A very small greek scene
AWESOME co-ed frats for those who don't like the typical Greek scene but
love community and fun
Will soon have a student center, more green space, a new fitness center,
and a creative arts center (see building brown campaign)
Offers summer now semester paid research internships (UTRAs) / has
a lot of undergrad research opportunities
Has some very unique fields like Egyptology and History of Mathematics

I could go on...feel free to pm me if you want more gushiness about why i love brown

baadassmonkey

Wow, it sounds really good. But something not on the list attracts me even more: diversity. That's really important for me because I'm a 'global nomad' who's been around the world a lot so I'd feel really claustrophopbic if my college was concentrated on one race.
I still get confused about Brown's grading system.. if all courses can be taken pass/fail, wouldn't everyone just do that? Or don't because it shows badly on your record?

ClaySoul

SOME people take every course pass / fail, but most don't. And most people take classes in their major for a grade, especially if they are pre med. You can't really have a transcript full of P (S, actually) for grad school. So people take generally 1 or 2 a year s/nc.