2003 Class Survey

In the fall of 2003 , we sent out a survey to each member of the Class of ‘91 for whom we had an email or mailing address. We received responses from 245 people, or about 18% of the class. Thank you very much to those who took the time to respond to the survey - the results were very interesting! The following is a summary of the answers.

QUESTION 1: Have you received an advanced degree?

79% of those who responded have received an advanced degree. 18% of that group has obtained a master’s degree, 15% has received an MBA, and 14% have MD's. 10% of the respondents put in the time to receive a PhD, while 9% has a JD. The remainder obtained multiple advanced degrees, and 2 people received three degrees each. Very impressive!!

None/No Answer 21%

MA 18%

MBA 15%

MD 14%

PhD 10%

JD 9%

MA/MBA 3%

MA/PhD 3%

MA/JD 2%

MA/MD >1%

JD/MBA >1%

MA/MBA/PhD >1%

MA/MD/PhD >1%

MD/PhD >1%

QUESTION 2: Have you found a life partner?

77% of the people who responded to the survey have found a life partner. 16% have not, 4% said “Maybe,” and 3% didn't answer the question.

QUESTIONS 3-4: Is your partner a Brown grad? If so, what year?

Of the people who responded that they had found a life partner, 19% of them found a Brown graduate. Of that group, 75% partnered with Brown grads from the Classes of ’91 to ’93, and 21% partnered with alums from the Class of ’90 or earlier. 2% have robbed the cradle with a Brown grad from the Class of ’96 or later.

QUESTION 5: Are you a parent?

Half of those who responded to the survey do not have children. 47% do have children, and 3% did not answer the question.

QUESTIONS 6-7: If you do have children, how many? How old are they?< P> Of those respondents who have children, 45% have two children, 39% have one child, and 13% have three or more children. 3% did not answer the question. 67% of respondents have children under two years old, 65% have children between 2-4 years old, 23% have children between 4-6 years old, and 19% have children over 6 years old.

QUESTION 8: Have you lived abroad since graduation?

Of those who responded to our survey, 26% have lived abroad since graduation. Here’s where they lived:

No/No Answer 74%

Europe 10%

Asia 6%

South America 5%

Africa 4%

Australia 1%

QUESTION 9: What are you up to now?

Our class has headed in many different directions since graduation. Here’s what people are doing now:

Business 31%

Academia 19%

Medical 16%

Other 9%

Parenting 8%

Law 7%

Public Sector 5%

No Answer 3%

Chilling 2%

Long Answer Summary:

LESSONS:

True to our Brown education, a theme of tolerance can be found throughout respondents’ comments regarding their most important lesson learned in college. Several respondents answered with the words of a well-known adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The next most frequent response came in the form of yet another adage that we all sadly learned a bit later in young adulthood, “It’s not what you know but who you know.” Several people mentioned the value of friendships made at Brown along with an overall appreciation for friendship in general. Lastly, in keeping with our slightly-more-jaded adult personas, a final observation made by many of our classmates was that “Raging liberals are just as bad as arch conservatives.”

Some of our favorite "Lessons" quotes:

“Liberal orthodoxy is as bad as conservative orthodoxy.”

“PC is not always PC.”

“Avoid eating ECDC mayo.”

“Don’t drink vodka, stick with beer.”

“Pick more daisies.”

“Coed, naked thumper can lead to your life partner.”

“Beware fundraising activities masquerading as online surveys.”

RATTY DISHES:

Chicken cutlet, frost-your-own-cupcakes, and tater tots were the top three.

Our favorite Ratty quote:

“All memories of Ratty food are suppressed; it was fun socializing there, though.”

CHALLENGES:

As expected, our class’ biggest challenge mirrored that of most 30- something Gen-X’ers: BALANCE, BALANCE, BALANCE. Nearly every respondent used this word or a synonym thereof in response to this question. Ever true to Brown, however, the things in our lives we’re attempting to balance are fantastically diverse. Many mentioned their difficulty in finding enough quality time to share with life partners and/or young children, while others lamented their much too erratic (or infrequent) gym schedules and social interactions. Happily, no one openly admitted wanting more time for work away from their family and friends!!

Some of our favorite "challenge" quotes:

“Working while parenting and parenting while working.”

“Mothering is an equally important profession of choice.”

“Holding onto those pre-parenthood traits that made you attractive to your spouse in the first place.”

“I’ve become a boring suburbanite…..I might even mow the lawn sometime soon.”

“Saving enough for college education- have you seen how much Brown costs now?!?”

“Sleep.”

“Sleep deprivation.”

“Finding time to sleep.”

“No sleep ever.”

“Finding a good balance between work, home, and sleep. Sleep usually looses.”

It is important to note that the unattached, childless portion of our class (23% and 50% respectively) also sounded off very loudly regarding the very different circumstances they face. Every one of these respondents made a point of demonstrating that remaining unattached and/or childless was a choice and not a curse. In fact, most were jubilant regarding their station in life and understandably annoyed by having to once-again explain themselves. Shame on us, frankly, for making you guys feel that we were making a value judgment on these choices. We have faux-revoked our own Brown diplomas as self-punishment.

Our favorite quotes from these fun-loving folks:

“To keep from smiling all the time in front of my married friends.”

“I’m satisfied being attached and childless. I don’t see any challenges with not having any children.”

“Avoiding marriage and children.”

The point of all this is, the Class of 1991 is making its mark, doing great things, having lots of fabulous life experiences, and doing all this on our own terms, dammit. Just like dear ol’ Brown taught us to do…