September 9, 2011
Weekly Email: Shopping Period & Some Courses to Consider
Greetings, Brown first-years!
We hope your first few days of classes have gone well. We suspect you’re on your way to finalizing your course selections for this semester, but know that many of you are still shopping classes and thinking over your final decisions. “Shopping period,” which runs from September 7-20, is an amazing opportunity to sample the Brown curriculum; that said, we know that it can also be overwhelming and confusing. Today’s email urges you to use your advisors, and offers a few tips on surviving and thriving in the open marketplace at Brown.
1. This is the time to call on your advisors! Your advisor and Meiklejohn are there to help you decide between courses, discover new ones that you haven’t considered, or steer you away from common pitfalls such as overloading on writing-intensive courses in your first semester. Even an email exchange or a quick coffee can be helpful. You should certainly take advantage of the Group Advising Dinner on Sunday: Meet up with your Meiklejohn and advising group this Sunday at the Ratty (check with your Meiklejohn for appointed time) to talk about remaining course choices and the joys and frustrations of shopping period.
2. Another excellent resource are the academic deans. Deans talk with students about course selection and general academic plans and opportunities, and at least one dean is available in drop-in hours every weekday from 10:00-4:00. The schedule of deans’ open hours is here: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/College/people/open_hours.php.
3. Finally, if you’re in search of the perfect fourth course, take a look at some offerings listed below:
There are still some openings in First Year Seminars, including in a few new seminars that were added since the summer course lotteries. You can review the updated list in ASK: http://apps.college.brown.edu/ask.
The Department of American Studies offers a number of introductory writing seminars, AMST 0190’s, taught by advanced graduate students. These courses have been popular with undergraduates for many years, and you can find full course descriptions here: http://brown.edu/Departments/AmCiv/courses/index.html.
Any questions? Check the Dean of the College website: http://www.brown.edu/Administration/College/index.php, or call us at x3-9800.
Have a great weekend, and see you next week.
The Advising Team