As members of the Rhode Island School of Design's class of 2012 attended their first classes on Wednesday, 13 of the freshmen were not preparing to spend their next four years at the college. In fact, they weren't actually members of the class of 2012.
The inaugural class of the Brown-RISD dual degree program officially began their five-year careers on College Hill this week. They are expected to receive degrees from both institutions in Spring 2013. The students will live and take classes at RISD this year in order to complete required foundational coursework and will spend next year at Brown. For the remaining three years they will be able to take classes at either school in order to complete their degrees.
Despite this structure, some of the students decided to jump-start their Brown experience. Chihiro Hashimoto '13 attended Brown's Convocation ceremony but - to avoid tempting fate - did not walk through the Van Wickle Gates.
The students in the dual degree program will officially attend Convocation next year, but "I just had to sneak in and see Ruth's speech," Hashimoto said, referring to President Ruth Simmons' convocation speech.
This year, the students took part in RISD's freshman orientation, which started last Saturday, and were invited to a dual degree program specific-orientation on Tuesday.
"It was mostly an introduction to Brown's resources," Beth Soucy '13 said. She and some of her classmates also attended the activities fair last week, though she acknowledged that it would be difficult to be involved in student groups at Brown given RISD's demanding class schedule.
At the meeting, students were also asked to speak about why they had decided to join the program. "It was clear that the people they had selected were going to be a great class together and that everyone was there for different reasons but they were all the right reasons," said Myken Bomberger '13, a dual degree student.
Students were also informally invited to some of Brown's Orientation activities. "It's a goal to have the students feel a part of the Brown community during their first year," said Brown Professor of Visual Arts Richard Fishman, who will be advising two of the dual degree students and is a member of the program's oversight committee.
Since they were allowed to move in early - on Sept. 1 - many of the students in the program were able to bond before the rest of the RISD student body arrived on campus, but that didn't keep them from meeting their non-program classmates. "Some of us will stick together, some of us will not; there's no dependency," Soucy said. "We all have friends across the board at RISD but we all get along and have fun together."
Quite a few of the inaugural class of the Brown-RISD dual degree program will also be taking advantage of Brown's First Year Seminars this year. In addition to foundational studio courses, RISD requires freshman to take English and art history classes. But some students are able to waive these requirements through Advanced Placement test scores.
"I really wanted to take a Brown course," said Hashimoto, who will be taking ENGL 0250F: "Shakespeare's Present Tense" in the spring. "Brown was my absolute first-choice school and I'm psyched to be a part of the community."
Soucy will be juggling foundational classes at RISD as well as SOC 0300B: "Environment and Society" this semester. Though she is concerned about the challenges of balancing classes and social lives at both schools, she feels optimistic.
Soucy will not have to face those challenges alone. She and the other students in the program will have a support base to help guide them throughout their time at Brown, including faculty advisers at both schools and Meiklejohn advisers that are also in the process of completing degrees at both schools.
"I think (the Meiklejohns) will be very useful at giving guidance about managing our time," Soucy said. "Everyone in the program is capable but it's very intimidating."
Alice Costas '10, one of the three Meiklejohns that will work with the first-years in the dual degree program, matriculated at RISD in 2005. After spending a lot of time "negotiating bureaucracy," she was able to enroll at Brown as a transfer student in 2007 and has continued working toward degrees at both schools.
"I think that my advising position with them is in a lot of ways like a typical Meiklejohn," Costas said. "But we will have the added requirement of making sure that they complete their degree requirements."
Class schedules will not be the only thing the students will have to manage. "It's a balancing act both academically and socially," Soucy said. "It's just a matter of being able to trek up College Hill and stay in touch with friends no matter where you're living."
Still, to Gamaal Wilson '06.5, who pioneered the unofficial dual degree program when he received an A.B. from Brown and a B.F.A. from RISD in the fall of 2006, the biggest asset of the formal program may be the opportunity to experience it with peers.
"I went through it alone and people didn't know if it would be done," Wilson said. "They have each other and that's a benefit and I think as time goes on they will realize how great that is."
