VOTE: Once and for all, what is Brown’s hardest class?

We’ve all heard of Brown’s reputation as a “chill” school. You can’t technically fail a class, we don’t have GPAs and Brown has been rated one of the most leniently-grading elite private universities in the country. But this doesn’t mean navigating Brown academics is an easy ride, especially if you’re taking some of these classes.

Organic Chemistry

Widely regarded as THE hardest class at Brown, the words “organic chemistry” are ominous and dreaded by most aspiring med students. Rumor has it that its main purpose is to act as filter, weeding out all uncommitted pre-meds. Its the curriculum equivalent of the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. To make matters worse, two semesters of Orgo are required. No one-and-done.

An ex-student even wrote an opinion-piece for the New York Times about the class and its psychological toll. I can’t say I’m surprised. After all, the whiteboards at the Scili are always covered with Orgo during finals.

Good thing I’m a social studies student…

Music Theory

Music theory is known as the Orgo of the music department. A year-long course, it is a requirement for all music concentrators.

Getting through the placement test is already a challenge. Even with a decent theory background, I could barely do half of the exercises. Once you’re in, it gets worse. Class meets every Tuesday and Thursday, section meets Monday, Wednesday, Friday and depending on your keyboard skills, piano lessons are required. You have homework everyday of the week, eat and sleep key signatures and double counterpoints while trying to keep up in all three of your other classes.

Another tricky part is the fact that you are working with a totally different language, a new way of thinking and learning that is far from intuitive.

While it is one of the most challenging classes at Brown, students come out of the year-long course as much improved musicians, so the benefits definitely outweigh the cost of time, sweat, blood and tears.

Languages 

This goes without saying. Learning a new language is grueling, especially at the beginning. It took me about three years to learn how to roll the rs in Spanish…

Class levels 100 to 500 often meet at least four times a week, with added discussion sections and a hefty homework load.

According to science, we aren’t even conditioned to learn new languages at our age.

Bottom line is, if you want to study abroad, better buckle down and get ready to work work work work.

Computer Science Classes

While knowledge of programming and coding is arguably necessary in today’s world, CS classes at Brown are unforgiving. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard “I barely slept, I was doing  CS”.

Again, time factors into the difficulty. Some weeks, people spend over 20 hours on projects.

There is very little margin for error. Any cheeky look at your buddy’s work can be considered a violation of the Academic Code. A small error, and your code doesn’t work.