Should Brown offer a 3-year BA/BS?

i_wanna_be_Brown
Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:21:46 +0000

Pagrock,

Unless you are advocating a straight lottery system for brown you do not believe that everyone should have an equal opportunity to attend. Anything other than a random lottery does not give everyone an equal opportunity.

You are right that 4 years is somewhat arbitrary but so is the number of classes needed to prove proficiency. Brown does offer freedom from the traditional 4 year plan. I had one friend who went part time his final year and did an internship and another friend who had taken enough coursework that she could have spent a semester away working, not doing courses and still graduate in 4 years total. The brown experience is not limited strictly to the classroom though and that’s also part of why it restricts how quickly a student can get out.

And there is a program that does require 5 years: the ScB/AB. That was what I wanted to do but I didn’t want to spend 5 years so while I took the same courses I decided to forgo the proper AB on my diploma.