Brown encourages domestic students to submit a video, but it’s not really an essay. I would strongly encourage OP to submit one, see options here: Video Introduction | Undergraduate Admission | Brown University
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If the idea of the open curriculum at Brown appeals to you, I suggest adding other open/openish curriculum schools – provided they check other Fit boxes and are affordable (check available majors at least) – like the following:
Amherst
Hamilton
Wesleyan
Grinnell
Vassar
Smith
U of Rochester
Wake Forest
Hampshire
While admission to the rest is competitive, Hampshire College would likely be a safety for you. It is part of the Five Colleges consortium, so you would be able to take courses at Amherst, UMass, Smith, and Mount Holyoke if you so desired (in addition to Hampshire of course).
I reckon that U of Rochester could be a match/target. The rest would be reaches or low reaches.
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Major in what you enjoy- or double major. Or do a major and a minor.
Hampshire College is closing after this year.
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Dang, that would have been a nice safety.
OP, if you need a safety with a fairly flexible curriculum, look for a school with at least a 50% admit rate where your stats are at or above the 75th percentile, which appears to have a fairly thin set of distribution requirements. EG, two math/science courses, two humanities courses, two social science courses, etc.
You could sub in K (Kalamazoo) - what they say - “K’s open curriculum allows you to explore all your interests, with students often double majoring or minoring.”
And Wheaton, in Mass, which says this - “Our bold and innovative Compass Curriculum gives you the freedom and flexibility to create your own path. Compass combines a small number of requirements with many optional pathways, allowing you to personalize your educational experience.”
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Rochester effectively has distribution requirements – 3 courses in each of humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences / engineering, so it is not really “open curriculum” in the Brown / Amherst / Evergreen State kind of way.
At Wake Forest, students must apply to be allowed to do what it calls open curriculum, but there is still an expectation of distribution / breadth: https://prod.wp.cdn.aws.wfu.edu/sites/215/2018/01/21.03.01-update-Open-Curriculum-Application-2.pdf
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Yeah, those sound like distribution requirements to me. Maybe they should refer to themselves as “flexible” instead of “open”.
Thank you so much everyone! Yes, I was referring to the supplemental essays. URochester is also one of my top choices.
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Rochester may have my favorite curriculum structure anywhere. I sometimes call these exploration in depth curriculums, where they require you generally to try out some different areas outside your intended primary major, but in the form of “clusters” of related classes (your intended major counts as one of these). And that can be all you do in an area, but if it goes well, a cluster can easily turn into a minor, and a minor into a second major.
WashU has more structure overall, but a similar thing in it “Integrations” requirement within its IQ Curriculum. My S24, a junior and possible premed at WashU, ended up declaring a double major in Computational Bio and Classics as a natural outgrowth of this structure.
Anyway, although I like when it is formalized, you can usually turn any open or looser distributional curriculum into your own “exploration in depth” plan, including as a premed. And that is a long list of colleges, including most LACs and most Arts and Sciences subdivisions at most research universities. The only ones I might worry about are the “core curriculum” colleges.
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