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College Prowler

Academics

I love my professors. The geology department is really friendly, and the quality of the teaching is very, very good. My adviser had us over to her house for apple cider and brownies and took us out to dinner one night. It's very welcoming. The open curriculum is also fantastic. There are no requirements!

Athletics

I'm on the varsity fencing team, which is underfunded compared to other teams but is still pretty well funded. We have access to good facilities and trainers, and we get equipment and warm-ups from the school, as well as per diem for travel. I don't know about intramurals, but I'm also in the Frisbee program, which has an A, B, and C team. It's not very well funded, but we do a lot of our own fundraisers and have a very successful program.

Campus Dining

The meal plans are complicated and convoluted but allow you to have a wide array of choices of where to eat a given meal. Besides the Ratty, which is basically a stereotypical college cafeteria, there is a smaller, cozier dining hall with better food, a pizza place, a vegetarian dining room, and many snack bars. The dining halls allow you to take a box of food with you instead of eating there, which is convenient. Being vegetarian is incredibly easy here because there are so many of us, and the dining services take that into account when devising meal plans.

Campus Housing

Andrews is wonderful. The rooms are big and have sinks and walk-in closets. Keeney is, well, a typical freshman dorm—it can get a little crazy. Pembroke Campus is really nice because even though it's a little off of main campus, it has a nicer dining hall and is close to the athletic center. It's also quieter.

Campus Strictness

It's pretty inconsistent. You won't get in serious trouble with campus police, but be careful about your roommates, counselors, and other neighbors. It's probably not a good idea to throw a kegger in your room.

Computers

The network is great. Brown does a fairly good job of making sure the community doesn't have access to our over-the-top WiFi speed, so for better or worse we benefit from it. Computers are always available in the SciLib, but bringing your own computer is really a must.

Diversity

Coming from Brooklyn, New York, I found the campus overwhelmingly white/Asian and wealthy. It's also commonly acknowledged here that politically, we live in a "liberal bubble". The good news is that we all realize this and want to have our political views challenged. I find the campus to be very sexually diverse—there is a thriving gay community here. There are also quite a few international students here.

Drug Scene

Alcohol and cannabis are noticeably embedded in social life at Brown, but there are plenty of people who use neither, and I don't think they are usually put under pressure from their peers to do so. But in any case, you get used to having long intellectual conversations with high people pretty fast.

Facilities

There is one main gym, as well as several smaller satellite gyms spread out across campus. The libraries are adequate places to study, although you don't really need to go all the way to a library to study—there are nice, quiet lounges in most dorms. We don't really have a student center, unfortunately, but there's not that much need for one considering all the convenient places to study, eat, and hang out.

Greek Life

Some people are in frats and sororities, and there are frat parties. It's not very big, though. It's like being in another club or program house, but the name is Greek. It's no big deal—it's not a matter of popularity or status.

Guys & Girls

The guys here are okay. Considering it is an Ivy League school, the boys here a pretty inexperienced, but there is definitely a lot of sex going around on weekends. Girls at Brown tend to be more attractive than the guys. Sad, I know.

Local Atmosphere

Brown is in its own, cute little area of Providence on Thayer Street, where there are plenty of restaurants and shops and a movie theater. Downtown is a great theater district and the largest mall in New England, but a lot of people tend to hang out on or around campus mostly. Sometimes people like to go to Boston on the weekends—it's only an hour away by community rail, and there's plenty to do there.

Nightlife

Parties on campus are alright. The frat parties get old after awhile. Machado House holds the best parties. There's a nearby club called Fish Co. that is a real hot spot—Wednesday is Brown college night. Of course, Brown's two biggest controversial parties are SexPowerGod and Starf*ck. There's an awesome gay club in downtown Providence called Mirabar. Here, workers can be found walking around the dance floor with jello tube shots in hand and wearing nothing but tighty whities and sneakers.

Off-Campus Dining

There are plenty of good restaurants right here on Thayer Street. Kabob and Curry has amazing Indian food, and Byblos has great Middle Eastern food—and I'm from New York, so I'm picky about ethnic cuisine! Andreas and Paragon are also good. Downtown, there's a great restaurant called Local 121 that only uses locally grown foods, and it's absolutely delicious.

Off-Campus Housing

Brown doesn't offer off-campus housing until junior year, unless, of course, you call the Office of Student Life and argue. The University tries to keep you on campus as long as it can, which is really quite convenient, since their room and board plan costs considerably more than living and eating in a real apartment in Providence.

Overall Experience

Before I came to Brown, I didn’t think there would be a big difference between the academics, particularly advising, at the schools I was looking at. It is a big deal. The possibilities that an open curriculum provides can be a big factor in your educational career. Freshman year I took a lot of classes in a concentration I didn’t end up pursuing. The switch wouldn’t have been so easy if it wasn’t for the open curriculum. It makes both the students and the professors care more. Professors know you want to be in their classes.

Parking

You sign up to receive a parking spot ahead of time, and then you get assigned to a lot, so there’s always a spot for you there. But it’s kind of tough to park anywhere else during the day.

Safety & Security

I don’t think there is a reason to feel unsafe, but at the same time, if you are walking alone on Benefit Street at four in the morning on a Saturday and something happens to you, you cannot blame it on the area. You know the east is safer than any other area of Providence. I’m convinced that the men in yellow coats aren’t doing much of anything.

Transportation

Brown students get free bus transportation from Rhode Island's public transportation system. The central hub of Rhode Island's bus system is in downtown Providence, just a couple minutes away by bus, which come every five minutes. Buses going downtown and to useful places like supermarkets are frequent. All other buses aren't very frequent, but you can get pretty much anywhere in the state for free.

Weather

Winter can be rough with a lot of wintry mixes. Invest in rubber boots or you'll go through two or three pairs of shoes every winter kicking your way through slush in the streets. That being said, when it's not precipitating, the weather is fairly mild and easy to deal with.