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The day started out bright and early in Providence. Very nice weather. Sunny, breezy, perfect for walking [which we did A LOT of] Dad got us breakfast from Starbucks, and after we were packed and ready, headed out to…
Rhode Island School of Design- We only had a tour here, no information session to go to today but here are some of my thoughts/noted facts
- School campus environment is NICE. Like… its up on a giant hill [eh… well. it takes effort to climb the stupid hill but whatever] Pretty trees shade the whole campus. Red brick/colonial style buildings. Yeah.
- But despite everything being pretty, it is OLD. like… really old 😛
- Lots of spacious drawing rooms.
- Nature Lab is basically a library of stuffed/preserved animals/organisms O.O It WAS cool though.
- First year housing… looked kinda run down to be honest. BUT. I saw everyone paint their doorways to match their personal style. That was cute! Those dorm rooms were noticeably bigger than those in Boston University.
- Haha. The workrooms my dad commented looked like LA. Spray paint graffiti EVERYWHERE. Looks fun… but kinda ghetto. XD
- So… the people there. The people were kind of… different? XD For one, our tour guides, the girl had a hoop nose ring and the guy was obviously gay- like… wearing a glittery gold top. As for the other two students on the tour, one was dressed punk like… the other was just… i dunno what you would call it. Not that I have anything against these people. It just didn’t really give a good impression on my parents who I would hang out with at this school.
- Getting around town is easy enough. Especially with a school ID, bus fare is free!
- Oh! Traditionally, the school made you do three mandatory portfolio pieces to apply, starting this year, it’s only two!
Yep. So… anyways, I’m not going to design school unless I get into Brown’s Dual-Degree Program in which I get to spend two years at RISD and two years at Brown to get the most out of art and academics 🙂 And only 15-20 people get in every year since you need to apply and be accepted to both schools…. so fingers crossed!
After visiting RISD, we went back to the hotel, checked out, ate lunch, and then headed off to…
Brown- Here we took a tour, then visited an information session.
- Brown was AMAZING. Like… seriously. I love this school a lot more now than I did before the tour. It’s RIGHT next to RISD, so basically the same environment, but with newer brick buildings and fancy gates… yeah.
- They have an ORGAN in the multi-purpose room. And an organ playing teacher who can teach you… while the whole school hears.
- I think I wanna join the awkcapella group. An accapella (sp?) group that  sings badly. <-that is so totally me.
- I want to visit that museum they have with a bunch of random stuff… from the ORIGINAL copy of George Orwell’s 1984 to the largest comic book collection.
- The school runs so that you can CHOOSE your grading system. Whether you want letter grades or a pass/fail grade. It is all UP TO YOU.
- You can also choose which classes you take. No general study. Just WHATEVER YOU WANT.
- Professors want you to think of your peers as “comrades” rather than “competition”. Very friendly.
- Classes of more than 40 are broken into smaller discussion groups.
- Can be involved in research with professors starting freshman year!
- LOL. There’s a club called “Dunder-Mifflin” dedicated to getting together every Thursday to watch The Office.
- You get so close with the teachers, you often have lunch/dinner with the class. Even though class is “over”, discussion isn’t.
- You are put in dorms with people you don’t know. Shoved right into a new family.
- After freshman year, lottery for housing. You can choose the specific room you want.
- Majors are called “concentrations” since you really don’t declare a major, you just choose classes geared towards a certain area.
- You can create your own class. With your own syllabus, and team up with a faculty member for research.
- You can study abroad, although most like Brown enough to stay all four years.
Yep. So… um. I love Brown. Just so you know.
DUAL-DEGREE ART PROGRAM FTW. [hopefully….]
After visiting colleges, we headed drove by the RISD store where I found a coolio Voodoo paper note pad. You know. For whenever I’m angry or something… it was just attractive thing to buy. So I did.
Then… 6 hour drive to Syracuse, where I will visit Syracuse University tomorrow 🙂
