PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Buoyed by the Brown Band — and bundled in enough winter clothing to brave the sub-freezing temperatures — the University’s new cohort of midyear transfer and visiting students marched through the Van Wickle Gates on Tuesday, Jan. 21, to mark the start of their Brown academic careers.

The group of 51 transfer and six visiting students will join returning students in beginning classes on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Brown’s newest students hail from a diverse group of institutions around the country and the world, including (among many others) Cornell University, Rice University, University of California - Los Angeles, Wellesley College, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies, or Sciences Po.

"This exceptional cohort of students arrives at Brown from a wide range of academic institutions, with an array of academic interests, personal experiences and impressive accomplishments,” said Logan Powell, dean of admission. “I am excited to welcome them into the Brown community, where they promise to make meaningful contributions as leaders, thinkers and innovative problem-solvers."

Tuesday’s procession replicates, on a smaller scale, the one that occurs each fall at Opening Convocation, during which all new students enter campus through the Van Wickle Gates. Each student walks through the gates only one other time while at Brown — at Commencement, when they exit campus through the gates, symbolizing the culmination of their academic experience at Brown.

This spring’s cohort of new students includes four visiting as part of the Brown-Tougaloo semester exchange, which invites undergraduates from both institutions to spend a semester enrolled at the other’s campus. Since 1964, Brown has shared a formal partnership with this historically black college near Jackson, Mississippi. 

The cohort also includes two visiting students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.