Temeraire

1. I have heard from various sources that very popular classes can "fill up" quickly, and sometimes it takes multiple semesters of waiting to get into the class. To what extent is this true? Since I plan to concentrate in neuroscience, and since the introductory neuroscience course at Brown is a perennial favorite, I'm concerned that I might not be able to get into it in my first year. My concerns also extend to any other popular classes.

2. I know that endowment is not a particularly reliable indicator of undergraduate quality, but I also know it's not an issue to ignore. A handful of students I ran into during ADOCH cited "small endowment" as a drawback for Brown, but they didn't elaborate on how the small endowment affects the students. Could anyone enlighten me (be brutally honest, if necessary) on this topic?

More specifically, how does the small budget affect undergraduate research opportunities (especially if I would like to pursue independent research in neuroscience)? How does it affect advising? I was a little alarmed when PLME announced they had to cut back on advising this year (I'm an admitted PLME student). Did cutbacks extend to other areas?

Thanks in advance.

modestmelody

The endowment hardly effects research, not at all really in my experience. PLME has it's own money to give separate funding to undergraduates for research

I've seen very few times where classes were impossible to get into-- it takes a little pushing and shoving on your part and getting up at 8am to register immediately and to do what you can (email and meet with the professor) sometimes, but actually, seminars are far more likely to fill than anything like Intro to Neuro or City Politics which practically takes an unlimited number of students.

I actually think the small endowment is really just something people don't have perspective on-- our endowment is top 25 in the country, it just so happens to be smaller than most Ivies because Brown made the transition from a regional school to national school later than those locations and because Brown doesn't have large professional schools which are huge areas of funding potential. The way it effects the education and academics here is 0. It can effect Financial Aid (we just cannot afford to offer as much as Harvard, for instance). Research money never comes from the endowment-- it comes from grants, so it really has very little effect. There is not a single piece of equipment we need in chemistry that we don't have and the experience I've had with science is if you need it, we have it, will buy it, or will pay to send you where it is.

Kristina

To piggyback on your thread, I also read that Brown offers "fewer course choices" than the other Ivies because its departments are smaller. How true is that? (I'm getting this from the book Choosing the Right College.)

wolfmanjack

I don't know how they compare but according to Mocha (Search results - Mocha)

Brown is offering over 1300 courses next Fall. Is that not enough?

modestmelody

I have no idea if that's true. We do have smaller departments with less professors, but I think that since everyone is teaching undergraduate classes it probably evens out somewhat.

Brown's course catalog is online:
Welcome - Mocha

There are plenty of courses to choose from if you ask me-- too many. It's a common complaint that there are way more things students want to take than they possibly could.

Add the fact that Brown undergrads can register for grad classes without any difficulty and I think we have a pretty large offering.

twothousandeight

"I have heard from various sources that very popular classes can "fill up" quickly, and sometimes it takes multiple semesters of waiting to get into the class. To what extent is this true? Since I plan to concentrate in neuroscience, and since the introductory neuroscience course at Brown is a perennial favorite, I'm concerned that I might not be able to get into it in my first year. My concerns also extend to any other popular classes."


The "popular classes" that tend to fill up quickly are usually seminars (including freshman seminars) or capped classes that are very specific, like VA0100 (which is lottery anyways) or English classes like EL 180, which people have had to try multiple times to attend. I don't know how difficult it is to get into EL classes now that they use Banner (back in the olden times when we had to stand in line to sign up for classes, theater and English classes had to be signed up for IN PERSON ON A SUNDAY)

As for Intro to Neuro, its a lecture class, so everyone and their brother gets in and takes it. I knew plenty of people my freshman class who took that intro class.

dcircle

as for the brown endowment, it is relatively small but brown is also a relatively small place

in terms of endowment per student brown is far ahead of huge schools like columbia, penn, and cornell.

that being said, i am now at harvard which has an ungodly endowment (by which i mean larger than the Vatican endowment). how does this affect undergrad students? not in any meaningful way. occasionally there are silly luxuries at harvard that don't regularly happen at brown (like free cocktail parties)--but it has little effect on quality of education or opportunities. (the one place it makes a real difference is financial aid)

as for your PLME question, PLME advising wasn't cut, it was simply reorganized. they changed the PLME advising system to make it more effective, not because of budget constaints (under the old system, most PLME's never made real use of the advising office).

so to put you at ease, at Brown and as a PLME, you will have great advising and research opportunties in neuroscience