I am writing this entry on Nov 6, 2023 (I guess I should start dating these). Tomorrow is the start of preregistration for students at Brown for the Spring 2024 semester. This post is not specific to the Spring 2024 semester, or for any semester. It's really just to give some general information about planning your curriculum.
OK. so, let's start with some basic information. There are a few requirements to graduate from Brown University. One of them is to "fulfill the requirements of a concentration." That's what this post is about.
The CLPS Department offers 4 different concentrations: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Behavioral Decision Sciences (BDS). In this post, I talk about my opinion of the differences among them.
The requirements for Psychology are here.
The requirements for Cognitive Science are here.
The requirements for Cognitive Neuroscience are here.
The requirements for BDS are here.
(BTW, as an aside, the Brown University Bulletin lists the WRONG INFORMATION. It won't be changed until March 2025)
OK. That's a lot of information. What I want to do here is give a few thoughts about navigating the curriculum offered by the department.
1) Most below 1000-level classes are offered every 2 years out of 3 (or 3 out of 4, you get the idea).
2) Most 1000-level classes are offered every other or once every three years. There are some exceptions. CLPS1900, for examples, is offered every semester (because it's a requirement for all four concentrations). And there are a few others. But, in general, you can count on a 1000-level course usually being offered every other year, but maybe not the specific 1000-level course that you want..
3) There are only three courses that satisfy requirements for all four concentrations.
A) CLPS0900, which is statistics. I do not recommend taking 900 until you know you are declaring a concentration (that means, don't take it as a first-year student). Here's why: CLPS900 is a requirement for our four concentrations, but is not always a requirement for other concentrations. So, for example, if you take 900 as a first year student, but then wind up as an Economics concentrator or a Sociology concentrator, you might wind up having to take another, similar statistics course. Save statistics until you declare.
B) CLPS1900/01, which is the general laboratory methods class. I think this is the most important class you can take in the concentration, because it provides you with a way of thinking about research and evaluating data. If you can take it as a junior, try to do so. Critically, I strongly recommend taking it the semester after you take statistics because the statistical knowledge will be the most fresh. Try to avoid taking 1900 and 900 concurrently.
C) CLPS200, which is Human Cognition. CLPS200 is the only other class that satisfies a requirement for all four of the concentrations (as well as for the Neuroscience concentration). It's the most flexible class we offer.
4) Most courses that end with a letter (except a few linguistics classes and a few labs) satisfies the "capstone" requirement for the Psychology/Cog Sci/Cog Neuro concentrations. Specialized laboratory classes (numbered 1_9_) do so as well. Lots of other classes do as well. Talk with your concentration advisor about this.
5) "Lab" classes usually have a 9 in the third numeric position. So if a course is numbered CLPS1X9X, it's usually a lab. As mentioned above, these classes also fulfill capstone requirements (but they do other things too).
6) Don't assume that a class will be offered in the same semester. For example, I often teach CLPS0610, but I've taught it in the Fall and the Spring - it depends on the year. Much of this depends on things like sabbaticals and other teaching requirements.
7) There are a few classes that are offered most summers as fully online classes:
CLPS0610 (which is numbered CLPS0611 in the summer - don't ask why - we're trying to change that).
CLPS0900 (Statistics) - but not always
There are also a few other online courses that are offered some summers:
A class in animal behavior (such as CLPS1181A - Canine Behavior)
A class on the perception of smell (CLPS1565)
A class on sleep (CLPS1194)
And we are developing other summer classes, so stay tuned. A class on food perception is also sometimes available in the wintersession.
Please note that summer and wintersession courses cannot be used for the capstone requirement. Check with your concentration advisor.
8) Finally, no matter what, when you are a senior, you need to make sure that your concentration declaration matches your transcript. It's usually a good idea to redeclare your concentration in semester 7 or 8 to make sure what you actually took matches what you say you are going to take in order to satisfy your concentration requirements.
I'm sure that there are other things to say about planning a concentration. But I'm going to end this post here, and perhaps generate a part 2 later on.