<p>Hello all -
Have posted on other parts of the board- but never before in the parent section.<br>
My son is considering the Brown summer program - one of the 3 week mini courses. We’ve read a lot of feedback - from kids who have done the program - and they seem to love it. I’m looking for some parental feedback about how it is. My biggest concern is the amount of free time. Classes are 3 hours a day - even with homework and such - that leaves a lot of time to “do whatever”. I know from my daughter’s experiences in her first year of college that some college age kids handle their free time well, and others don’t. My concern is a large group of high school kids with that much free time and that much freedom. Have any of you had experience with the program and if so, what are your feelings? He’s hoping for the Music Production class- any experiences with that would be great to hear about as well.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Famcruise – D attended a 3 week writing program at Brown the summer after her sophomore year. Many of the other students were a year older, but that wasn’t an issue for her. She took her assignments seriously, got great comments, and learned a lot. She made tons of friends from all over the US and a few foreign countries. (She’s very outgoing.) There are RA’s in the dorms and a lot of planned activities. But, there is indeed a lot of free time. Providence is a fun place with lots going on, like Waterfire – live outdoor performances throughout the summer. </p>
<p>The RA’s are pretty vigilant, but obviously can’t catch everything. 2 or 3 kids from D’s writing class were caught drinking on the next to last night of the 3 week program, and promptly booted out. They ended up w/ no record of ever having attended a Brown Summer program. D thought they were incredibly stupid and immature.</p>
<p>My D also attended one of those 3-week long writing-intensive courses, and she loved it. In addition to her class time, she had tons of homework, which she took very seriously, because she liked the course and the instructor. Same as CBBBlinker’s D, mine is very social and made a lot of new friends. The program also served as a little primer for an independent college life: D had to do all of her laundry (some things do not go in the washing machine :)), plan her daily schedule, figure out public transportation if she wanted to go somewhere on her own, etc. There are usually planned activities such as dances, lectures, trips to malls, classes on college admission related stuff, etc. to keep kids busy and out of trouble. My D was able to go on a couple of college tours, shop at an outlet mall and the big mall in Providence, and the Harry Potter book release party at the Brown bookstore was a huge blast, according to her. The dorms all had RAs, and the kids had to be back in the dorm by a certain time. If they wanted to stay past the curfew time, they needed to check in with the RA and leave detailed information as to where they were going and how they could be reached.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. He does know the city a bit (we have family in the area) and knows there’s so much to do in Providence. It’s a great city to spend time in - so I’m not so concerned about finding things to do - more concerned about the degree of commitment the kids have to the class they are there for.<br>
In looking at the Music Production course my son is really hoping that there will be a lot of time out of class to spend in the recording studio recording his own stuff as well as the music others play. He’s hoping the course is made up of others who are really “into” music and recording.<br>
Thanks again for your responses and if anyone else has any other experiences (especially with other courses) would love to hear more.</p>