They took either seven-week credit courses, boosting enrollment 64 percent compared to last summer, or more intensive noncredit mini courses, increasing enrollment 72 percent over last year.
Great modern European thinkers attracted Tamsen Conner to College Hill; Shannon Stockdale came for the recent global strife.
Whatever courses enticed high school students from around the world to Brown this summer, the result was the same: More came to participate in Brown's summer programs than ever before.
From Alaska to Louisiana, Tennessee to California, Aruba to Thailand, nearly a thousand youths came to campus, filling dorms and classrooms. They took either seven-week credit courses, boosting enrollment 64 percent compared to last summer, or more intensive noncredit mini courses, increasing enrollment 72 percent over last year.
When applications for the programs began arriving at the beginning of March "we said ‘Wow, can this be true?’" said Karen Sibley, dean of summer studies and executive associate dean of the college for curricular outreach.
Those who lead college and university summer programs around the country typically see increased enrollments when the economy is flagging, but that was not the primary reason behind Brown’s numbers, said Sibley.
New marketing strategies, including a revamped Web site, improved the quality of information and access to information about the program, and played a significant role in the increase, said Sibley. One-third of applications arrived over the Internet.
Tamsen Conner of Lenox, Mass. — one of 38 states and 25 foreign countries represented — chose Brown's summer program over courses at another major university because they "sounded more interesting here."
"It’s a lot of work but a lot of fun," said Conner, who took "Modern American and British Literature" in addition to "Great Modern European Thinkers," and is entering her senior year of high school. "The discussions go into more depth than the classes at home."
As part of one popular mini-course, "So You Think You Want to Be a Doctor," students complemented time in the classroom with time shadowing local doctors. Some students have had an opportunity to observe childbirth and cardiac surgery, according to Sibley.
Lindsay Stevenson, a Canadian who currently resides in Singapore, shadowed an orthopedist and saw patients with phantom pains, carpal tunnel syndrome, and a smashed thumb.
"I wanted to see what it was like to be a doctor, and I’ve gotten a good sense of it," said Stevenson, 18, who will be entering Grade 13 in Switzerland in September. "I want to be a general practitioner."
Brown's summer studies are modeled to provide students with the classic college environment. There are no curfews, and professors don’t track down kids and corral them into classes.
That was one of the program’s attractions for Shannon Stockdale.
"I was interested in getting an actual college experience before shipping off to a college," said Stockdale, 17, who is entering her senior year in high school in Arcadia, Calif. "You also get to compare yourself to other [academically] competitive students."
Though high school students are the largest population in summer programs, adults and young adults also participate in an English language program, which grew 86 percent over last year, and undergraduate and graduate students take courses, a number that grew by 5 percent in the time period.
Overall, enrollment in Summer Studies programs totaled the size of a Brown freshmen class. Unlike a first-year class, however, students transitioned in and out of dorms on different schedules, packed buses for weekend trips and generated a continuous need for basic necessities to navigate campus, such as dormitory keys.
Although Stockdale and several other students said the courses would "look good" on their transcripts, the greatest benefit students gain from the summer program may not be realized until they enter college.
Brown's summer program provides the experience of college life on a smaller level, so that students can learn how to balance academics with newfound freedoms, according to Sibley. There is free time built into the program, but students are warned at the orientation session that 90 minutes in the classroom may mean four or five hours of homework in their free time.
"They are absolutely drawn first to the courses," said Sibley. "But here they have to figure out how to manage their time … they learn how to balance fun, friends, laundry, homework and sleep."