Brown University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Concentrations: I’m a double concentrator in International Relations and Urban Studies. I also take classes in Spanish and Russian. Urban Studies is mostly domestic politics, city politics, and planning.
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Heterosexual Female
Summary
I’m a Crisis Manager for Model UN, I’m on the executive board of Women in Business, I’m part of Safe House and I’m also part of a sorority.
Background
Gender Identity: Female
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
First-Generation College Student: No
High School Experience: Private school in Baltimore, MD with a graduating class of about 100 students.
Concentrations: I’m a double concentrator in International Relations and Urban Studies. I also take classes in Spanish and Russian. Urban Studies is mostly domestic politics, city politics, and planning.
Extracurricular Activities: I’m a Crisis Manager for Model UN, so I designed and organized committees for the high school and college conference. I’m on the executive board of Women in Business, which is for women who are interested in all aspects of business. I’m part of Safe House, which is when students help women who suffer from domestic violence. I’m also part of a sorority.
Academic Experience
Can you describe the weekly coursework for your concentrations?
There aren’t any general education requirements at Brown. Besides the core requirements for International Relations, I’m taking whatever I want. I’m able to pick the track that I’m interested in. Right now, I think I’m going to focus on the Economics side of International Relations, so because of that, I’m taking some math and economics-based problem sets for those classes. Language classes are largely presentations and essays. Political Science classes are a lot of weekly readings and exams, not a lot of graded assignments.
Is there anything you feel your concentrations’ departments do especially well or poorly?
So far, the language departments have been really great. It’s largely dependent on what professor you have, but they are mostly done by native speakers and graduate students. Normally you have a native speaker teaching you which is nice. Within Economics, I didn’t have any AP credits going in. Those can be helpful because you can place out of intro classes. I had to take that and it was fine but harder than it needed to be because it’s a filter course. Hopefully it’ll prepare me well for later classes because it’s so hard. Political Science classes have also been super interesting. It’s a great department.
Why did you pick your concentrations?
I came in knowing I wanted to do International Relations. I love language and travel, so I wanted to incorporate that into whatever I’m doing. I really liked the Political Science classes a lot and found the material interesting. I ended up liking it more than I thought it would.
I picked Urban Studies becuase I took City Politics and it was the best class I’ve taken. It’s the first step in the Urban Studies degree and I loved it so much that I wanted to double concentrate. Urban Studies can cover a lot of different topics and bring them back to one main theme. It deals with intense issues like homelessness and racial tensions within cities. You get to learn where these issues come from and how we should deal with it.
Reasons to Attend
1) It’s really easy for Brown to become a second home, which sounds super cheesy but it’s true. People at Brown are so friendly and welcoming it’s not hard to feel like you’re part of the community.
2) Brown has some of the coolest professors from around the world. You’ll realize that a professor assigned a reading from their own research because they’re a leading expert in their field.
3) Brown gets great speakers like David Cameron and Janet Yellen.
4) Overall, just great academic opportunities.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) It’s very, very liberal. Sometimes conservative voices get covered up because people feel uncomfortable speaking a conservative opinion. This is an issue Brown is working on.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Everett Poland, which is in Keeney Quad. I had a double with a random roommate. We were super different but lived well together for the most part. The majority of people I know had that experience.
Sophomore: Diamond, which is a house on Wriston Quad. It’s the only quad without academic buildings. It’s also where the frats and non-Greek life houses are, like the Literary Society, Tech House, and International House. All the non-Greek life houses act like frats though, like the International house has lots of parties. Diamond house is about half sorority half independent.
What is your favorite off-campus restaurant?
Den Den, which is an Asian fusion place. It’s a really fun place to start a night out.
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
Downtown Providence and going to Boston is super easy. I had fun weekends away in Newport and Narraganset at the beach with some friends. What’s nice is that everything in Rhode Island is less than an hour-drive away, so you can take the bus places. Also, hotel rooms in those beach towns are really cheap in the winter.
Social Opportunities
What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
I like to go out on Friday and Saturday. It’s really popular to go out on Wednesdays for Whiskey Wednesdays but I don’t go out regularly then. Some people go every week but I didn’t because I had 9:00 AM classes on Thursdays. Because Brown doesn’t have big Greek life and most Greek life has moved off-campus, sports teams act as de facto frats. Sports houses have parties, freshmen go to dorm parties, and there will be the occasional event at a club in Providence that you’ll go to.
Can you describe a typical night going out?
A regular night will start in somebody’s room in Pembroke – freshmen are split evenly into 2 sides, Keeney Quad and Pembroke. From there, we’ll go to a sports house or a club, if it’s a sports house we’ll hop around to different places, which can include dorm parties.
What have been your favorite times at Brown?
Halloweekend was really fun. It’s always fun at Brown because people get really into it and there’s a lot to do. Midnight on the actual night of Halloween the University has a huge organ play the monster mash.
What are some other options if you don’t want to go out to a party?
A good portion of people at Brown don’t go out that regularly. Providence has a lot of great restaurants and concerts. In the winter, there’s a skating rink in the middle of the city. There’s lots of stuff to do in Providence. Theater and concert tickets are cheap. Also, Boston is easy to get to.
How happy are you with the weekend options? Is there anything you would change if you could?
From my point of view, it’s good because I’m pretty content with it, but I’m not a huge partier. I’m able to go out Friday and Saturday night which is enough for me. If you’re a big partier and looking for huge frat parties, it’s probably not ideal. We do have some big parties every once in a while.
Campus Culture
How did you make your closest friends?
I met all my friends through one mutual friend. Orientation is a whirlwind. First night freshman year you have to go to a super awkward ice cream social, so we went to that and then went to a Crew party after that night and that’s how I met everyone. Joining clubs and organizations, like Greek life, Women in Business, and Model UN have helped me break out. The Crew party after the ice cream social is a tradition of sorts, I think.
How would you describe the overall social scene?
Everybody has their own core friend group and almost everyone has their friends outside of that. The way my larger friend group formed is two groups melded. I also know some people that don’t have core groups and bounce around. Athletes tend to hang out with other athletes mainly because their schedules don’t let them do anything else. I have a friend who’s on a woman’s sports team and she was frustrated that she only met other athletes, but that may be specific to her. In general, people are very chill at Brown. You have your friends and your routine and people don’t judge you for it. It’s very different from high school.
Do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
Yes, definitely. Brown is a very progressive place. One of the subtle ways that is expressed is that I know a lot of people from different backgrounds than I would other places. There are definitely some affinity groups for specific people, like an acapella group for people of color, women in business, a lot of people can find places to relate to their background and also places to meet lots of different types of people and do social things together. There are lots of systems in Brown to help anyone find their place and feel safe and comfortable.
How do you like going to school with your sister?
I only had my first semester with her because she went abroad. It was super helpful to have someone help you get settled, tell me places to go out, help with homework, etc. We don’t run in the same circles so we don’t run into each other that often. I loved having her there, when I was overwhelmed at times I’d just go to her room.