<p>Thanks a lot modestmelody and Uroogla! Yes, I will definitely keep myself open to other courses that could probably ignite the spark in me!</p>
<p>Anomaly isn’t the best word to describe it. It’s very common to go into Shopping Period with a group of courses in mind and find within a week that some of them are just not what you were hoping for. Perhaps you’ll find yourself unable to understand your teacher for MATH0170…you’ll need to figure out if another section would be more beneficial. You may look at the AWAS syllabus and decide you don’t care about that portion of Astronomy. Some people definitely (imho) go overboard during shopping period and put too much stress on themselves, shopping about 20 courses. Others don’t shop anything (guilty as charged). But it’s fairly common for something to change your mind about courses if you shop some courses. Maybe Intro to Sleep (if you manage to get in) would be exciting for you. You probably won’t know unless you look at it.</p>
<p>Edit: Well, you removed the word anomaly for your post, but the information is relevant enough that I’ll leave it for others who may be interested.</p>
<p>Well, Introduction to Sleep surely looks like an exciting course that definitely would ‘ignite the spark’ in me!</p>
<p>How is Cognitive Sciences at Brown? Are there any first semester courses of the same? Cognitive Science interests me because it involves the brain. And the brain, ironically, is amongst the few parts of the body that have to be still discovered in depth!</p>
<p>Cog Sci is an excellent department, but why don’t you bridge away from science? Don’t grab courses in areas you’ll probably end up in at some point at Brown, grab courses from areas you’ll probably end up in at some point at Brown that are totally different than the CS/Math/Physics load that you’re already considering.</p>
<p>Another course that is interesting me is the Introduction to Economics one that is being offered in the first semester. I have heard some great things about Economics from my friends and unfortunately could never take a course in my home country as I was locked into the Science category. What do you have to say about this course? Would it mean a departure from the hardcore sciences?</p>
<p>Considering it’s mostly basic math and interpreting graphs, I’d say no. All of these things (Cog Sci, Econ) are great additions to your general education at some point, but branch out to writing in your first semester! Look at philosophy, literary arts, history, public policy, American civilization, MCM-- really go out there and explore.</p>
<p>Modestmelody, are the Economics and Cognitive Sciences courses available in the second semester as well? If yes, then I could probably include some writing for the first semester and look to do some Economics and Cognitive Sciences in the second semester!</p>
<p>Also, would it be too tiring and cumbersome if I took five courses my first semester? I just can’t seem to restrict my intellectual curiosities!</p>
<p>Last but definitely not the least, how is the Space Club as an extracurricular to pursue? Also, is there any environment initiative at Brown that I could become a part of?</p>
<p>Economics is offered both fall and spring semesters. Not sure about Cog Sci.</p>
<p>Don’t take five classes your first semester. Remember that you want to have fun, too. </p>
<p>Brown really isn’t like high school. You don’t need to nail down all your classes now. What you register for and what you take are often quite different. Once you are on campus, you will be meeting with your faculty adviser and your student adviser (Meikeljohn), and meeting upperclassmen who can give you advice. You can go to the bookstore and look at all the books required for classes. Keep your mind open – that’s the whole idea!</p>
<p>There are many environmental initiatives at Brown. The first week, there is an activities fair where all the campus groups set up a table and the students wander around picking up info and signing up. The environmental ones will be there, I’m sure. And pay a visit to the Urban Environmental Lab.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot fireandrain! As for the schedule discussion, it doesn’t always hurt to have some options down your sleeve, right?</p>
<p>There are definitely some interesting CogSci classes offered in the spring. I’m in Cogs420, human cognition with Sobel, and while it’s not a very difficult class, it’s incredibly interesting. In fact, I should be writing my research paper rather than being on here…</p>
<p>That said, if there weren’t other conflicts, I probably would have taken a more interesting CogSci class, such as a cogs FYS, or linguistics. I’m of the opinion that, for the most part, taking general intro courses is not as valuable as taking specific courses. But that may be because I’m interested in obscure, rather than general, knowledge. I didn’t like my anthropology course because it tried to cover too much, rather than focusing on one aspect of humanity. I’d much rather take genetics than an intro bio course, and I’d rather take linguistics than Cogs10.</p>
<p>Sobel is awesome. I have little else to say about that.</p>
<p>I was going through the course catalog of the Department of Cognitive Sciences and Linguistic Sciences at Brown and I came across this wonderfully interesting course - COGS0100A First Year Seminar: Computing as Done in Brains and Computers. Would this help fill the fourth void? I really want to join this course because it helps me explore the field of Computer Sciences through the lens of Cognitive Sciences. It is being taught by someone by the name of J. Anderson. Is he good?</p>
<p>COGS no longer exists as a department…With that said, the course is still being offered as CLPS0050A under the same professor. The critical review suggests that this would primarily be lecture, instead of an actual seminar, and that the teacher tends to be dry. To quote the Critical Review on this class, one student said, “Just understand that the subject matter is very interesting, but the presentation is not.” He doesn’t have anything near the worst ratings I’ve seen, but his ratings don’t approach those of the best-ranked teachers. With that said, maybe you’d click with his style. Some students really liked him, based on the survey results.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot Uroogla! Is there a list of Freshman Year Seminars that I can consult to see if they match my tastes?</p>
<p>At the moment, you’d either need to gather that information from Mocha or the course announcement booklet, I believe. At some time in the future, it’ll be updated on the Brown website, though they currently show only those for this year…you should be able to find these pages by doing a Google search for Brown First Year Seminars. Additionally, you’ll get a list at some point for you to decide, since, if I remember correctly, there’s a lottery for those.</p>
<p>Here’s something that is a far cry from the academic side of things at Brown: Since I am an international student and would literally be crossing the seven oceans to get to Brown, what are the things that I absolutely must bring with me? I really need you to advice me on this because no one in my family has ever gone abroad for an education!</p>
<p>Also, since my first love was Harvard, is there any way to cross register at Harvard for classes? If yes, I would love to do that for at least one of my eight semesters!</p>
<p>Please, I humbly request someone to answer the above questions for me!</p>
<p>Of course you can’t cross register for classes at Harvard. There’s no reason you’d want to do that anyway, it’s sorta ridiculous idea.</p>
<p>I am sorry to infuriate you, but sometimes it is very difficult to forget your first love. Maybe, I will do this when I get to Brown!</p>
<p>Could you please answer the question above the Harvard one as well?</p>