Transfer from Columbia to Brown?

fireandrain
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:56:08 +0000

I am an alum, but I’ll give my perspective


Are academic advisors at Brown friendly? Do they really care about you as a person?


There are dozens? hundreds? of academic advisors at Brown. Some are very friendly and really care about you as a person. That is certainly what Brown hopes for when it hires faculty. But there will always be a few who aren’t. If you are unhappy with your advisor, you can find another one. Every student is also assigned an upperclassman as an advisor, and they are friendly and care about you. I don’t know if transfer students get a Meikeljohn


Do they give you “instructions” about what courses to take or would they prefer to let you decide your own schedule?


Within your concentration, there are required courses. Outside of that, no one gives you instructions. You can be totally independent and do what you want and take whatever you want. But there are also lots of people around to ask. Brown wants you to make an effort to seek out the info you need. It is not handed to you on a silver platter.


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?


You are limited by the number of classes you can take per year (5 a semester, although most students take 4) and by the requirements within your concentration. If you are interested in an ScB, then you have much less room in your schedule to explore. Some concentrations have a lot more required classes than others. Some classes have prerequisites (for example, many MCM classes require that you take one of the intro classes – MCM is Modern Culture and Media, which is sort of like film studies). The Brown curriculum is designed to encourage students to explore as many different disciplines as possible.

(I’ve said this before on these boards and I’ll say it again – I simply don’t understand how anyone who prefers an open curriculum would opt to go to Columbia or UChicago. There are plenty of other schools with more flexible curriculums – what a shame you decided to go to Columbia.)