Though both RISD and Brown advertise the opportunities their students have to enroll in classes at both schools, figures from this semester's course enrollments show that more RISD students than Brown students are trekking up or down College Hill to get to class.
According to the RISD Registrar, RISD sends a larger percentage of students to Brown than Brown does to RISD. Nearly 6 percent of RISD's undergraduate population is taking courses at Brown, while less than 2 percent of Brown students are enrolled at the design school.
Ninety-nine Brown students have cross-registered at RISD, filling 103 seats in classes at Brown's neighbor. Conversely, 132 RISD students are enrolled for 143 seats in Brown courses this semester. Though superficially similar, the numbers differ as percentages of student bodies - RISD counts 2,285 enrolled students this fall, versus Brown's nearly 5,500.
Equally notable is the spike in RISD-to-Brown cross-registration this semester. Up until this year, the number of students cross-registered at Brown had remained stable. Last fall, 79 RISD students enrolled at Brown, filling 92 seats. Though not as dramatic, the number of Brown students studying at RISD during the fall semester rose from 82 students last year.
"There are anomalies every few years. Whether this is a trend or not is anyone's guess," said RISD Registrar Steven Berenback. "There's been an increased emphasis in the past year on collaborations, among the faculty and at both institutions. How that translates ... I don't know, but certainly there's been more of a buzz about cooperation."
For some RISD students, cross-registration is a viable and easy option. Vanessa Casino RISD '07 is taking BN 1: "The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience" and JA 10: "Basic Japanese," her first two courses at Brown. She has planned on taking liberal arts courses at Brown since her arrival on College Hill and credits the much-advertised link between the two schools as one of her reasons for attending RISD.
Though the Brown academic semester begins eight days before RISD's, getting back for Brown courses was not a problem for Casino. Like most RISD students, Casino lives off campus and returned to Providence in time for Brown courses.
Each RISD student must have a liberal arts adviser approve his or her courses and then may shop classes like a Brown student. Casino said the paperwork was minimal and relatively painless. More arduous, Casino said, is adjusting to another mode of thinking and altering her schedule to include studying.
"It helps to think about things that are more concrete. It gives you a different type of creative output," Casino said.
Enrolling at RISD as a Brown student presents more challenges: Many courses are yearlong, and the RISD spring semester ends after Brown's dorms close. Most courses at RISD have limited enrollment, and professors can only accommodate the students for whom they have the tools and the space. The standard meeting times for the two schools don't mesh, either, and finding time for studio classes can be tough.
"It's frustrating for Brown students who are often used to just sitting in on another lecture class," Berenback said.
But persistence often pays. One Brown visual art concentrator, Audrey Sato '05, said she has always been able to get into a RISD class when she wanted. She took a course geared toward juniors and seniors with critiques so harsh they made students cry and a painting course in which she "learned more in that class than in any class since," she said. To gain admittance to both her courses at RISD, Sato contacted the professors beforehand and kept going to the course, even when she wasn't guaranteed a spot.
Claire Baker '05 had a similar experience. Baker, who took two semesters of painting and an art history seminar, recalled her attempts at enrolling in her first painting course.
"I went on the first day, and the professor's response was, 'We'll see,'" Baker said. Baker did the homework, and kept showing up in class. "Eventually, he said, 'OK, fine, you can paint over here.'"
Brown students are only allowed to take up to four credits at RISD, though Baker petitioned the University and received permission to take more than that. RISD students can take as many credits as they can handle. Though one credit means one course at Brown, the number of credits received for each RISD course varies.
"If you take art seriously at Brown, you have to create your own curriculum. You have to be independent," Baker said.
