Brown University Visit Report by DelendaEst

Visit Activities:

Campus Tour: Yes - The tour guide was really energetic and had a lot of substantial things to say.

Classroom Visit: Yes - AMAZING! I only visited one class (A Latin class) but the professor was hilarious and the students even invited me to translate.

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Campus:

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A bunch of people came up to me and asked if I was pre-frosh and offered to take me around. Some really attractive people around, I must say.

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Teachers opened up once they found out you were visiting. The Admissions staff was pretty friendly.

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Beautiful-The trees and grass and the quintessentially New England architecture.

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The buildings are nice but extremely cold. The dorm bathrooms are weird.

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I didn't have any problems. I can't judge this for sure.

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Very nice.

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Off-Campus:

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Thayer street was great. the RISD kids seem nice. It's a really steep climb up college hill...

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Providence is a beautiful little city, quaint, and full of character. There's a nice mall and a pretty river. Other than that, it's not really your bustling metropolitan area.

Campus Visit Notes for Brown University

Visit Description:

I came from New York for A Day On College Hill (ADOCH) and was dropped off at Kennedy Plaza by the peter pan bus ($50 round trip). I got lost in Providence because the streets aren't in a grid, but got to see the river, which was nice. Eventually, I found my way and climbed up a really steep hill to the van wickle gates (which are gorgeous). I snuck into a tour group and took a tour with a guy who had a cockney accent. I don't remember our itinerary but I remember being struck by how much it looked like that episode of Family Guy when Brian goes back to college. I imagined what it would look like in the fall. What a great image.

After that, i wandered around campus on my own, carrying my big roll-y bag. I was stopped often by students who asked if i was a pre-frosh. They asked if I had any questions and offered to show me around campus. One group of girls took me with them to a truck that sold Chinese food and answered my questions about dorm rooms. After they left, I called my friend who soon met up with me and took me to meet the professor he did research under. She was extremely friendly and spent a good 30 minuets with me talking about Brown from a teacher's standpoint, saying that I would be getting a better undergraduate education there than at Upenn (my other choice). After that, I checked in at the main building and got my ADOCH info and nalgene bottle, and went to drop my stuff off at my host's dorm room. He wasn't there, but the room was unlocked, so I dropped my stuff off and looked around. The dorm was small and very messy, but the lighting was great and the view from the window was fantastic (It was in the keeney quad). I met up with one of my friends from school (another prospective student) and we went to her dorm at perkins, which was really far away and it sucked because she had a lot of stuff.

When we got to Perkins, there were kids running around the hallways playing hide-and-go-seek, which i thought was interesting. It's my favorite game. While my friend and i were walking, we saw a door with our mutual friend's name on it, so we called his name VERY loudly and he came outside extremely confused. He took us to Josiah's, which is an eatery on campus with fantastic onion rings. By that time, it was time for the opening ceremony so we headed off to the main green. We heard a few speeches, and one particularly uplifting and welcoming one from the president, Ruth Simmons. EVERYONE seemed to be in love with her (80% approval rating!) After that, we were ushered into different halls where we heard some pretty amazing musical and dance performances. I was tired by then, so I went back to my dorm, but on the way, heard some more great music near the arches (there was even a pirate a cappella group!). On the way, i was invited to a party near the frat houses, but that strict substance policy thing I had the sign heavily deterred me.

I met up with my two dorm hosts and the other guy they were hosting, and we had a really interesting talk. It was too bad that they were in the middle of studying for finals, because they took off later taking caffeine pills and stacks of books and papers with them. I slept pretty well.

In the morning, I sat in on an Aeneid class. It was amazing! I hoped all classes at Brown were like that. The students were engaging, and the professor was hilarious, and they made me feel very welcome. I left and attended a talk about archaeology at Brown, which was interesting and then to another about physics and constitutional law! A friend I had made during the talk and I went to the music building together, and heard an amazing Mendelssohn concerto being played in the auditorium. We hung around to talk to one of the piano teachers, and spent a good hour there talking about musical life at Brown.

I followed the Brown Band to the athletic centers, where clubs and groups had been arranged in a circle around a huge gym to welcome the kids. I ended up with huge stacks of literary magazines and flyers and a pocket full of candy. The kids were all really enthusiastic. It was also interesting to see that the Brown Republicans and the Brown Pro-life group were conspicuously absent. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I didn't get an impression of great political diversity at Brown...
I got to meet my admissions officer. She knew who I was and remembered my essay which BLEW MY MIND.

Afterwards, I took a trip to Thayer street, which reminded me a lot of St. mark's back in New York, with all the crazy shops and restaurants. The name of the place escapes me, but I had an amazing gyro and fries at this nice place and then went to the bookstore. The prices were pretty high, but it seemed like a very convenient place to go for academic and dorm room needs. I rushed back to listen to a presentation on inequality in America by an economics professor, and stayed in the auditorium for another presentation on neuroscience at Brown, which i hear is really popular. By that time, it was mid-afternoon, and I had to head back. I stopped by this cafe at RISD though. One thing i noticed was that there were vegetarian options everywhere, and signs advertising fair trade coffee.

As I went back to new york, I decided that Brown was going to be the place for me. Go Bears!

Other Comments (Transportation, local attractions, parking, etc.):

No parking at all. If you're coming from NY, there's a great discount from Bonanza (peter pan).