<p>Worth reading. To quote the Princeton Review:</p>
<p>Brandeis University has forever shaken its image as a safety school for students aiming for the Ivy League. An outstanding academic institution in its own right, Brandeis combines a world-class research institution with the intimacy and personal attention of a liberal arts college. For students, that means unsurpassed access to a faculty renowned for groundbreaking research, scholarship, and artistic output in disciplines both traditional and unique (including an innovative new Film, Television and Interactive Media major). Brandeis students have the opportunity to engage in laboratory research, co-author papers with faculty members, and participate in internships and community engagement beyond the campus. A great example of this hands-on learning is the Justice Brandeis Semester. Students spend a semester in small groups exploring a thematic topic through inquiry-based courses and fieldwork. (For example, a recent cohort had the opportunity to study civil rights and racial justice in Mississippi.)</p>
<p>The Hiatt Career Center at Brandeis provides an extensive career coaching program, involving alumni, parents, and employers, culminating with a job shadowing program twice a year, in January and June. On-campus recruitment opportunities are robust, as well as opportunities through student job treks and career fairs in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Chicago. Financial support for internships is available through Brandeis’ World of Work Program, which provides $200,000 annually to fund internships. By graduation most Brandeis students have participated in at least two internships and have the experiences sought by top graduate schools and employers. And it shows: students have had a placement rate of approximately 95 percent within six months of graduation.</p>
<p>I’m sad to say, I find the timing of this citation bitterly ironic at a time when Brandeis is slashing merit aid, programs, museum holdings and faculty positions in order to address its longstanding operating deficits.</p>
<p>I really wanted my kid to love Brandies, and I wanted to love it for my kid. But in all honesty, I’m hesitant. With no merit aid for my kid, I doubt we’re going to find Brandies to be my family’s “best value.”</p>
<p>Sikorsky, as mentioned in an earlier thread, Brandeis’s admissions policy, like so many top schools, is need-blind admission based on merit. This eliminates gapping by meeting full financial need until the funds are depleted. Unfortunately, those accepted without demonstrated need may not get merit aid since those funds are directed toward fully meeting the financial requirements of top candidates who have demonstrated need. </p>
<p>Like other schools weathering the economic crisis, Brandeis has taken steps to focus on its strengths and especially to preserve the excellent undergraduate experience. It remains an amazing school, but I can understand that, if your child didn’t receive merit aid, that would be disappointing.</p>
<p>Of the three schools my D has been accepted into so far, Brandeis has been the most generous with merit aid. Although- the other two schools gave her xx dollars per year over the four years, Brandeis gave her an award for year one alone. When I called them to find out if the scholarship would be extended, they told me that if all financials stay the same and grades, we would be getting the same package each year. At Northeastern, my D’s merit scholarship is guaranteed to be the same each year no matter if our income goes up (a distinct possibility). So, at the onset, Brandeis appears to be more generous, but they may become less generous as our income ebbs and flows. Just seems to prove the discussion here and on other threads, that merit aid is tied to financial aid as well as academic merit. D is waiting to hear from the rest of the schools she applied to before deciding; money will definitely play a big part.</p>
<p>Oh and one more thing–regarding the latest review from Princeton–after awhile, these “reviews” become pretty generic and one could sub the name of any top-notch institution for whichever one is being reviewed. Every college and university is “the best, the most, etc.” It’s called a sales pitch. Any institution will be able to sell itself through marketing and giggly student “cheerleader” tour guides. We have been to a dozen schools and their spiel all becomes the same.</p>
<p>B77, I understand what you’re saying about Brandeis’s new approach to merit aid.</p>
<p>This approach is going to make Brandeis more appealing to some applicants, and less appealing to others. If my kid does get merit aid from another college of comparable stature, that’s going to make Brandeis less appealing to us, even though if you take money out of the equation, it might have been my kid’s top choice, and my top choice, too.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s Brandeis’s money, and it’s Brandeis’s business how to use it.</p>
<p>But this doesn’t really touch my other point: I see a lot of evidence that Brandeis has more belt-tightening to do than many of its peers, and I wonder whether Brandeis can stay a “best value” if it has to cut services and crowd in more students in order to balance its budget. I sincerely hope it can. I’m just a little bit on the fence about whether to bet my own kid’s undergraduate education (for which I’d have to pay retail) on its ability to do so.</p>
<p>Sikorsky, although your concern is fair, the Princeton Review, which had at least the same access to information as you, if not more, apparently came to a very different conclusion or it wouldn’t have selected Brandeis as one of its best values. </p>
<p>Last year’s press reports of Brandeis’s budget issues lack context and have been overblown due to the administration’s inartful handling of its proposal to sell a few paintings from its world-renowned Rose Art Museum–which caused international attention to be focused on this issue. Brandeis is hardly alone in this economy. According to news reports, many universities, even Harvard, made budget cuts in response to severely diminished endowments and donations. Brandeis has pledged to maintain financial aid and maintain, or improve, its world-class education by resisting the type of budget cuts that could undermine its core mission. The now-on-hold art-sale proposal was just one way it was considering to fund that pledge. The key here is that Brandeis is prioritizing students over things.</p>
<p>More forthrightly than most other schools, Brandeis stepped up to make strategic cuts that do not materially affect undergrads and that strengthen the academy for the long run, while simultaneously innovating programs and building state of the art facilities–e.g. the new science center and Humanities center. </p>
<p>Although belt-tightening in certain areas, those are small individually and where the university isn’t excellent. In fact, Brandeis has added exciting new programs like an undergrad Busness major and the independent-study Justice Brandeis Semester. The school is focused on building from its strengths–i.e. an excellent small liberal arts college within a top-notch research university–where prominent professors teach in small classes. The recent rebound in the stock market/endowment and increasingly successful fundraising will help secure a bright future.</p>
<p>Does your analysis take into account the fact that Brandeis recently had its bond rating downgraded, apparently because of its need to address longstanding structural deficits in its operating budget?</p>
<p>As I’ve implied, I want to be wrong about this. I’m just not yet completely persuaded that I am.</p>
<p>Naturally, you’ll need to decide for yourself. If you remain concerned, you might seek out the University administration. As I read the Moody’s release, its decision was based in large part on investment losses that have since significantly rebounded, and came before the strategic budget changes were fully underway.</p>