Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island, USA · Brown University is often called the most liberal university in the Ivy League—there are no required general education courses, and students design their own curriculum. This attracts applicants seeking not just a prestigious degree, but also the opportunity to pursue an unconventional academic path. The competition is also one of the most competitive in the Ivy League: only 5.65% of applicants for the Class of 2025 were accepted.

  • Bachelor's degree: $74,568 per year
  • Master's degree: from $9,320 per course (approximately $74,560 per year with a standard course load of 8 courses)
  • Doctoral degree: from $9,320 per course (approximately $74,560 per year for a standard 8-course course load)
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No. 69 in the worldQS World University Rankings 2026
No. 13 in the USAUS News & World Report 2026

About the university

Brown University is one of the eight Ivy League universities and one of the oldest universities in the United States: it was founded in 1764, only 28 years after Princeton. It is located in Providence, Rhode Island, a small but conveniently located city: an hour to Boston, about three hours to New York.

The main feature of Brown is the Open Curriculum, an open-ended curriculum system introduced back in 1969. Unlike most American universities, there is no fixed set of general education subjects. A student chooses courses from more than 80 fields and forms their own academic program. This is convenient for those who want to combine several fields of knowledge or build a non-standard career path, such as studying computer science and philosophy simultaneously.

The campus is located in the historic College Hill neighborhood. Alumni include Nobel laureates, politicians, entrepreneurs, and cultural figures, including CNN founder Ted Turner (who attended Brown but did not graduate) and actress Emma Watson, who earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature in 2014.

Degree of study
bachelor's degree, master's degree, doctoral degree
Percentage of accepted students
5.65% (2025 set)
Probability of employment after training
80% of graduates continue their education in a master's program or a professional school within 10 years of graduation
Scholarships
Need-blind admission for all students, including international students — 100% of the confirmed financial need is covered without loans
Directions
A free curriculum offers more than 80 courses, ranging from computer science and economics to humanities and biomedical disciplines
Тип
частный исследовательский университет
Size of the student campus
about 10,000 students (undergraduate + graduate/PhD)
% of international students
about 14%
Student town
The historic College Hill neighborhood in Providence is home to libraries, laboratories, research centers, and dozens of student organizations.

Curriculums

The cost of undergraduate tuition for the 2026-2027 academic year is $74,568 per year, which is a fixed rate regardless of the program chosen.
Master’s and doctoral programs at Brown are charged differently, based on courses rather than a fixed annual rate. The standard course price for 2026-2027 is $9,320. With a typical load of 8 courses per year, the total amount is comparable to the cost of a bachelor’s degree, but the exact figure depends on the program and the year of study. About two dozen master’s programs are priced separately, at an individual market rate.

Additional expenses
Including accommodation, meals and mandatory fees, the total cost of attendance (Cost of Attendance) for the bachelor's degree for 2026-2027 reaches about $99,984 per year. Of these, about $97,116 are direct expenses (tuition, fees, accommodation, meals), and the remaining amount is for study materials and personal expenses.
Financing options
At first glance, the amount looks intimidating. But the key point is that Brown University fully covers the confirmed financial need of all admitted students — no loans, just grants.

Diversity of educational programs

Bachelor’s degree

  • STEM and Exact Sciences
  • Architecture and design
  • Natural sciences and Biomedicine
  • Engineering
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Computer Science and IT
  • International Relations and Diplomacy
  • Pedagogy
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences and Public Policy
  • Public health and epidemiology
  • Creative direction
  • Economics, finance and management

Master’s degree

  • STEM and Exact Sciences
  • Architecture and design
  • Business and Management
  • Natural sciences and Biomedicine
  • Engineering
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Computer Science and IT
  • Medicine
  • International Relations and Diplomacy
  • Pedagogy
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences and Public Policy
  • Public health and epidemiology
  • Creative direction
  • Economics, finance and management

Doctoral studies

  • STEM and Exact Sciences
  • Architecture and design
  • Natural sciences and Biomedicine
  • Engineering
  • Arts and Humanities
  • Computer Science and IT
  • International Relations and Diplomacy
  • Medicine
  • Pedagogy
  • Psychology
  • Social Sciences and Public Policy
  • Public health and epidemiology
  • Creative direction
  • Economics, finance and management

Faculties

  • The College is the main division for undergraduate studies, with more than 40 academic departments within the Open Curriculum.
  • Graduate School — 51 doctoral programs and 33 master’s degree programs.
  • Warren Alpert Medical School is one of the oldest medical schools in New England (founded in 1811, the modern MD program has been running since 1972).
  • The School of Engineering is the oldest engineering program in the Ivy League.
  • School of Public Health.
  • School of Professional Studies — professional master’s programs.
  • Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs — international relations and public policy.

Popular undergraduate majors for international students include computer science, economics, biology and biomedical sciences, political science and international relations, mathematics, and the humanities.

Arrangement

The campus occupies the historic College Hill neighborhood, a mix of colonial and Victorian architecture. Student life is centered around Main Green, which is within a 5- to 10-minute walk of any freshman dorm.

Most freshmen live in campus dorms, which offer single, double, or triple rooms with shared kitchens and laundry facilities. Seniors choose between dorms, program houses, and apartments, and over 1,100 students participate in Greek organizations.

On campus, there are two large dining complexes (Sharpe Refectory and Verney-Woolley), four restaurants, coffee shops, and stores, as well as seven libraries and the School of Engineering laboratories. Most graduate and doctoral students live off-campus.

Admission process

Admission is done through the Common App. A student enrolls in the university as a whole, not in a specific faculty — the direction is formed after enrollment.

Academic documents.

Diploma, grades in specialized subjects, and overall academic trajectory.

Essay and additional questions.

The main essay through the Common App and additional questions from Brown are about the applicant’s personality and the reasons for choosing the university.

Letters of recommendation.

Two from subject teachers, and one from a school counselor.

Extracurricular projects.

Brown values the depth of engagement rather than the number of activities.

Submitting an application.

Early Decision — until November 1 (binding option). Regular Decision — until January 5.

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Admission Features

Educational process

For international applicants, the requirements are the same as for U.S. citizens, plus proof of English proficiency through IELTS or TOEFL.
Starting from the 2025-2026 academic year, Brown has reinstated the mandatory SAT or ACT exam. The average scores of accepted students are 1480-1560 on the SAT (Math + EBRW) and 34-35 on the ACT, which serves as a guideline rather than a selection threshold.
For creative fields and the Brown|RISD Dual Degree program, a portfolio may be required through SlideRoom.

Scholarships and grants

From the 2025 class, Brown has need-blind admission for international students: family income does not affect the admission decision. Brown is one of eight universities in the United States with this policy, along with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, MIT, Amherst, and Bowdoin College.

  • Financial aid is exclusively targeted and based on need; there are no academic merit scholarships.
    100% of the confirmed need is covered by grants, without loans (The Brown Promise program).
  • The application for assistance is submitted at the same time as the application for admission.
  • Doctoral students receive a 5-6-year funding package.

About 49% of students receive grants, with an average size of about $59,655 (covering ~84% of the cost of education).

Prospects after graduation

About a quarter of bachelor’s degree graduates pursue a master’s degree immediately after graduation. The career network spans over 100 countries. Six years later, the median salary for graduates is around $79,131 (US News).

Employers include Google, Microsoft, Meta, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

Scientific achievements

Among the faculty are eight Nobel laureates, including physicist Leon Cooper (one of the creators of the BCS theory of superconductivity) and economist Peter Howitt (Nobel Prize 2025). Among the alumni is Nobel laureate in medicine Crag Mello.
A notable achievement is the BrainGate project: a brain-computer interface that in 2023 helped a person with ALS to “speak” again with up to 97% signal translation accuracy.
Brown receives about $250 million in federal research funding per year.

Interesting facts

Story

The seventh oldest university in the United States.

Mathematics

The oldest applied mathematics program in the country and the oldest engineering program in the Ivy League.

Student initiative

The Open Curriculum was created in 1969 on a student initiative.

Unification

In 1971, Pembroke College for Women merged completely with Brown.

Famous alumni

Alumni include former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and science fiction writer Ted Chiang.

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