<p>1) What building is for First Year Orientation?
–As modestmelody said, the whole campus.</p>
<p>2) Where to park the car? Is the parking lot free?
–On the streets. It’s really not that convenient. There is no parking lot you’ll have access to.</p>
<p>3) Any special orientation for PLME students?
–I think you have a special breakfast one day and maybe one session or whatnot. You have some things special, but it’s not like a whole day’s worth. Just an hour or two here or there.</p>
<p>4) Is this travel plan doable from Logan (arrival time: 7:40am on Friday 09/04/09) to PVD (to get the rental car @ PVD) and plan to stay at hotel near PVD to get the plane home from PVD (early plane at 7:10am on Monday 09/7/09) instead of from Logan</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of pre-orientation… there are several pre-orientation programs like UCCAP and TWTP that are catered toward helping specific groups acclimate to Brown, but none of those are mandatory or necessary if you don’t want to go.</p>
<p>thanks for the quick responce. No, it’s not required, but there is something about pre-orientation…couldn’t tell if it was aimed at international students or what. When asking the school, directly, I got a ‘Stepford’ come back, cagey, as if not wishing to offend anyone. I don’t wish to offend, either. I just want to know if I should show up on the 30th (not really easy to do) or can I come on the 5th? Also, if the latter, should I come the night before, sleep over in a hotel and get a jump on things, or is showing up, say 10 a.m.-ish is more the done thing? Thanks in advance for the intelligence. It’s very much appreciated.</p>
<p>Was this the Excellence at Brown program? Are you international (not guessing from my location)? If you can, please PM me the precise wording from the letter about pre-orientation.</p>
<p>I think I know what’s going on here but I want to be sure first.</p>
<p>Sorry for the multiple questions, but here goes:
Class Size: Do you know if the popularity of Int’l Rel means that class size is driven up beyond what at least USNews pegs as the average across all depts for Brown: 70% of classes under 20 students and 9% over 50; and if so what would you guess those percentages are for IR? (And please note, if you would, if by “class” you are meaning “course” or “class meeting”, such that, in the former case, a course that has 100 enrolled that meets once a week as a lecture and twice as a TA led section of 19 students counts, in your figuring, as one “class” over a 50 or, in the second case, as three classes one of which is over fifty and two of which are under.)
TA’s: According to an op-ed in the Daily Herald a few weeks ago, the writer cited one benefit of laptops replacing blue books in exams would be that the TA’s grading his blue books would no longer have to struggle with his bad hand writing. Do TA’s really grade a lot of the written exams? And what would you guess the average percentage of in-class hours over the four years an undergrad accumulates are taught by professors v. TA’s? (if varies widely by department, how about IR?)
Is the Daily Herald editorial staff all undergrads, or are there a lot of grad students who get those positions?
Thanks so much for anwering these questions. My daughter has sent her deposit into a top liberal arts college, but has also kept her name on the Brown waitlist - and the answers to these questions would be really helpful to her decision of whether to stay on the Brown waitlist.
Thanks!!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Class size varies. It depends on whether or not the class is a capstone, like a very popular requirement / weeder course in the IR program. As you progress to more advanced topics, class size generally gets smaller. </p></li>
<li><p>Both Professors and TA’s grade exams, but generally, brunt work is for TA’s / designated graders. If you’re in a classroom, you’re probably being taught by a professor. It’s very rare for your primary teacher to be a TA. And if it is a TA, she’s most likely a superstar in the department. </p></li>
<li><p>I worked at the BDH, and it’s mostly undergrad run. I don’t know a single graduate student who works at the BDH. The editors are undergraduates. The finance directors are graduates, etc.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>RE: Class size. I’ve found that for classes that are lecture-based, class size doesn’t really matter. I’ve had 20ppl lecture classes and 100ppl lecture classes and I don’t find too much of a difference–other than the fact that the professor will know your name in the former and not in the latter so it’s easier to forge close connections(and find teacher references) in the former. For quality of instruction, though, it matters not. Large lectures occasionally break into smaller sections and occasionally do not. As has been said, the higher you climb in the dept. the smaller the class sizes get. I’ve never taken an IR class, so I can’t say much about that dept.</li>
<li>RE: TA’s. For lab in chemistry grad students led the lab. Uhhh yeah other than that I’ve never been taught by a TA. But there were gobs of lab sections. For a professor to lead that is unwieldy and unnecessary. TA’s mostly just grade, but that varies by course. In some classes, TA’s do all the grading. In others, the TA’s will grade the objective section (multiple choice, fill in the blank) and professors the subjective section(essays). But if you have a problem with something a TA graded you can bring it to the professor and the professor will judge accordingly, though I haven’t really had a problem with TA grading. Total percentage over 4 years? Dunno if you count lab. If you don’t, I’ll have close to 0%(minus guest lecturers when the topic we’ve hit happens to be what the TA is specializing in for their dissertation. But that’s like one class and they usually teach that part better than the professor anyway). </li>
<li>RE: BDH. All undergrads I believe.</li>
<li>RE: Feminists. What are “feminists”? There are too many definitions and connotations of the word feminist that vary by person to person. So I have no idea how to answer your question.
5: RE: Women Studies. Not sure. I’ve never taken a course in that dept…</li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t know much about Urban Studies class sizes, though I know the seminars are small. One of my close friends does Urban Studies, but we don’t discuss class size, and she’s busy with packing/movingout/etc. right now. </p>
<p>TA’s in general here don’t teach outside of a few random classes(some literary arts sections…some lower level math sections…) so it’s a non-issue. </p>
<p>But we were discussing Brown vs. Columbia the other day, because she goes to Brown, and her brother went to Columbia. And one thing to take into consideration is location. Because Columbia is right in the city, the undergrad experience socially doesn’t have as much of the fun in your dorms and on your campus feel. A lot of social interaction goes on in the city in the bars, rather than at on-campus events, and her brother wishes it had been different. He lives in NYC now–and says he gets to appreciate NYC a lot more when he’s not in college, so wishes he hadn’t lived a half-existence in NYC when he was attending Columbia and instead had had the clear divide—a life on campus during undergrad and a life in the city after graduating instead.</p>
<p>The TA positions are a big plus for Brown students. If you are worried about your kid having TA’s in certain departments, know also that your kid may end up having the opportunity to be a TA him/herself. In the CS major, this opportunity has been one of the best things about Brown for our son.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Has there been any bug infestation problems at Brown in the past few years?</p></li>
<li><p>What record stores are in the vicinity? I heard about Newbury in the mall (!!!), but are there any others?</p></li>
</ol>
</p></li>
<li><p>Nowhere I’ve personally been.</p></li>
<li><p>The independent store on Thayer closed, so Newbury is the main one I use now.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
I don’t know how much it is per page but you get $30 on your card for the year. I still have $10 on my card though I do know many people who easily blow through theirs. If you’re just using it to print assignments I doubt you’d run out.</p>
<p>Laundry on campus, IIRC, is $1.25 for the laundry machine and $1.25 for the drier. It’s been two years since I’ve lived on campus though so I could be wrong.</p>
<p>Hi! I know this is totally random but I just have two quick questions for any student that did or currently attends Brown.
I actually attend a university in Chicago and I’m doing a research paper on the pros and cons or gen eds and/or a core curriculum. I know Brown does not have gen eds–do you appreciate the freedom in that? Furthermore, would your experience at Brown lead you to believe gen eds and/or a core curriculum positively or negatively impacts a collegiate education?
If you have time, I would appreciate your response! If not, thank you for your time!
Thanks again!</p>