A Little Bit of Everything

Introduction
I would definitely say we do have sports, obviously, you know we’re division 1 Ivy. That being said, it’s fair to acknowledge that Brown does not have a strong football team, and not necessarily the strongest of baseball or basketball or any of the very typical sports. We tend to have tremendous support of obscure sports. We have an awesome Water Polo team. Great equestrians, Number 1 in the Northeast. Ultimate Frisbee- which is actually not a team sport, it’s a club sport- is the Number 1 Ultimate Frisbee team in the country. We have an athletic campus, but that being said, if you’re looking for a very “Ra!Ra! Football” school, where the entire student body is at every football game, Brown is probably not your first choice. There is a complaint among some students that there really isn’t enough school spirit. The school is looking to foster that, and part of that has to come from the students and people being more excited about it. There are no cheerleaders bouncing around campus and no pep rallies to get everybody psyched, but it’s still very fun. It is a big part and I would say a lot of people participate in sports.

Campus Life and Social Life
We don’t have any required classes and that I think, has to be the largest selling point of Brown. That’s part of the reason why I came here. I really like the idea that I was being thought of as old enough and mature enough to pick my own classes and realize that I had some autonomy in what I wanted to learn when I went to college. I really enjoy the fact that when you go to class, people are there because they chose to be there and not because the administration told them to be. I think for the most part, Brown students are probably more well-rounded because we got to choose and we’re individualizing our curriculum, rather than if I went to another school and was told, “Well you’re going to take art history 101 that everybody takes, so you’re going to know the exact same art history as everyone who graduated from such and such university.” Pass/Fail is a really great option for students. You have to be careful with it and you still have to work hard in those classes. Taking a pass/fail doesn’t make it easy, but it’s really nice, it gives you more leeway to try stuff that you might be afraid of because maybe you’re not going to get an A in the class because you don’t have a good background in archaeology. But you still have an interest and it gives you the freedom to take a class that you may or may not feel as comfortable with, just because you’re academically interested in it. People use it maturely and to their own benefit. Academics
I’d say that the campus is a very liberal campus overall. It’s very accepting- that’s the best part about it. That being said, I come from a very conservative town and would consider myself more moderate than liberal, but I really appreciate the diversity that I see. I really appreciate that I can engage someone who is of opposite ideas than me and really get a good perspective. And I think that it really benefits everybody that there are a variety of opinions and perspectives on campus. Yes, there are protests and there’s a Young Communists league and there are college Republicans. There’s sort of everybody, and then everybody in between. I really enjoy the mix and coming from a very conservative background I still didn’t feel alienated and I didn’t feel there weren’y any people who shared my views. It can be a little bit too politically correct, which sounds strange, but it can hinder things because people are trying to be so politically correct. I think that’s only to be sensitive to people and its obviously necessary in such a sensitive time in the world. But I think overall it’s a really good mix and people are pretty respectful of everybody else’s rights.

Student Body
The party scene’s a lot of fun. I think it’s definitely a really good mix. There are Frat parties and there are sororities, then there are bars and clubs and house parties and then there is also non-drinking related nightlife. There are always shows, and people do presentations, and put on art shows and art openings and fashion shows as their senior project in the art department. The party scene’s a lot of fun. It’s not huge, we’re definitely not a party school, we’re not a big state university with thousands and thousands of people, but if you want to go out and have fun, it’s definitely around. People do drink and people do smoke—a lot of smoking pot on Brown’s campus. Obviously, we’re “the hippy liberal school.” My favorite thing about Brown is my friends. That’s the most cliché answer I’m sure I can find, but it’s also true. I’ve never met such a great group of people who are so open-minded and so interesting and have such varied interests and really want to share what they do with you. I have friends on a variety of teams, I have friends who are art majors, I have friends in every discipline and it’s been really, really nice to meet such truly, truly fascinating people. I couldn’t ask for a nicer group of people.