Brown University Top Questions

The student body includes all races, but it is a predominantly caucasian school. There is teh TWTP, which the the resource center for minority students, and it provides a lot fo support, advocacy, and events for minority students. Everyone I know who is involved with the TWTP is obsessed with it. There are many gays and lesbians at Brown, and while some claim that there is a "gay community" at Brown, I definitely don't think gays and lesbians stick solely to themselves. There are a lot of homosexual guys, I think they have a great dating pool. I wish I was a gay guy here sometimes cause they're all so hott. You will notice that a lot of Brown students come from very wealthy families. But you will only notice that if you visit them at home - because no one flaunts money. While I wouldn't say finances aren't an issue for people, those who don't come from money (and I could argue that is a very considerable size of the student body) are never looked down upon or pressured or made to feel out of palce. No one talks about how much money they intend to earn in the future. Thats what kids do at UPenn... not here.

Active, engaged, interested across the board. Generally very open to people of all different backgrounds (racially, socioeconomically, LGBT etc.) Definitely good for people who like learning the material for the love of learning. People planning to make oodles out of college or going for perfect grades always would find their place, but this is definitely not the norm.

the student body is diverse in all aspects of race, religion, sexual orientation, ses, beliefs, etc. one of the experiences that i have on a daily basis here that is representative of the diversity is how each day when i'm walking around campus i hear different conversations from my peers (to each other, on the phone, with professors) in various languages. the ability to attend a university while still maintaining their unique culture and beliefs is amazing. while i am a rhode islander who evidently stayed close to home, this past year i lived with a girl who is from ecuador as well as a girl who is from south africa. despite very different backgrounds we were still able to share the common experience of going to brown.

I think that most people can find their niche at Brown, therefore, will not feel left out. Students wear anything from jeans to dresses to sweats to class. However, no one is "dressed up to the nines"!

No such problems as to socio economics... you can't always tell you has the big $$$ or who doesn't. As for racial injustice, i am not going to say that it does not exist but I will say that it is not an issue here, I have not heard of anything like that. Students dress according to their styles. Nobody judges you.. you wear what you feel like wearing. You wear clothes in which you feel comfortable. I do not know where most of the students are from. The students are politically active.

On the social side, Brown is a curious mix of sweet and sour. The students are often involved in extra-curriculars that are very interesting, so there is a diversity of shows and activities on campus. On the other hand, sometimes friendliness seems to be an iffy prospect at Brown as acquaintances have a habit of forgetting they ever met you and not waving on the street. People also tend to be fairly cliquish, and though some social groups frequently mix, the social groups themselves can often be exclusionary to those who choose to meet individuals individually. Most people seem to get to know one another either from activities or from nights of drinking, but meeting people anywhere else without some friend in common may often be viewed as socially aberrant. The hyper-liberalism gets pretty annoying too. Oftentimes students seem almost afraid of exploring any ideas that run counter to an almost rabid need to be liberal. For instance, I have minority friends who have often tried to express that some problems with their own ethnic communities might at least partially be self-inflicted, and they have been almost blatantly yelled at for not subscribing to the idea of "I'm ok, you're ok, and the problems are caused by bigots and pervasive injustices." At the same time, many of the minority and/or rich kids try to act very ethnic and very accepting while simultaneously clumping into homogenous groups in what would be comical if it wasn't so sad.

I feel like Brown is pretty diverse and there's really a group for EVERYONE at Brown. The students are what really make the school. I feel like everyone is pretty liberal here...whatever that means

really conservative and close-minded students probably would find out of place here. Students wear casual clothing to class, and more dressy stuff out. Brown students come from all over the nation and from other countries. Many students are politically aware/active.

The problem with Brown's student body is that various racial/ethnic groups tend to band together. There is a special orientation program called TWTP for minority freshmen, which creates strong friendship bonds before anybody else arrives, making it kind of clique-y. Other groups, like SASA (South-Asian Student Association), AASA (Asian American Student Association) LASO (Latin-American Student Organization) create friendships along these lines. Being white, I can't really compare to their experiences, and maybe this is an important support network, but I have noticed that most of my friends at Brown are white, whereas there was much more diversity in my friends in High School. That being said, Brown is ridiculously open and accepting, with the LGBT group being a large part of the community. There is no racism, or discrimination based on sexual preference at all. The only type of student that would feel out of place here would be a conservative, but they are a vocal minority anyway, with their own publications and columns in the Brown Daily Herald, so even though most professors are pretty blatantly liberal, there is still somewhat of a balance here.

One of the best thing about Brown is that I truly believe everyone can find a way to fit in. There are kids from all socioeconomic backgrounds, sports jocks, nerds, many different races and ethnicities, kids who go out all the time, and kids who would rather stay in, kids who dress up for class, and kids who go in sweats, kids who sit around and drink and smoke, and kids who sit around and chit chat about philosophy. You name it, Brown's got it. On campus, there is a general sense of political awareness, but if that's not your thing, it isn't exactly shoved down your throat. There are far more liberals than conservatives, but the conservatives do exist. There is also a predominant Jewish community with a strong Hillel community. Different groups of students don't really interact so much, but not everyone can be friends with everyone, and for the most part people are tolerant of others and happy, so it's all good.