Brown University

Overview

One of the United States' renowned Ivy League educational institutions, Rhode Island's Brown University is the 7th oldest higher education institution in the U.S. and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. It is also the first in the country to accept students regardless of religious affiliation.

It boasts of the oldest Ivy League engineering department, which was established in 1847, and was among the first to offer doctorate degrees. It started offering doctoral degrees in the late 19th century, among the first institutions in the U.S. to do so. In 1887, it further added masters studies to go with doctoral studies.

In 1971, Brown University successfully merged Pembroke College, its coordinate women's campus, into its system.

Brown University comprises the School of Engineering, the Graduate School, the School of Professional Studies, the School of Public Health, and the College, which is built in the College Hill of Providence, Rhode Island. Brown University organizes its international programs through the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

As a distinguished institution, Brown University is affiliated with a number of Nobel Prize laureates, National Humanities Medalists, as well as National Medal of Science winners. As of 2019, it counted 24 Pulitzer Prize winners, 8 billionaire graduates, and many notable graduates who served in various public and private capacities.

The university is renowned for exemplary courses in the field of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth Sciences, Economics, Public Affairs, History, Mathematics, and Physics, among others. Its Egyptology major is a unique offering for a U.S. educational institution.

In the field of research, Brown University is ranked 103th as of 2017 by the National Science Foundation, based on total research and development expenditure, which stood at $212.3 at the time. The university holds an R1: Doctoral Universities-Very High Activity classification, as well as membership in the Association of American Universities, which it has held since 1933.

In sports, Brown University plays in the Ivy League athletic conference, an NCAA Division I conference. Its sports program, the Brown Bears, is the third largest of its kind, after Harvard and Princeton, respectively. It participates in such sports as rugby, rowing, baseball, soccer, hockey, and American football, among others.

Brown University lists more than 300 registered student organizations with varying interests, with on-campus resource centers to support its students. Student life on campus is lively and diverse, reflecting the university's thrust of providing balanced life and academic activities to its campus citizens.