How does UVA compare to Brown for an open curriculum feel?

Brown will feel much more open in the literal sense. Its open curriculum is one of the defining features of the school: there are no general education requirements, students can take most classes for a satisfactory/no credit option, and the expectation is that you shape your education around your own interests from the start.

UVA does offer meaningful flexibility, but it is not the same model. In the College of Arts and Sciences, students still work within area and competency requirements, and some of UVA’s undergraduate schools, like Engineering or Commerce, are more structured from the beginning. At UVA, freedom usually means room to choose among many paths inside a framework. At Brown, the framework itself is much looser.

Brown tends to fit students who already know they want to explore broadly across disciplines without being pulled back into a core. If you like the idea of mixing, say, public health, philosophy, and computer science just because the combination matters to you, Brown is built for that kind of academic self-direction. The culture there also supports intellectual wandering a bit more openly, since students are not all checking off the same distribution boxes.

UVA can be a very good match for someone who wants choice but also likes some structure and advising guardrails. A student in UVA’s College might still sample classes across departments and design an interdisciplinary path, but they will do it while meeting university requirements. That can feel helpful if you want exploration with clearer academic boundaries.

So if your question is which one feels more flexible academically, Brown is the clearer answer. UVA has plenty of room to explore, especially compared with many universities, but Brown’s system is intentionally built to maximize student-designed study in a way UVA is not.