Before winter break, Caitrin Watson '13 had a 13-hour cram session with her friends for an introductory art history course. But Watson was not taking the same popular art class taught here, and her friends were students at the Rhode Island School of Design - not Brown.
Watson is one of the 13 students currently enrolled in the pilot Brown-RISD dual degree program. Now in her second semester at RISD, Watson plans to combine her love of art and academics in the five-year program that will allow her to graduate with degrees from both schools.
"Art is my passion, but I have also always done well in academics," Watson said. "This is the perfect program for me."
As the dual degree program between Brown and RISD enters its second semester, students said it has been both successful and challenging.
Through the dual degree program, students live at RISD during their first year of college, and at Brown in their second year. After their first two years, students can live at either school, and have the option of living off campus in their last two years.
Currently, all of the dual degree students live in the same residence hall at RISD, helping them bond, said Beth Soucy '13, another student in the program.
"We have all become really close this year," Soucy said.
But she admitted she didn't feel as connected to the college she will live at next year. "I wish we had more interaction with the students on Brown's campus," she said.
For this first class of dual degree students, the transition to RISD's rigorous course load has been intimidating. Students often spend entire days working in the first-year studio foundation classes, working on their own projects while observing others' work and taking few breaks, Soucy said.
But they had been warned. At the RISD orientation last fall the students had been told that they could expect to get little sleep in their first year, Soucy said.
At Brown, the students will encounter less rigid degree requirements. "We only have to take roughly 16 classes at Brown for our degree, which is definitely not as stringent as our requirements at RISD," said Alison Rutsch '13.
Though it may be difficult to balance the different course loads at their two colleges, the dual degree students are capable of rising to the challenge, said Joanne Stryker, dean of foundation studies at RISD.
"These students are real pioneers," she said. "As a group, they are great - they certainly have their act together."
Stryker, a member of the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Oversight Committee, comprised of both administrators from both schools, said the committee is keeping a close eye on things. "We are always tweaking things," she said. "We're always looking for aspects of the program to improve and review."
Stryker said she thinks the greatest challenge facing the students is to be able to feel a part of both schools, as opposed to just one or the other.
For Rutsch, part of the challenge is getting used to the different environments on each campus and the contrast between the teaching styles of Brown and RISD professors, she said.
"At RISD, everything is much more interactive, in studio classes you are moving around the room and looking at the work produced in other classes," she said. "At the Brown freshman seminar that I took, the classroom environment was more reserved - it was a completely different atmosphere."
Though some of the dual degree students have already enrolled in classes at Brown, they will begin the majority of their studies here next year when they live at Brown.
As for the dual-degree class of 2014, selections will begin shortly, Dean of Admissions James Miller '73 wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. The committee waits to see which candidates were admitted to both schools independently, then makes its selections from that group, Miller wrote.
For Miller, the continued growth of the program is indicative of Brown's need to evolve constantly. "This program is clearly on the continuum of academic innovation that has characterized Brown throughout its history," he wrote.
Though she often has to sacrifice sleep and her social life to keep up with her work, Watson's faith in the program remains unshaken, she said.
"I will walk away with a degree from two great universities - I don't want anything other than that," she said.
