Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies

The Urban Studies Program teaches students to analyze the city, urban life, and urbanization through a variety of disciplinary lenses. Students learn where cities come from, how they grow, thrive, and decline, how they are organized, and how to construct meaningful, inclusive, secure, and sustainable places. The curriculum examines how urban problems arise, how they have been previously addressed, and how to plan cities of the future. Urban Studies embraces the overall goals of liberal education. A quintessentially interdisciplinary program, it encourages comprehensive, synthetic approaches to complex problems. Three writing-intensive research seminars and a rigorous quantitative methodology course provide students with skills in critical thinking, evidence-based problem solving, statistical literacy, and collaboration. Through individual research or fieldwork projects, students learn to calculate, interpret, and communicate numerical and spatial data. Seminar papers help students imagine real world applications of theories, communicate ideas effectively, and provide an opportunity to engage directly with their community. In these ways, the Program trains socially responsible citizens while preparing students for a range of professions.

International applicants, like all applicants to Brown, are expected to complete secondary school. Brown's first-year students will have completed 12 to 13 years of primary and secondary schooling. Similar to applications from students within the United States, we evaluate applications from students outside the United States with their context and opportunities in mind.
English language proficiency must be achieved before you are admitted. Brown does not offer courses in English as a Second Language for its undergraduates and does not offer provisional acceptances to students who are deficient in English.
A minimum score of 105 on the TOEFL internet-based exam, a minimum score of 8.0 on the IELTS
minimum score of 130 on the Duolingo