Economics at the Brown Summer School

One of my AS economists, Hordern Farr writes in this blog about his experiences at the Brown Summer School in the United States - a course taken after the GCSE exams had finished.

I came across the Summer@Brown program after attending a US university seminar in London. This concept immediately struck me as a perfect way of understanding how such a university operates and get a feel for life on an American College campus as well as further my knowledge in Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business ahead of starting my sixth form studies.

Having written a short essay of entry, I arrived at the campus and headed to the check-in desk in Solomon Hall. It was easy to navigate with a member of staff around every corner and signs for the Summer@Brown directing newcomers to the correct place. I immediately felt right at home. It was easy to make friends with many social activities arising from the first few hours of entry. But the work was to begin the following day.

I arrived at the Science Library with high hopes at my 12:45 - 3:50 class on the first Monday. The teacher was kind and chatty. She had a PhD in Economics and was experienced with the format of summer courses. We were to be learning about "Technology and its effect on Business and World Economies" for the next 2 weeks. The class’s structure usually consisted of a group discussion and it was easy to get involved and really understand whatever concept we were learning about. There was never a moment of boredom. I quickly became good friends with the class of 32 and our love for the subject seemed to push the learning standard up fast and we pushed on.

We had just enough homework each day not ruin our lives but also keep us on our toes. Usually we had to split up into groups and research a topic and then present it to the class the following day. Such topics included: contrasting the effects of a particular technology on two countries, or looking into how different nations have developed and what was different about their economic development speeds and patterns.

At the beginning of the second week, we were told that we would be working towards a main project on the final Friday. This was to pick a technology, research and present it. We had to include certain points such as: IP Protection, supply and demand factors and what affect it had on any local or major economies, as well as any other interesting points. My group and I picked YouTube. Other technologies picked were 3-D printers, the internet and photography instruments.

The two week Brown Summer School completely exceeded my expectations and not only did I learn about “Technology and its effect on Business and World Economies”, I made some amazing friends that I will never lose contact with, as the mentality of the campus is inviting for new friendships to grow. There were many other extra-curricular activities available which ranged from football to ultimate Frisbee to sexual education to college application help to tours of the campus to competitions of all sorts. It really was an amazing time and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment

I would recommend it to anyone who is considering going to an American College with no real experience of what to expect. The range of courses was incredible. It was possible to study “Stem Cell Technology”, “Theatre Studies” and almost anything else. Furthermore there are many variations of each topic. At the same time I was there, there were four other business and economic classes going on. It was amazing! I hope that anyone who reads this will look into the Summer@Brown course and recommend it to everyone who would be interested