Transfer from Columbia to Brown?

teoparma
Tue, 16 Sep 2014 19:19:09 +0000

I am a freshman at Columbia College and am thinking about transferring to Brown. I really can’t stay in this crazy place for more than a year, seriously.

I applied ED to Brown and was deferred-dinged. I got into Columbia in RD by coincidence(I really dunno why). Although I never liked the concept of core curriculum, I thought I would give it a try and thus committed to Columbia.

However, things turned out to be even worse than the worst case scenario I expected. My advisor is a control freak who never lets me enroll in courses I love; she would point to the “core checklist” and tell me why I have to enroll in those cores rather than ,say, East Asian studies etc…

When I was in high school, I was really attracted by the open curriculum at Brown and I literally imagined how I would explore all the areas that interested me in college, but Columbia simply won’t let me do it.

Just a few questions that I want to make sure before deciding whether to transfer:


Are academic advisors at Brown friendly? Do they really care about you as a person?
Do they give you “instructions” about what courses to take or would they prefer to let you decide your own schedule? 3. Would the open curriculum really allow me to take like different courses in various disciplines rather than just dead white men literature/philosophy etc. promoted by Columbia? Are there any potential restrictions that may hinder me from doing so?


In addition, if there are current Brown students who transferred from Columbia I would appreciate if you could comment on whether I should transfer!