As a high school student from Providence, Oliver Giller is familiar with the city. But last Friday, he saw a new side of the place he calls home as an admitted student flocking to campus for Brown’s twice-annual “A Day on College Hill” event.
Before coming to ADOCH, Giller knew “that Brown’s a beautiful campus and that Brown students are lovely people.” Still, people were even “more friendly than I thought they’d be,” he said. “Everyone’s just been really excited to meet people.”
ADOCH offers admitted students a chance to immerse themselves in Brown’s campus as they make their final college decisions. The Herald spoke with attendees at this year’s first ADOCH on April 17 to hear their first impressions of Brown.
The day featured a packed program, including an Open Curriculum talk, bingo icebreaker, mock classes and student performances.
Cecelia Curtis, a prospective member of the class of 2030, said ADOCH exceeded her expectations.
“I kind of just expected to hear from people who are being paid to be here,” Curtis said. “But, it was really nice to see current students that were on the lawn and hear from them as well.”
“The community that they talk about online is real,” Curtis added.
Nithin Venkatramanan enjoyed the warm and welcoming nature of campus and said the day positively influenced his perception of Brown. “I’ve tried speaking to a few students at Brown, and they’ve all been really helpful with the advice they give me,” he said.
Advaith Shyam also found a friendly energy on campus –– he said students “will smile and say ‘Hi!’ out of the blue.”
Before visiting, Venkatramanan envisioned Brown as a “small town kind of school,” but he ended up appreciating how integrated the University feels with the city of Providence.
“A lot of the other college campuses I’ve been to are either fully city campuses or completely isolated campuses,” Venkatramanan explained. “I think the integration of brown into Providence is something that's really unique about it.”
Shyam, who is from Seattle, found the campus to be extremely different from his state’s school, the University of Washington, but he said that he prefers Brown’s smaller and more contained campus
For Olivia Lerner, ADOCH was an opportunity to confirm why Brown has always been her first choice.
“Especially with the Ivy League schools, (the environment) could be so intense and so cutthroat,” Lerner said. “I just don’t feel that at all with Brown,” she said, adding that it feels like “such a collaborative environment.”
Lerner previously toured Brown in the winter and enjoyed the opportunity to see the campus in bloom on Friday. “Coming in the spring has been super, super gorgeous,” Lerner said. “The cherry blossoms make everything so picturesque.”
Kathryn Tubb enjoyed seeing students spending time on the Main Green, which she described as a “quintessential college” experience. She felt that Brown “lived up to the vibe of being fun,” crediting ADOCH with pushing her from 95% to 99% committed to attending.
Going into ADOCH, Blue Meyerson expected the day to feel more structured. But she appreciated the freedom to attend events independently and socialize with other admitted students.
Meyerson particularly liked the “grab and go” food truck festival, where students could redeem tickets for a meal and a Del’s lemonade, saying that it allowed students to take advantage of their limited time at Brown and explore campus.
While Lerner also enjoyed this freedom, she said she would’ve appreciated more events that encouraged students to interact with people they hadn’t talked to at the event yet.
Giller said he liked meeting fellow admits and seeing student music performances, but felt that the opening presentation highlighting the Open Curriculum was a “little bit slow.”
ADOCH also featured activities for parents of admitted students, which parent Tim Izzo appreciated. “This was the only school that we visited that parents were given an opportunity to sit in on a class,” Izzo said.
Parent Beth Izzo also enjoyed the sense of community at Brown. “The word ‘community’ has been emphasized so many times during the day,” she said. “You can really tell that it’s a campus that revolves around that word.”
