Brown University | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Gregory

Class: Freshman
Major: Biology
Gender: M

High School: Milton Academy
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best thing about Brown is that everyone is an individual and individuality is totally okay. I love that I can be interested in Ancient Greek and Biology. Socially everyone is accepted. The group of friends I have met are all distinctly unique people but we all get along really well, and these are people I might not have associated with in high school, but Brown fosters friendships like these. The school itself is just the right size. I meet new people all the time, but it's just small enough that I always see people I know, and I can always find a table of friends to sit with at lunch or dinner (most people don't go to breakfast). Thayer St. is quaint...it's not quite Harvard Square, but it's got most of the essentails and a lot of good, not too expensive places to eat (Brown Dining Services is only so-so). Everyone loves our president Ruth Simmons, in fact, she even has somewhat of a cult following at Brown. They sell t-shirts with her picture on them, and most people have one (myself included). Most importantly, everyone is happy at Brown. I can't stress this enough, I don't know a soul who's unhappy here.

Academic Life

In general the academics at Brown are good. Intro level classes, particularly in the sciences, tend to be big classes, you have to make a real effort to meet the professor, and it's tough and awkward to meet the professor unless you're having trouble in the class. Class participation is common in smaller classes, particularly humanities. In my classics class, for example, my professor knows my name. With the open curriculum, you can take any class you want to, which is really cool, because I've taken a class called Ancient Utopias and Imaginary Places at the same time as I was taking Organic Chemistry. That said, the advising program for freshman stinks. My advisor doesn't seem to have any investment in me, and my micklejohn (student advisor) is nice and insightful but not all that useful.

Student Body

In general, with Brown Students, anything goes. It doesn't matter what race, religion, ethnicity, socio-economic class, or sexuality you are, everyone gets along. Groups tend to be be a mesh of all different walks of people, which I know doesn't happen at other schools. While many (if not most) Brown students tend to be upper class, there are also a fair amount of middle, or lower middle class students, and everyone seems to mesh without a care. Almost all Brown students are democrats, but there is the occasional republican. Most students tend to learn and take classes becuase they love learning. In general, people don't think or seem to care about how wealthy they'll be one day, but do seem to care about doing what they love.