FAQ
General Information
- What is Brown College?
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While it is often confusing, Brown College is not the Ivy League university or the Brown Science & Engineering Library; instead, Brown is one of the University of Virginia’s three residential colleges. Although we have no official objective, we focus on building a strong community of students, faculty fellows, and local residents to foster a place where residents are creative and free to be themselves.
- What makes Brown so special?
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Brown is a nationally-recognized, self-governed community that accepts first-years and upperclassmen. Although you have to fill out an extra application, you will get to live with very active and caring people who host multiple exciting events every week. Brown is especially diverse — there are plenty of art and drama students, engineers and computer scientists, and philosophers and politics majors — and we strive to be inclusive to everyone, no matter their background. We’re a tight-knit community, and we provide an extremely accepting and intellectually stimulating atmosphere for people of all interests.
- Who lives in Brown?
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According to a past resident,“Brown is for the interested and interesting.” We currently house about 220 residents of different years, majors, interests, and talents. Brown is also committed to being inclusive and supportive of residents of all identities! Brown is open to all undergraduate students, including first years, upperclassmen, and transfer students. We also have a few faculty fellows, graduate students, and associated professors who either live along with the students or within a stone’s throw away from the college.
- What types of events and activities does Brown hold?
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There is always something happening in Brown. Activities hosted by students and faculty fellows include weekly movie showings from our ACES co-chairship, games of Mafia, sword fighting with foam weapons, Free Food Fridays, open mic nights, banquets, intramural sports, and other events hosted by specific portals (ranging from water gun fights to going to midnight premieres of movies, playing with legos to making giant gummy bears)! Every semester, Brown hosts its own semiformal, usually in a rented-out club on the Downtown Mall. During Halloween, Brown also builds and staffs its own haunted house (Hauntings) for charity. Finally, Brown hosts a carnival for its residents including inflatable slides and cotton candy every May. On a normal night, you can always find something happening in one of our communal lounges, including watching movies, playing games, cooking, doing homework, or just hanging out. If you see any activities missing, Brown makes it extremely easy to host an event yourself! You can reserve any communal space through the Intranet and send out notifications to all of Brown’s members for your event.
- What is a "portal?"
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Unlike any other dorm at the University of Virginia, Brown College is tower style, which means the dorm is split into vertical buildings, or portals. There are 12 different portals in Brown College, each of which has three to four floors, often including a basement level. The portals are Teal (Tucker), Saffron (Smith), Maroon (Mallet), Green (Gildersleeve), Periwinkle (Peters), Redwood (Rogers), Honey (Holmes), Magenta (McGuffey), Hazel (Harrison), Dandelion (Davis), Lapis (Long), and Violet (Venable). They’re separated into three different groups based on location: Anti-Quad (Periwinkle, Honey, Redwood, Teal), Quad (Lapis, Saffron, Dandelion, Maroon), and Green-Green (Green, Magenta, Hazel, Violet).
You'll notice there are two names for the portals. Recently, the portals have been rededicated - in parentheses are the old names. For now, these old names are still the official names, but people generally refer to them using the colors (e.g. Teal for Tucker).
- What are the tunnels?
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The tunnels are what we call the underground walkways that connect all the portals. They are the prime expressway for traversing Brown College, as well as a safe haven on a rainy day!
- Are there lounges in Brown?
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There are three large lounges in Brown, one on the ground floor of the Teal portal, one on the ground floor of Saffron, and one on the ground floor of Dandelion, named Teal Lounge, Saffron Lounge, and Dandelion Lounge respectively. Teal includes two televisions – where students enjoy watching Netflix and connecting to YouTube from their laptops, among other things – and a kitchen. While Teal is more popular for social and food events, Saffron includes a television and free cafe nights. If you are looking to study, there is a smaller lounge, called The Cave, which tends to be quieter. We also have Redwood Music Room, a semi-soundproof practice room on the ground floor of Redwood with a piano.
- How can I get involved with the Brown community?
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There are countless ways to get involved in Brown, whether you’re looking for opportunities big or small, academic or recreational. Each week, our Secretary sends an email to Brown residents with all the events for that week. Check out our events page. Additionally, we encourage all residents to apply for various positions on our student governance board, so you can help plan the events yourself!
- How can I get access to the intranet?
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Intranet access is limited to Brown College residents and faculty. If you should have access, but don't, please contact the website manager at [[email protected]]!
- When can I apply to live in Brown? When is the application due?
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Incoming first-years and transfers apply in the early summer around May; upperclassmen apply in the late fall around November for the following academic year. The specific due dates can be found online or on a copy of the current application.
- Is the application to Brown binding? If I get in, do I have to live there?
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For upperclassmen, we strongly encourage all those who apply and get into Brown to accept their housing offer. However, you do not have to accept it. Please note that accepting a housing offer and the housing agreement is a binding legal contract.
For first-years, if you select Brown as one of your housing choices, submit our supplemental application, and are accepted, then you will be assigned to live in Brown College. Once assigned, there are no room changes.
- If I get in, do I need to apply again?
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Current and former residents of Brown College have priority to be assigned to Brown as long as there is available space and they follow the housing application deadlines and processes. You do not need to fill out the application again once you are accepted. If you choose not to live in Brown for a semester or more and then want to return, you must contact Brown College Membership before the housing application deadline.
- How often does the application get updated?
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Every spring, Brown creates a new application to be filled out by prospective residents. Before filling out an application for Brown, make sure it is the most up-to-date version of the application. Though we don’t want to restrict your creativity, we would like all the applicants to answer the same questions to standardize scoring.
- Who writes the application?
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The application is written completely by current and former residents of Brown College. Each spring, we ask our residents for potential questions to put on the applications. Current residents then come together to determine which questions are the best. Finally, the questions that make the cut get assembled into our final application.
- Why is the application so... eccentric?
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With all due respect, we don’t care about your extracurricular activities or your GPA, and résumés are for jobs. When you apply to Brown, we want to know who you are without having had the chance to meet you. We feel that our application is an ideal way to express yourself and display your personality. We hope that this format lets you show us why you are “interested and interesting!”
- What are you looking for in the Brown application? How can I give my best answers?
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There is no single "ideal" type for Brown. Our app questions usually include multiple options, from which you can pick the one that works best for you. There are no requirements for the length of your answers, so use as much space as you think you need. Small-paragraph answers can be fantastic if they’re thoughtful or clever; two-page answers can be a drag if they’re written carelessly. Ultimately, have fun with the process and aim to show us your personality and your care for our community.
- How are applications scored?
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Brown applications are reviewed solely by past and current residents of the college. Individuals independently read and score each application on a scale from 1 to 6. Later, the readers assimilate into groups to decide on a group consensus score. Applications are ranked in order of final score with the average score given to it by individuals used as a tiebreaker. When reading the applications, grades given are solely based on two questions:
1) Do we want to live with this person?
2) Would this person be involved in the Brown community?
Remember, this is your chance to have fun and show off your personality, not to fill out another boring college application. Try to stand out in the crowd of applicants, but more importantly, be yourself!
- How many people does Brown let in?
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We wish we could accept everyone who had a quality application for Brown, but sadly, we do not have enough rooms to do so. Ultimately, Housing determines the number of room offers it can give to Brown. Typically, there are 40-50 total spots available for incoming first-years. Only a handful (four to eight) of spots are available for transfer students. For upperclassmen, there are usually 50-60 spots open.
- I have a question! Who do I ask?
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Please direct any membership related questions to [email protected], to be assisted by our membership team!
Rooms in Brown
- What is the basic room set-up for Brown?
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Brown is made up of 12 buildings, or portals. Each building has a stairway with three floors. Brown College suites are typically organized by gender, with the room designations being "Male" and "Female." That being said, it is important to the Brown College community that students of all gender identities feel accepted and comfortable with their housing assignments. If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to have further conversations about this, please contact Brown College Membership. We want to ensure that all of our residents receive the assignment that they deem most appropriate.
Each floor of a portal has four numbered rooms. Think of each numbered room as a suite. Each "suite" has two rooms for two students (you and your roommate) and is either connected to one or three other suites via a shared bathroom.
First-Year Students will only have other First Years in their suite. The remainder of the suites will have a mix of upper-class students. If you are a non-traditionally aged first year, perhaps due to a gap year, you can contact [email protected] to potentially be placed in an upperclassmen room instead. - What are the dimensions and furnishings for a room in Brown?
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Information about the size of rooms and furnishings in Brown can be found here.
- Are bathrooms communal in Brown?
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Rooms in Brown are connected to a shared bathroom. The bathroom is not public and can only be accessed through the rooms of those sharing it. Bathrooms are usually shared between two or four rooms (four or eight people). If you are a first-year or newcomer to Brown, chances are you will be sharing a bathroom with at least three other people. A four-person bathroom will have one stall, two sinks, and a shower. An eight-person bathroom will have two stalls, four sinks, and a shower.
- Are students responsible for cleaning their rooms and bathrooms?
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Yes, residents are responsible for cleaning their own rooms and bathrooms. This also means that you are responsible for providing your own toilet paper, soap, and other essential bathroom items as well as emptying out your trash. However, if there is a maintenance or repair problem in either your room or bathroom, you can fill out a work order with Housing to have your issue resolved for no charge.
- Does Brown have air-conditioning and heating?
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Yes, all of Brown is fully air-conditioned and heated.