<p>Would love the hear from students and/or parents who attend and/or recently attended Brandeis which you considered a “reach” when applying. How do “reach” students perform at Brandeis? Are they in over their heads or was getting in the hardest part? Were any of these students also Varsity athletes? Did any of you apply ED1 or ED2 to increase your chances along with no requests for financial aid? What were your SATs (math, reading, writing)? GPA’? AP’s? and SAT II scores?</p>
<p>Brandeis was not a reach school for me, but for many of my friends it was. I don’t see any difference in how successful they have been over our four years. I have a lot of friends who got in off of the waitlist, and they are super involved in activities and do not feel any more overwhelmed than the rest of us!</p>
<p>I would say that it does help to apply ED if Brandeis is a reach, and that’s true for most schools. Schools like to protect their yield, so they like accepting people ED because it’s binding. So sometimes they will accept people ED whom they would not have accepted RD because of low test scores or something like that. It could definitely help, if you’re sure about Brandeis as your top choice. I believe Brandeis is need-blind in their first round of reading applications (meaning that if they can’t decide right away if you are a definite admit or reject, then they may look at your financial aid request), so theoretically it will only matter if you apply for financial aid if you’re on the cusp (so unfortunately, in your case, it might. Brandeis students vocally oppose this policy).</p>
<p>I wish I could give you some stats from my friends, but we tend to not talk about our scores or GPAs. But just know that from what I’ve seen, I don’t think your high school stats correspond with how you do at Brandeis - I know a lot of people who came in with lower stats and have been phenomenally successful!</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshmen and Brandeis was certainly a reach for me. It’s a lot of reading and writing, but my grades first semester were markedly <em>better</em> than they were in high school. I think that that’s because I was finally taking the courses that <em>I</em> was interested in.</p>
<p>My roommate had a much higher GPA (I was 3.2ish uw, not sure what he was) but I had higher SATs (I was mid 1900s, don’t even remember the exact number).</p>
<p>I really think that they look more at your essays and activities than your scores, keep that in mind, and good luck!</p>
<p>While the academics at Brandeis are definitely challenging (and many professors say they prefer teaching Brandeis students than at Ivies!) when it comes to Brandeis admissions, it’s really a hit or miss. The good thing is that Brandeis tries its best to look at the applicant as a whole, not just as numbers.</p>