Students pursue a "third person" academic approach drawn from the humanities and sciences to analyze the cultural, historical, and scientific underpinnings of contemplative experiences in religion, art, music, and literature. This is developed in combination with a "critical first-person" approach based in practical experience of contemplative techniques and methods to provide an integrated understanding of the role of contemplative thought and experience in societies and on the individuals who constitute them. Students in this concentration will: - Identify the wide variety of contemplative experiences across cultures and across time - Examine scientific and philosophical explanations for contemplative experiences - Cultivate direct first-person knowledge of contemplative experiences - Assess the meaning and significance of contemplative experiences both within the traditions from which they emerged and on a personal level for our students - Produce and present a humanities- or science-based independent research project.

Applications to Brown are submitted online via the Common Application. In considering whether or not Brown is the right choice for you, you should feel confident that your accomplishments would allow you to be admitted to a leading university in your own country. You should complete secondary school. Brown first-year students will have completed 12 to 13 years of primary and secondary schooling. You should plan to sit for national and international examinations, such as the GCE A-levels, German Abitur, French Baccalauréat, Chinese Gaokao and International Baccalaureate, and submit the predicted or actual scores for those examinations as part of your credentials for admission to Brown. English language proficiency must be achieved before you are admitted.