As seniors settle into their last semester, many are double-checking their requirements to make sure that, come May, they will graduate with a bachelor's degree in hand. While some expect to receive degrees from multiple departments, a small contingent will earn both a bachelor's and a master's degree through Brown's concurrent degree program. Not widely publicized, this track allows students to complete both degrees in four years.
As the system currently operates, candidates may apply during their junior year for the joint degree at the discretion of their respective department and the Graduate Council and must demonstrate academic excellence in a minimum of 34 courses over eight or nine semesters. Offering hard-working students the benefit of an advanced degree is commendable, yet the concurrent degree program was instituted in the 1960s before the adoption of the New Curriculum, and in some ways appears to stand in contrast with Brown's current philosophy of liberal learning.
The most stringent stipulation is that candidates must have completed 10 courses outside their area of study by the time they wish to apply. "Area of study" is defined broadly, and in fact often is distinguished at the level of sciences and humanities. This means that a student seeking a bachelor's and a master's in English, for example, may have to take at least 10 courses in life or physical sciences by the end of her junior year.
This can impose serious burdens on students who might prefer to spread such classes over their senior year as well, and it might discourage some others who would be reluctant to take so many extra classes without being certain of admission to the program. On the other hand, if the student took a fifth year at Brown to pursue her master's, she would be free to structure her undergraduate course of study according to the freedom allowed by the open curriculum, restricted only by the requirements within her concentration department.
According to Stephen Lassonde, deputy dean of the College, at the time the concurrent degree program was instituted, "the philosophy was to reward students who had already studied broadly." Yet we see in this an inconsistency with Brown's current educational philosophy. Given that students gravitate to Brown for its commitment to liberal learning at the undergraduate level, it seems both unfair and illogical to stipulate that those with a focused academic interest must spend valuable credits taking courses in other departments in order to even apply for an advanced degree. We would like to see these contingencies reevaluated and conformed to the mold in which the New Curriculum has been cast.
It is also important that students be aware of their options in pursuing degrees at Brown. Lassonde said that he is receiving "inquiries from increasingly younger students," some before they have even step foot on campus, yet typically fewer than 10 students graduate each year with a concurrent bachelor's and master's degree. On the one hand, said Lassonde, students should avoid "credentialing, rather than broadening and deepening their education," but they must also receive proper advising far enough in advance, because students who only start to consider applying in their junior year are "having to make real trade-offs." Students should work closely with their advisors and departments when considering possible degree tracks, and do so early on. When commencement rolls around, we hope to see students become graduates knowing that they made the most of their time here.
Editorials are written by The Herald's editorial page board. Send comments to editorials@browndailyherald.com.
