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This question can be answered from this recent thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/906824-lack.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/brown-university/906824-lack.html</a>
The short answer is it doesn’t seem to have any tangible effect either way. Other parts of the Open Curriculum might if you use them contrary to their intention (taking courses in the field you’re planning to go to grad school for S/NC would not look good, for instance), but there’s no data to support the idea that the lack of a + or - hurts grad school admissions, and I’d imagine the same would be true of most/all employers. Chances are you wouldn’t want to work for someone who holds the Open Curriculum in that much contempt anyways, if you truly buy into the theory.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to Harvard…I didn’t apply because I didn’t like the area personally. I’m not sure how many here could give a solid comparison between the two. From that standpoint, as wolfmanjack said, the best you could probably do is read some recent posts on these topics (Providence hasn’t changed that much in my 2 years, so those threads are still quite relevant. If you have any further questions about Brown or Providence after that, I’d be glad to answer them, whether here or through PM.</p>