Please see our Getting Started page!

Yes! All online Master's programs offer a monthly admitted student webinar, which you are welcome to register for. Instructions to register are included in your departmental letter of admission. This webinar is an opportunity to connect directly with the faculty Academic Director and program staff and provide you with an informal space to ask any questions you may have prior to starting the program. If you have any trouble locating instructions to register, please reach out to your Admissions Coordinator. 

Official transcripts must be submitted prior to starting your first semester. 

As an admitted student you may request to defer your admission for up to one (1) calendar year from the semester for which you were originally admitted to the program. You are required to pay your $500 non-refundable enrollment deposit and respond ""YES"" to your enrollment offer, prior to requesting a deferral.

In order to request a deferral of admission, students should reach out to their Admissions Coordinator, to start the process. The Admissions Coordinator will provide the student with the form that needs to be completed to submit their request. Deferral requests are not guaranteed. All deferral requests must be approved by program leadership.

Students who are awarded a scholarship, who choose to defer their admission, will not be guaranteed a scholarship for their deferred start date. Awarded students who elect to defer will be reconsidered for scholarship for their future start date. However, if a scholarship is once again awarded to the student for the future start date, the amount may vary from the amount awarded for the original start date.

Students who have been approved by the department to defer their admission, will receive a new admission offer letter for the deferred start date, once the decision period for the new start date has begun. In order to accept admission to the deferred start date, students will once again need to secure their admission with a $500 non-refundable deposit. However, both the original start date deposit and new start date deposit will be posted to their first tuition bill. Students may request a deposit wavier for their 2nd enrollment deposit, but are still required to complete their enrollment form.

Students who may need to defer their admission more than one (1) year will be required to formally reapply to the program.

Depending on the approval of any respective program, up to (1) one course may be eligible for transfer. Detailed information regarding the transfer credit policy can be found in your program's student handbook. 

Students are encouraged to reach out directly to their Program Specialist to inquire about more information on transfer credit process.

Visas are not issued or supported for any online Master’s program. 

As a reminder, Brown University currently does not offer online programs to individuals physically located in the following areas: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. Please note that this limitation is location based, as well as applies to all citizens of these countries, regardless of location, who are ordinarily resident in these countries. View more information pertaining to embargoed country regulations for online courses. If you have been admitted and plan to relocate to one of these countries during your program of study, please contact your Admissions Coordinator prior to accepting your offer of admission. Students already matriculated who plan to relocate should contact their Advising Coordinator. 

Financial aid in the form of federal loans can be applied for using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is available exclusively to domestic/U.S. citizens. Find more information about Graduate financial aid. 

There are alternative resources for international students not eligible for the FAFSA.

More information about financing options can be found on the Getting Started page. 

Our online Master's programs offer a limited number of merit-based scholarships that awarded based on the strength of your application within the overall applicant pool. All offers of merit-based scholarship are awarded to you alongside your offer of admission. If you did not receive a scholarship notification with your offer of admission, unfortunately your application did not qualify for award. 

At this time, the online Master's programs do not offer need-based scholarships, however students may qualify for a variety of additional sources of financial aid, including private scholarships from public organizations, veterans benefits through the VA, Yellow Ribbon Fund and other sources, grants from local, state and federal government sources and graduate student loans from the federal government. 

For all financial aid questions, please reach out to gs_financial_aid@brown.edu. 

As an online student, your program or department may have a limited number of student-employment positions available. We recommend you speak with your Program Specialist or Advising Coordinator to determine availability.

Please note, at this time international students studying abroad in an online Master's program are not eligible for student employment opportunities. 

There are: winter coat funding, food support, regalia funding, medical, travel (which covers unexpected travel costs to or from Providence in the case of an emergency), car repair, textbooks/learning materials, and personal (this covers things like DACA fees, for example).

Find out more on the Student Support Funding website. 

Students enrolled in an online Master’s program are automatically waived from SHIP and do not need to take additional action. However, if an online Master’s student is in need of SHIP, they are eligible to opt-in via our insurance broker’s website. 

The Student Health and Wellness fee is a mandatory fee paid per semester by all actively enrolled degree-seeking student, regardless of enrollment type or insurance coverage. This fee covers in-person and telehealth benefits available to all students. You can read more about the fee on the Health Services website.

We encourage faculty to choose resources that are available online at no extra cost to students. For courses that require additional textbooks, students can expect that the cost will be kept under $150 per class.

On-campus orientation for all Master's students occurs generally the last week of August, before the first day of the Fall semester each year. Some sessions throughout orientation are available virtually, but not all sessions are virtual or relevant for students in online degree students. 

Students enrolled in fully online Master’s programs are not required to attend on-campus orientation, but are welcome to participate if they'd like to. 

Additionally, all online master's programs host a virtual, programmatic orientation synchronous session for new students approximately one to two weeks prior to the start of their first semester. Information regarding the synchronous orientation will be sent to new students, via their personal and brown.edu email address. Synchronous orientation is not mandatory, but new students are encouraged to attend.

No, classes are not available in multiple formats. Students enrolled in an online master’s program may only register for the courses outlined within their curriculum sequence. Online master’s courses are not offered in-person, and online master’s students are not eligible to enroll in courses that are offered in the residential master’s programs. 

Pre-Matriculation

After the student has been admitted, if the student wants to transfer to the other mode of delivery offered by the program prior to starting their first semester, the student will need to complete the Mode of Deliver Transfer Request form (pre-matriculation).  This can be requested from their Admissions Coordinator, and will need to be approved by the online and residential Program Director.

Students who have been approved to transfer will receive a new admission offer letter, once the decision has been made by the department. In order to accept admission to the program, students will need to secure their admission with a $500 non-refundable deposit. If this has already been paid prior to the transfer request, the deposit will be transferred over.

Any scholarships awarded for one mode of delivery, may not be applicable if a student transfers.

Post-Matriculation

After a student begins their program, there is a process in place to review requests for program mode of delivery transfers. All modes of delivery transfers will require Director approval and are not guaranteed. Current students will work with their Advising Coordinator to initiate this request. Students must make this request within the first year of their program. 

It is important to note that if the transfer is approved, students will only be able to switch mode of delivery once during the duration of their program. It is important to note that previously completed coursework from one modality may not transfer between modes of delivery. It is recommended that students speak with their Advising Coordinator and Program Director to understand which courses may/may not transfer.

*It is important to note that not all Master's programs offered online have a residential program counterpart. 

It takes approximately 12-15 hours per week to complete coursework for each course. This is an average estimate and may vary depending on your previous background.

Students who seek an exception to complete the program part-time (1 class per semester) will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by academic leadership. Please reach out to your Advising Coordinator to request a part-time plan of study course sequence.

Students may not take longer than 5 years to complete their degree program.

Students can request to increase their course load. To begin, students will need to contact their Advising Coordinator with their request. The department will review the request and determine the best course plan for the student pedagogically, in conjunction with when courses are being offered. 

*It is important to note that the option to increase course load may not be available due to the course development process and timeline for when courses will be offered and available. Additionally, per University policy, students may not enroll in more than 2 courses (2 Units) during the summer semester. 

For all online Master's programs, the curriculum is designed to be lock-step. While we will work with students on an individual basis who may require sequence accommodations, we encourage students to follow the standard plan of study and enroll in the 2 courses outlined in the standard sequence each semester. The program of study was designed to provide the best pedagogy and learning experience possible for students.

Your standard plan of study can be found on the Program Orientation's curriculum page. 

The day and time of the synchronous session may vary by class and may vary each semester. In most instances the synchronous sessions will be offered weekdays between 6pm-10pm (ET), however when selecting a synchronous course time, faculty will take into consideration the different time-zone reflected within our student population. All synchronous sessions are optional for attendance and all sessions will be recorded and available to the class. 

Policies regarding the use of generative AI tools are left up to the discretion of individual faculty members. Each program or course may have different rules around AI use, so please refer to each course's syllabus. The Online Data Science program has its own AI Philosophy.

Whenever possible open-sourced textbooks, academic journals, and case studies will be used. In the instance where materials need to be purchased, faculty have been advised to select materials that can be reusable resources to students throughout the program and after graduation within their careers. Required materials will be listed on your course syllabus with additional instructions about how and where to purchase the materials. 

Note: Students enrolled in the online Master's in Management or the online Master's in Organizational Leadership program will be required to purchase a student subscription to Harvard Business Review for the duration of their program. Again, instructions for this will be made available in your course syllabi.

The Brown University Inclusive Access program has been patterned after several successful programs around the country. Inclusive Access converts physical course materials into instantly accessible, totally interactive and adaptive digital content, while reducing the cost to students. In short, this textbook model improves access and affordability to course materials for the 21st century.

The Inclusive Access model is much less expensive than other options; because of the increased buy-in from students with an Inclusive Access course adoption, publishers are willing to negotiate much lower prices. It also gives students convenient day-one access to digital course content, and can also allow them to experience more interactive and adaptive digital content which has been shown to improve educational outcomes. In addition, it gives faculty members the freedom to more easily tailor their course materials while maintaining full academic freedom to choose the texts they want for their course.

If you do not wish to participate in Inclusive Access, you must opt out of the program online before the Opt-Out deadline. If you opt out by the deadline given, access to the online content will be turned off and you will not be billed. Access the opt out option from the course materials tool on your Canvas account or the Inclusive Access materials list link on program emails or by emailing us at textbooks@brown.edu.

Prior to making any change to your course registration, students are required to reach out to their Advising Coordinator for further instructions and to receive a revised plan of study. 

To drop a course, students may reference the Dropping a Class in Courses@Brown guide. Please note, depending on the timing of your registration change, you may not be able to receive a full refund. Please review Tuition Leave Refund Policy for information on the refund policy.

Any course dropped after the 8th week of the semester will be considered a Late Withdrawal. Please refer to your program's student handbook for more information regarding late withdrawals. 

Students seeking to drop all of their courses after a semester begins will not be able to do so without assistance. Please contact your Advising Coordinator. 

We recognize that during the course of graduate study a student may need to request a leave of absence. Leaves of absence are normally granted for up to one year (3 semesters). Leaves of absence are not regularly granted for the summer term only. Students must follow all leave of absence policies and procedures outlined within the program’s Student Handbook/Graduate School Handbook. To get started, please reach out to your Advising Coordinator and they will assist you with your leave request. 

No. Our programs are designed to be completed in consecutive semesters, including summer terms, to help students maintain steady progress toward graduation. Taking the summer term off may unnecessarily extend the length of the program, as some courses are only offered during specific semesters.

Students are permitted one leave of absence (LOA) during the duration of their program for up to one year. Because leaves of absence are intended for unexpected or significant circumstances, they are not regularly granted for the summer term only.

Each program may have different policies regarding passing grades and course repeats. Please review your program's student handbook for specific information related to grading and contact your Advising Coordinator for more information and next steps. 

From personalized career advising appointments, to job boards and professional development funding, our diverse career services and professional development programs are designed to support career exploration, open doors to meaningful connections and empower the next generation of leaders.  Review the Career Services & Professional Development information located on the Student Resources page. 

Brown offer a number of ways for online Master's students to get connected! Review the Community Engagement information on the Student Resources page to find out more.

Yes, Brown offers Psychiatry and individual counseling, in-person and online via telehealth, through the office of Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS). BWell Health Promotion and Health Services also offers preventative care, support groups, workshops, and health empowerment tools for online Master's students. 

Please contact Student Accessibility Services. Information about SAS can be found on the Academic Resources page. 

Yes! Please see the Academic Resources page. 

We understand that an unexpected emergency can cause significant stress and uncertainty, impacting your academic success and personal well-being. Master's students who experience financial hardship as a result of an unanticipated event are encouraged to connect with the Student Affairs team in the Center for Master's Student Excellence to determine their eligibility for the Emergency Hardship Fund. 

Please be aware that Emergency Hardship Funding is limited and is based on financial need; some requests may be granted through this resource. Emergency Hardship Funding grant amounts vary, and funding priority is based on the urgency of the situation, level of hardship, and the student's overall financial situation. Emergency Hardship Funding typically provides awards up to a maximum of $500 per academic year. 

Students can review eligibility requirements and the award process in UFunds, in the SPS E-Gap Fund for Master's and Professional Students.

Student Affairs: masters_studentaffairs@brown.edu, can also provide guidance and advice in navigating available resources and make referrals to appropriate offices.

Yes! The Office of Military-Affiliated Students (OMAS) assists student veterans, ROTC cadets, and other military-affiliated students in making successful transitions into and out of the Brown community. They do this by offering programs and support services that facilitate learning opportunities within the military-affiliated and Brown community at large, connecting students to campus and community resources, and by supporting and advocating for our student veterans and ROTC cadets. OMAS also engages with Brown students interested in learning more about the military-affiliated community and with students exploring their options to serve in the Armed Forces post-graduation.

We welcome students to reach out the Program Director, Christian "Mac" Manning at mac_manning@brown.edu to learn more about support available to you.