<p>Regarding direct flights from the west coast, I don’t think it’s ever possible to fly nonstop from Northern California to Providence, but several airlines (JetBlue, United, Virgin America) have nonstop flights from San Francisco to Boston, and then it’s easy to take the commuter rail from Boston to Providence.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all this info! Just a question (it was probably answered already so sorry if it was 
). Do freshman go into the lottery for the places to stay or is it totally random and you find out one day? Thanks!</p>
<p>One fills out a form asking for basic information about one’s living habits and then it’s random from there.</p>
<p>
No… and … yes</p>
<p>Are lecture classes often capped? I’m looking at sections of Math 18, and there’s only one that doesn’t conflict with my FYS and another class I want to take, but it says that there are only a few seats left, all of which could fill up very quickly. How does this sort of situation work?</p>
<p>It won’t be a problem.</p>
<p>1) Most people move around a lot of classes during shopping period.
2) Keep showing up, explain your situation, and you’re almost guaranteed to get an override even if it is full.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I actually plan on switching from AT&T to Sprint around the time I move to Providence. </p>
<p>Would you mind defining “much better”. I read earlier in the thread that people had to walk outside of buildings to make/receive calls with Verizon/Sprint? That would be extremely lame. I’ve never had to do this with AT&T while I’ve watched a lot of my friends with T-mobile and Verizon who have had to do this. </p>
<p>I really want to switch to Sprint to get the new phone they have, but if I won’t be able to use the phone, it kind of defeats the purpose.</p>
<p>Can anyone please verify Sprint service in/around the Brown campus, inside buildings and such?</p>
<p>DON’T SWITCH TO SPRINT!!!</p>
<p>I’ve had Sprint for about four years, and it’s just dreadful. Terrible phone service and terrible customer service. Last year my phone (granted, it was about ~3 years old) simply stopped ringing when I received texts, and could no longer vibrate at all. I had had problems with the phone ever since I got it, and every time I went into the Sprint store, they just “updated the software,” which never helped at all. You might have better luck if you get a nice phone from them, but if anything ever goes wrong with it, GOOD LUCK.</p>
<p>I remarkably did get service in my dorm room. I noticed that I had service when I was in the west half of the building, but if I was in east half, no service. I also had no service in just about any building that was even SLIGHTLY below the ground (while friends with other plans did have service in those places).</p>
<p>Another weird thing: I found that in many places on campus, even on high levels of buildings, I was on roaming! I could never figure out why, but this happened many times a day.</p>
<p>Here’s a link to a site that maps locations from which you can fly non-stop to PVD.
[Providence</a>, US Direct Flights to Theodore-Francis Airport (PVD)|FlyHere.com](<a href=“http://www.flyhere.com/Providence-Theodore-Francis-Airport-PVD/]Providence”>http://www.flyhere.com/Providence-Theodore-Francis-Airport-PVD/)</p>
<p>If you must/do fly into Boston you can get to Brown cheaply but it takes time:
1 - Silver Line from BOS to South Station
2- either the Providence regional rail (purple line) or Amtrak to downtown Providence
3- 10 minute cab right to campus.</p>
<p>Heres’ the purple line schedule:
[MBTA</a> > Schedules & Maps > Commuter Rail > Providence/Stoughton Line](<a href=“Schedules & Maps | MBTA”>http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/rail/lines/?route=PROVSTOU)</p>
<p>Regarding Sprint: I agree that customer service is awful. But as far as the service goes, my D said that service is much better now than it was two years ago. She gets reception all over campus, yes sometimes roaming, but she has really no complaints. Maybe it’s your phone, as you say. My D has a rather low key, no bells and whistles phone, just does calls and texts.</p>
<p>I did get a new phone this January which helped somewhat, but there’s still a lot to be desired. The phone also inexplicably sends double or triple texts sometimes, which is annoying.</p>
<p>Can someone attest to how hard the chem placement test is and what the format is? Multiple choice? 35 questions similar to the diagnostic test on the online CHEM 100 course?</p>
<p>I did not take IB or AP Chemistry in high school since my school did not offer it. I took Honors Chemistry, and I barely learned anything. I managed to get a 640 on the chem subject test.</p>
<p>Advice please? Tips on how to prepare?</p>
<p>p.s. Thank you to those who answered the question on cell phones!</p>
<p>I haven’t taken the placement test, but if you got a 640 on the SAT subject test, you’ll be fine in Chem 33.</p>
<p>Brown touts its whole “freedom to choose” thing. What does that mean? For example, you can get away with taking none of a certain course? Does anyone supervise or guide you? Ultimately would Brown be bad for a kid who needs structure?</p>
<p>Brown would be bad for a kid who doesn’t know how to create their own structure.</p>
<p>Yes you can “get away” with taking none of a certain course. But it’s not even about that. It’s about, do you feel that to be a necessary course to further your mission of learning?</p>
<p>Yes there are advisors, Minklejohns I believe.</p>
<p>Meiklejohns, who are peer advisors, in addition to a faculty advisor (your official, primary advisor), in addition to open hours at University Hall with deans, in addition to a huge, informal social network are all there to provide advise.</p>
<p>Freedom to choose, or the Open Curriculum, means the responsibility is on the student to develop a liberal arts curriculum. Read more here:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/385841-brown-curriculum-university-college-explained.html</a></p>
<p>@calistudent</p>
<p>From what I gather, Chem 33 is just review for people who took the AP and did well, so not having the AP course wouldn’t be a problem. Chem 10 is for people who have never taken chemistry before, and your SAT score implies you learned something. If it makes you feel better, do the work for them Chem 10 courses over the summer so you’ll be ready for 33.</p>
<p>@Junie:</p>
<p>During my info session at Brown, an admissions officer called up 3 potential students to demonstrate this point. He said the first student was very much interested in computer science and that she would take nothing other than computer science courses in her time at Brown. He said the second student had no idea what she wanted to do, so she was going to thrash about, taking various courses until she found something she liked. He said the third student came in wanting to go to Med School, but also wanted to enrich herself with courses in history, economics, and poly sci. He then posed the question “Which student is the one Brown was thinking of when they made the Open Curriculum?”</p>
<p>The answer was surprising to many in the room. The answer was “all 3.” The freedom to choose really puts a lot of pressure on the student to decide what she wants out of her time in college. What Brown hopes is that students will be able to see the world from a variety of points of view after graduating. How you do this is up to you. Modestmelody has mentioned several times that most students fulfill what would be considered a “core” by many colleges. Then there are students who will take nothing but math/science/engineering courses. They believe they’re getting the most out of college this way, and that’s their decision. There are others like me whose interests make it impossible to take all the courses I want and still complete a “core.” I won’t be taking a science course. However, the concepts of experimenting and numbers are hardly foreign to me - programming sometimes becomes experimenting, trying to figure out what’s broken using a control and how to fix the problem, while applied math deals with the numerical portion of the sciences. If I had more courses, I’d take physics or chemistry and do wish I could. However, I am confident that I am not losing out entirely by being unable to take those courses. Instead of social sciences, I get to see the world from the standpoint of 4 different cultures through learning languages. I then learn how the languages actually function from a scientific and mathematical standpoint in cognitive science and linguistics. Is this my ideal program? No, I’d much prefer to take courses like economics and chemistry on top of these courses, but I truly believe that upon graduation, I will be able to live up to Brown’s goal.</p>
<p>This is what, in my mind, the freedom to choose is about. There is no “right” solution to a Brown education. It’s about you and your interests, while giving you the opportunity to expand your point of view in whatever way you choose.</p>
<p>FWIW, 98+% of science students at Brown take 2 courses in each of the three areas. Social sciences are also quite high, it’s humanities that are lowest, with only 78% taking two courses we classify as science (which, Uroogla, includes math and CS).</p>
<p>Do you know anything about rock climbing at Brown? Are there any student climbing groups and/or rock climbing gyms nearby? Any info would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I know quite a few people who climb, both during outings and at local gyms. I haven’t done any climbing myself, but there definitely is a community here at Brown and in the area.</p>