Ideally students will select a concentration that best fits their interests. If you’re planning a career in science then it is very unlikely that the specific science degree you select will limit your career options. Going to medical school? In that case, the degree matters very little and what’s more important is that you take the specific courses required by medical schools. Planning to go to graduate school in the sciences? In that case, whether you had a Biology, Environmental Science or other related degree won’t matter much. Instead, what will be important is the specific courses you’ve taken and the research experience you’ve acquired. So, if the EEOB curriculum is exciting to you then you can decide how best to pair it with complimentary courses. If you’re interested in having the widest possible foundation in the biological sciences then a biology degree is a good choice. If policy and the social context for your studies is of interest then concentrating in Environmental Science is a good choice. Some students decide to develop an independent concentration. Whatever you choose, realize that there will be tradeoffs. There are only so many courses you can take while at Brown, so taking more courses in one area necessarily means fewer courses in another. Ideally, you’ll be able to select a concentration that you find exciting, but one that also orients you towards a career trajectory that is of interest.

Many students are interested in gaining research experience and one of the best ways to do that is by conducting a senior thesis. Besides the research itself, the process of conducting a thesis builds a variety of other useful life and career skills - from project management, data analysis, learning to develop a compelling scientific ‘story’ and much more. The benefits of a thesis can’t be overstated. However, to conduct a thesis you need a research mentor, a faculty member who can help guide you through the process and likely one with whom you’ll collaborate on the work. Finding a research mentor is often a limiting step and not everyone who would like to conduct a thesis is ultimately able to do so. There is no single “best” approach for finding a mentor, but a good step is to start looking for faculty members to work with in your sophomore or junior year. By the second semester of your junior year it can often be too late to find a mentor if you haven’t already started to build a working relationship with a faculty member, as they often have a limit to how many students they’ll mentor at any one point in time. So, start having conversations and getting to know potential mentors, volunteer in their lab or take on a paid research experience as early in your time at Brown as possible. It is also worth pointing out that while the specific research you do as an undergrad might become the basis for your life’s work, it is much more common to move on to another area of specific interest after graduating. So, don’t worry if a potential mentor isn’t the “perfect” match. You just want to find someone who will invest in a productive research partnership.

There can be many different reasons a student might want to study abroad, but it can be a valuable experience and it is worth considering. If you are considering studying abroad then you should try to have a conversation with your concentration advisor as soon as possible so that they can advise you on the specific considerations relative to your degree requirements. Some students might want to use a semester abroad to pursue an interest outside of the sciences. That’s fine, but it means that you’ll have one fewer semester to meet your degree requirements so will require careful advance planning with your advisor to make sure there’s still a path for you to meet all of your concentration requirements on time. Alternatively, many students want to take a semester abroad to pursue their interests in science. In those cases, it is important to consider what courses you might take abroad that could be used to meet specific concentration requirements. Most concentrations allow at least 2 courses from a study abroad semester to meet specific concentration requirements and some concentrations will allow up to 4 courses from study abroad to be used to meet concentration requirements - depending in all cases on whether the specific courses taken are equivalent in scope and rigor to those offered at Brown. 

If you’re considering taking courses with EEOB content while studying abroad then you have two very different paths to consider. One path is to enroll in courses at a University (e.g., Oxford in the UK, University of Otago in New Zealand, etc.). The other path is to enroll in a program that offers field courses (e.g., field courses in the cloud forests of Costa Rica, field courses on a tropical reef in Australia, etc.). These two alternative paths offer some tradeoffs. The University courses tend to be more rigorous, whereas the field courses maximize experiential learning. In either case, it is important to do some homework in advance of making your final decision. You might be drawn to a specific University because of their topical expertise (perhaps a course in coral reef biology in Australia or a course on modeling species future geographic distributions in response to climate change in Denmark). If that’s part of your motivation then you want to make sure the class or classes you’re interested will be offered when you’d study abroad and that you have the prerequisites needed for those courses. Alternatively, you might be drawn to a field course experience in a specific ecosystem or country, but if that’s the case then realize that the quality of these field courses varies tremendously and that its critical to try to pick one that will provide a quality experience. Finally, realize that if there’s a specific program you’re interested in attending that is not preapproved by Brown’s Study Abroad Office, and you have a good justification for wanting to participate in that program, then its critical to start the petition process with that office as soon as possible.