Hey there! Was recently accepted at Brandeis (yay!) for a double major in Neuroscience/International Relations (going to be doing pre-med) but just wanted to ask a few questions about the university. Already committed but just wanted more info.!
- What are the research opportunities at Brandeis like? How accessible are they? Is it possible for second-semester Freshman to work in a Lab or some sort or even the summer after Freshman year?
- Do a lot of people use the cross-register consortium to take classes off-campus?
- Since I'm pre-med, I'm really curious as to whether Brandeis classes are, on average, difficult or difficult but not impossible? Lots of grade-deflation or grade inflation or just about right?
- Are there other special programs to Brandeis that are unique to it?
- Does Brandeis have advisors who like help you get internships/volunteering/job experiences? I understand that I'll have to seek this myself but does Brandeis help with this in any way?
- How is the Brandeis pre-med program?
- Is it better to work on-campus or off-campus? Do a lot of kids work off-campus or on-campus? Would love to work in any way I can to defray the cost.
- Do a lot of people live off-campus in later years? Is it better to live on-campus or off-campus?
Sorry for the many questions in advance!
@putinator are you still looking into doing pre-med at Brandeis?
@putinator I was admitted as a midyear and I literally have all the same questions!
Hello! Just finished up freshman year at Brandeis as a pre-med and I hope I can help answer some of your questions.
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Research opportunities are definitely obtainable as a freshman; I have at least 6 friends who are second-semester freshman that work in labs. You just kinda have to shotgun email a ton of professors who work in labs and hope some of them get back to you.
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No. I mean I’m sure it happens but I don’t know anyone who’s does that. Not terribly common.
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I’d say grades are just about right. Pre-med classes are definitely challenging but doable. Gen Chem is usually the hardest for freshman pre-meds, as its the weed-out class. Its curved pretty heavily(78-100 is an A for tests); its much easier if you took AP chem in high school, but still doable if you’ve never taken chem before.
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Brandeis Bridges, SSIS, Bridgestowellness, probably lots of others
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Yea Brandeis has advisors that help with all of that. I’ve personally never gone to one but I probably should have 
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Definitely pretty highly ranked, really high percentage of kids going to med school. Don’t expect it to be easy, though.
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Not really sure because I don’t work at all, but yea there are a lot of kids working on and off campus. I think its probably easier to work on campus, like the library or the dining halls.
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I’d say a fair amount live off campus for their later years. I have no idea whether its better to live on campus or off campus since I’ve only ever lived off campus, but it certainly helps because I’m close to everything.
Hope this helped!