Brown University's wording, checked October 26, 2026“"There is something distinctive about Brown students. It is a blend of intellectual curiosity, creativity, and humility. A commitment to collaboration. An openness to new ideas and perspectives. A desire to make the world better. And it is resilience: the ability to recover and thrive after experiencing difficulties." From President Christina Paxson's 2025 Convocation Address. How will you use these characteristics or others to shape your approach to the Open Curriculum?”
How to approach it
- 1Show you understand what the Open Curriculum means: you design your own course of study.
- 2Pick one or two of the named traits (or your own) and show each with something you have done.
- 3Sketch the path you might build: subjects you would combine and why.
A structure that works
One way to shape this answer. It describes moves, not sentences: the words have to be yours.
- 1The trait you bring, shown in one moment.
- 2What you would want to study, and the unusual combination the Open Curriculum allows.
- 3How that trait would shape the choices you make, semester by semester.
Where the 250 words go
| Part | Words |
|---|---|
| Your first, most specific reason | about 90 |
| A second reason, tied to your experience | about 90 |
| What you would do or add there | about 80 |
Mistakes to avoid
- Quoting the convocation address back without adding anything.
- Praising freedom in general instead of showing how you would use it.
The checklist our grader uses for this question
When you check your Brown answers, this answer is read against these 5 areas. Each comes back Met, Partly or Missing with a quote from your draft as evidence, and together with the 150-250 words limit they set its readiness verdict.
| Area | What a reader looks for |
|---|---|
| Answers the question | The opening sentences answer what was asked, plainly, before background or a hook; every part of a multi-part question is answered. |
| Specific to this college | It names at least two concrete things that exist at this college (a program, course, research group, tradition, place, way of teaching) and could not survive a swap of the college's name. |
| Connected to you | Each thing named is tied to something the applicant has done, asked or wants, so the reader sees why it matters to THIS student, not why the college is good. |
| What you would do there | It shows how the applicant would use those things and what they would add (join, start, research, contribute), not only what they would receive. |
| Brown's ask | Engages with the Open Curriculum itself (choosing your own path) and uses the named characteristics, or others, to describe how. |
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Questions
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