<p>Knownasnoni: Yes, there are taxis in Providence. They are hit and miss (one time I had a kind of a creepy driver, something wasn’t right with that man…). Also do not get msft works. Get Microsoft Office, which costs around $100.00. The closest gym to Perkins will probably be in the Graduate Center dorm. Walk a little further there is a gym in Keeney which is usually not too crowded.</p>
<p>Buy Office from the Brown bookstore. It has an awesome price for Brown students (like, $80). You can order it now, and pick it up when you get to campus.</p>
<p>Hmmm, I think I’ll skip the taxis lol.
So while reading “Getting around Providence”, what’s the difference between Saferide and Ripta; do they have different routes? If I needed to get from Perkins to the mall or Walmart, which one should I ride?</p>
<p>Also, since my family is staying in downtown providence, what’s the best way to travel to and from stores other than taxis and renting a car? Is it possible to walk everywhere or is there like a bus we can take?</p>
<p>Knownasnoni: It’ll be easy to walk around the stores downtown (just goto the Palace Mall), but you will definitely want to get a taxi to go up the hill (assumming your parents are kind of old, but if they are the type that likes to walk, walking up hill won’t be so bad). If you have a lot of bags just get a taxi. also [Newegg.com</a> - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!](<a href=“http://www.newegg.com%5DNewegg.com”>http://www.newegg.com) has a deal where you can get 3 offices for 90 bucks. I would do that and sell the 2 licenses to friends/ebay. (and then it will technically be free). Also you could always find a copy online somehow… … 
There is a bus station called Kennedy Plaza about 2 - 3 long city blocks away from the mall. There is a bus that leaves about every 15 - 20 minutes to Thayer St.</p>
<p>Also RIPTA = Rhode Island Public Transit Authority = aka 15-20 minutes late to everystop. They go alot of places… I am sure they goto Walmart. They are not affiliated with Brown, but if you have a Brown ID you can ride anywhere for free. But be prepared the bus is usually late.</p>
<p>Saferide is Brown’s van for people that don’t want to walk through the snow, people that are drunk, people that are injured, and etc. It will take you to spots around campus, I used it a lot last year when I was intoxicated or too lazy to walk from Keeney to Pembroke (you’ll know what I mean come this time next year). I would suggest you rent a car for a day and get everything out the way. Don’t rely on Rhody, she’ll let you down faster than gravity.</p>
<p>I’ve heard nothing but fabulous things about Brown, so I was just wondering what you would say are Brown’s biggest drawbacks?</p>
<p>If you’re not liberal, you may find the atmosphere to be too liberal (not because of all students, but because of how vocal the extremists are). The Open Curriculum can be overwhelming to some if you don’t know how to create your own education. I’m yet to have anyone in administration respond to my e-mails (apparently they’ve lost my high school and college paper records but won’t tell me), and professors have not been incredible about responding, either. If you don’t want to live in a city, Brown is an eyesore. For some, Brown may be too laid back, and the ability to take everything pass/fail may be used as a crutch so you don’t have to try your hardest. I’m yet to have a professor in math/computer science/applied math who is a good teacher (and I wasn’t exactly taking a low level applied math course). The specialty housing process is a pain - I’m fine with accepting a building not knowing which room I’m living in or if I’ll have a roommate because I care enough about living in a substance-free dorm, but I was told I’d know who my roommate was in April. I found out in August (and they gave me no explanation why). My understanding is that last year, the substance-free house had a lot of parties with alcohol because so many students got put in the house without asking for substance-free (one of my friends used to go to parties there a lot).</p>
<p>Heh from that one would think I hate Brown. Note that a lot of those things are not exclusive to Brown, not all apply to me, and not all will apply to everyone. These are just possible things one may dislike. And I’m relatively content at Brown - I still think that of the schools at which I was accepted, it is the best choice.</p>
<p>I’ve had amazing professors in CS…</p>
<p>Also there’s a good thread on drawbacks if you do a search.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/687943-there-anything-hate-about-brown.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/687943-there-anything-hate-about-brown.html</a></p>
<p>I’ve had Professor Reiss. Nice man, brilliant, but not a good teacher in my opinion (or that of the rest of the class). I’m hoping the CS31 teacher is better, but one doesn’t need a good teacher to learn.</p>
<p>Reiss is just a total abomination that simply does not belong in our CS department. They finally sort of “removed” him though, that’s why he’ll only be teaching “CS for arts majors” or something like that. Making sure they all stay art majors lol. Tenureship can bite a university in the ass. But I do think he’s rather an exception.</p>
<p>I heard there are many good profs in the CS department, but anyway, CS is a lot more about you actually doing stuff rather than attending lectures. </p>
<p>I’ve taken one applied math course and agree it was utterly disgusting. But it was only because the prof was trying to teach us a lot of cool stuff, and students weren’t really receptive. He always had to apologize when attempting to write a complete proof. Having good students in a class is almost as important as having good teachers.</p>
<p>On math I would have to completely disagree though. For one, prof Banchoff on his own is more imba than whole departments of other top schools put together. He gives out open problems in the homework and many students manage to solve them on their own (at least partially) with what he taught. Prof Strauss is basically a king of PDE’s, and he’s also very friendly and enthusiastic about students (his book btw is used at mit, pton, etc). Prof Silverman is a king of algebra/number theory/cryptography, and again very open and a great lecturer. With these three people alone I am more than confident that the math department of brown is as good as good as, if not better, than princeton’s, mit’s, caltech’s, and mostly everyone else is well below. And have faith that this much praise is a lot coming from me. I am a very critical person, especially of Brown :)</p>
<p>The only thing dragging our reputation down in the sciences is the lack of competition between students. The departments themselves are all excellent. We will have to someday understand that if we also want more excellent students in the sciences (and I don’t know why we wouldn’t…heck even just for diversity’s sake) we will have to change the mentality a little. Currently many of our good students arrive here either by accident, or because other aspects of brown won them over. Being a top sciences university is usually not a reason - you have mit, etc for that - and it is completely due to reputation and hearsay.</p>
<p>The pass/fail thing I’m not sure why it might be a bad thing. It’s just there if you need it. I used it once for a psyc class. And I actually ended up failing the class :D…was hoping to get away with not doing 3 of the only 5 assignments for the course…didn’t happen.</p>
<p>How are lab classes? any tips for succeeding in them?</p>
<p>Do you get many power outages, brief or sustained? (Trying to figure out how important battery back-up in radio is, though I think DD will be using phone for her alarm.)</p>
<p>I never experienced a power outage…even my high school had a backup generator, so I’d imagine Brown does too. If anything, they’d be brief.</p>
<p>I’ve never had a power outage in Providence in a little over 4 years.</p>
<p>Should I buy bottled water for my dorm room? I read that somewhere.
If I arrive in Providence before Orientation, can I access my mailbox and/or get a glance of my room before signing in on Saturday?</p>
<p>What does it mean when a class requires a lab? Is it like a chem lab?</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, since you’ve been discussing different teachers, who are your favorite and least favorite teachers and why?</p>
<p>Supposedly, the water on some parts of campus is not safe for drinking because of lead. One can buy water at the Gate (and I’d imagine one can at the other eateries on campus), but it’d be cheaper to get some elsewhere.</p>
<p>If a class requires a lab, it generally is like a chem lab, just longer than the ones you’re likely used to from high school. Computer Science courses often have labs as well, though they tend to be graded in a more lax fashion.</p>
<p>Stay away from tap water! It will dumb you down and steal your soul
[YouTube</a> - Question Your Reality (Alex Jones)](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFu_bYkomc]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFu_bYkomc)</p>
<p>What if you use tap water + a Brita filter/pitcher?</p>
<p>I’m already enrolled in a FYS for this semester. Is it a good idea to start buying the books now, or wait until classes start to see what the professor has to say?</p>
<p>Wait until you decide to stay in the class and can check out the price of used books in the bookstore.</p>
<p>Brita filters are great.</p>
<p>Does Brown do a water service, where we can buy the big 5-gallon jugs of water (like Water & Ice stuff) or is it pretty much expected that people drink tap or small bottles?</p>