Introduction
Some students have emailed me about the Concurrent Bachelor’s / Master’s Degree at Brown University. The University (likely on purpose) does not publicize this program too much—the Deans told me that at most 8–12 students complete this program every year—and so there’s not too much information available about the program.
Aside from University-official documentation, Eric Jang has a great blog post detailing his Concurrent Degree petition from 2015. This post contains some information about my specific program that attempts to build off of Eric’s post with new information, reaffirm still-relevant information, and also just provide an example of the course plan I went through.
Requirements
There are several requirements to complete the Concurrent Degree:
- Credit Requiement: You must complete 38 credits. You can count two courses from your undergraduate degree towards your masters degree, if any are applicable—doing this reduces your credit requirement to 36.
- Breadth Requirement: You must complete 10 courses outside of your concentration. Of these 10 courses, you must take 2 courses within each of the “areas of study” outside of your concentration. The areas of study are defined as Humanities, Physical Science, Life Science, and Social Science, and the departments contained within those areas of study are detailed in the Concurrent Degree application. These 10 courses must be completed by the end of your 6th semester (when you apply).
- Depth Requirement: Of the 10 breadth courses, you must complete 2 courses (outside of your concentration) that are at the 1000-level or greater in a single department.
It’s worth noting that the breadth requirement refers to courses that are not applied towards your undergraduate concentration requirements or masters requirements. What this ultimately meant for me was that I counted a CSCI course towards my breath requirement in order to fulfill it by my 6th semester.
It’s also worth noting that the Committee may add additional requirements to Concurrent Degree candidacy based on your application.
Courses
Below are all of the courses that went towards my Concurrent Degree application.
Course Plan
I had a somewhat unusual course plan during my first three years, and my unexpected leave of absence in Fall 2019 complicated my degree completion a bit further—I almost gave up on candidacy after I returned from leave—but then I stretched the requirements to their limits to get accepted into the program in my sixth semester.
(Specifically, I counted a CSCI course towards my breath requirement in order to fulfill it by my 6th semester. This was allowed because technically the breadth requirement refers to courses that are not applied towards your undergraduate concentration requirements or masters requirements. It’s worth noting though that I was asked by the Committee to take additional breadth courses in my seventh semester because they really did want to see the breadth courses placed outside of my concentration department.)
| Semester | Course | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Fall 2017 | CSCI0190 | Accelerated Introduction to Computer Science |
| CSCI0330 | Introduction to Computer Systems | |
| CSCI1300 | User Interfaces and Experience | |
| TAPS0260 | Stage Lighting | |
| JAPN0100 | Basic Japanese | |
| Spring 2018 | CSCI0220 | Introduction to Discrete Structures and Probability |
| CSCI1660 | Introduction to Computer Systems Security | |
| CSCI1950Y | Logic For Systems | |
| MATH0520 | Linear Algebra | |
| JAPN0200 | Basic Japanese | |
| Fall 2018 | CSCI1230 | Introduction to Computer Graphics |
| CSCI1570 | Design and Analysis of Algorithms | |
| CSCI1575 | Algorithms: In Depth | |
| CSCI1730 | Design and Implementation of Programming Languages | |
| TAPS1280C | Stage Lighting II | |
| Spring 2019 | CSCI1670 | Operating Systems |
| CSCI1690 | Operating Systems Laboratory | |
| CSCI2951O | Foundations of Prescriptive Analytics | |
| CLPS0620 | Social and Moral Development | |
| EDUC1130 | Economics of Education | |
| Spring 2020 | APMA1650 | Statistical Inference I |
| CSCI1380 | Distributed Computer Systems | |
| CSCI1970 | Individual Independent Study | |
| CSCI2300 | Human-Computer Interaction Seminar | |
| PHIL1880 | Advanced Deductive Logic | |
| Fall 2020 | CSCI1973 | Independent Study |
| CSCI2951E | Topics in Computer Systems Security | |
| ECON1090 | Introduction to Game Theory | |
| PHP1690 | Technology and Health Behavior Change | |
| CSCI1650 | Software Security and Exploitation |
Bachelor’s Requirements
Here’s how I used these courses to fulfill the ScB requirements (using the 2020 “new” requirements):
| Category | Sub-Category | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Introductory Sequence | 19 Track | CSCI0190 |
| CSCI1730 (1000-level substitution with CSCI0190) | ||
| Intermediates | Foundations | CSCI0220 |
| CSCI1010 | ||
| Systems | CSCI0330 | |
| Mathematics | APMA1650 | |
| MATH0520 | ||
| Pathways | Systems | CSCI1670 (core) |
| CSCI1660 (related) | ||
| Theory | CSCI1570 (core) | |
| CSCI1950Y (related) | ||
| Additional | Electives | CSCI1575 / CSCI1690 (half-credit substitutions) |
| CSCI1970 (thesis as capstone) | ||
| CSCI1970 (thesis as capstone) | ||
| Breadth | CSCI1230 |
Concurrent Degree Requirements
Here’s how I used these courses to satisfy the Concurrent Degree’s breadth requirement:
| Area of Study | Course | Title | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humanities | TAPS0260 | Stage Lighting | Fall 2017 |
| JAPN0100 | Basic Japanese | Fall 2017 | |
| JAPN0200 | Basic Japanese | Spring 2018 | |
| TAPS1280C | Stage Lighting II | Fall 2018 | |
| PHIL1880 | Advanced Deductive Logic | Spring 2020 | |
| Life Science | CLPS0620 | Social and Moral Development | Spring 2019 |
| PHP1690 | Technology and Health Behavior Change | Fall 2020 | |
| Physical Science | CSCI1300 | User Interfaces and User Experience | Fall 2017 |
| CSCI2300 | Human-Computer Interaction | Spring 2020 | |
| CSCI1973 | Independent Study | Fall 2020 | |
| Social Science | EDUC1130 | Economics of Education | Spring 2019 |
| ECON1090 | Introduction to Game Theory | Fall 2020 |
To satisfy the depth requirement, I used the following two ECON courses:
- EDUC1130 (cross-listed as ECON1301): Economics of Education
- ECON1090: Introduction to Game Theory