Brandeis or Hamilton?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
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<p>Status: Accepted student at both colleges, I’ve also visited both</p>

<p>Major: English and Music double major, although I’m pretty undecided.</p>

<p>Preferences:
-Student body: Happy, independent students who are confident without being arrogant.<br>
-Location: It doesn’t really matter, both have upsides and downsides. I love Hamilton’s glens, but Boston is quite tempting…
-Social scene: I’m not a party kid, neither am I interested in drugs/alcohol, but I can deal with the presence.</p>

<p>Am I correct in thinking that Hamilton is better academically and Brandeis better musically? Any direct comparison, whether that be academically, musically, financially, etc is greatly appreciated. I’m also considering NYU and BU, but to a lesser extent, so information about those schools is appreciated but not quite as important.</p>

<p>Also, what are Brandeis students like? I know that they’re incredibly diverse, but I don’t want a socially awkward student population, which was kind of the feeling I got.</p>

<p>I’ve also posted this in the Hamilton forum, so don’t worry about bias. :)</p>

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<p>I don’t agree that Hamilton is stronger academically. I’d say that the talent level of the students is probably comparable, although the students at Brandeis are somewhat more diverse. But Brandeis’ faculty is undoubtedly stronger. Most young academics would far prefer to be at a strong,small research university in metropolitan Boston than a good LAC in rural,upstate New York.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t say Brandeis’ faculty is “undoubtedly stronger”. That’s a very subjective assessment. As a Hamilton grad, I couldn’t really offer an informed opinion on the quality of Brandeis’ staff (much like a Brandeis alum probably couldn’t be trusted to make a worthwhile assessment of Hamilton’s faculty). But I can say that the quality of teaching at my alma mater is top-rate. If I were a top academic whose first priority is teaching, I think I would be attracted to a top LAC with a strong reputation for close teacher-student interaction. But that’s just me…</p>

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<p>Of course it is somewhat subjective, but there are objective measures you could look at which will back up my opinion. The fact is that the Academy rates scholars much more on their research and publications than on their teaching, Sure, one can argue that it ought to be otherwise but that’s just how it is. Pick any department you want, and you will find that Brandeis faculty are , in general, much better known for their research and publications than are the Hamilton faculty. Perhaps they are better teachers at Hamilton but I have no way of determining that. On balance, the quality of teaching at Brandeis is quite good.</p>

<p>In terms of location, that clearly is subjective but I feel safe in speculating that most people would prefer going to school in the Boston area than in Clinton, New York.</p>

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<p>Trofast1004, both are fine schools, but very different experiences. Hamilton is a small liberal arts college. Brandeis is a small liberal arts college functioning within a world-class research university. It’s a trick to pull that off, but they do, and the undergraduates benefit from that special combination.</p>

<p>I’m an admittedly biased Brandeis alum who chose Brandeis over two other liberal arts experiences, Tufts and Colgate. Brandeis is truly an amazing school. Its small student body- the smallest I believe (about 850 in a class) of any top tier national research university–is matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. So, the research opportunities are tremendous. Plus, it’s very close to Boston, the world’s greatest college town, but on its own suburban campus–really the best of both worlds. </p>

<p>On the question of whether Brandeis is the right fit for you, I believe the kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis is an intellectual and/or creative sort who is friendly and comfortable with himself or herself and not competitive or pretentious. Intellectual but down-to-earth and friendly I think is an apt description of the student body. Unlike some preppy place or frat-oriented environments where social interraction is based on the “exclusivity” of the frat system, Brandeis has a welcoming, relatively-nonjudgmental environment–yet there are some off-campus frats for those who like what they have to offer. There is no pressure to party, but parties are there if you want them. Often social interaction centers around the numerous clubs and other terrific extracuriculars like music and theater (many professional actors, including stars, have emerged from the undergrad and graduate population). This Brandeis culture has produced an unusually distinguished body of alumni for a school so relatively small and young–e.g. Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners,social justice leaders, best selling authors and prominent playrights and producers and Billionaire entrepreneurs. </p>

<p>If you haven’t seen the recent rankings of some of Brandeis’ strongest majors, the article linked below may be interesting to you–e.g. English and American Literature is one of the top departments in the country. Remember that at Brandeis doctoral students and undergrads work side-by-side with the same professors. So this ranking of doctoral programs is very relevant to potential undergrads. Here’s the link:</p>

<p>[Brandeis</a> doctoral programs rate high in national survey | BrandeisNOW](<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2010/november/nationalresearchcouncil.html]Brandeis”>Brandeis doctoral programs rate high in national survey | BrandeisNOW)</p>

<p>Also, if you haven’t read it, this Newsweek article featuring Literature professor, Bill Flesch gives a sense of how the Brandeis “research college” learning environment can make a real difference: </p>

<p>[Four</a> Great College Professors - The Daily Beast](<a href=“http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/08/11/in-search-of-great-professors.html]Four”>http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/08/11/in-search-of-great-professors.html)</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies, everyone! I’m getting a clearer picture of the schools. As expected, it’s going to be a hard decision. >_<;;</p>

<p>B77 especially, thanks a lot for the detailed post and the articles. Why does Brandeis sound so awesome… Must find Hamilton-biased informants!!</p>

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<p>I had college visit with my son last summer to both Hamilton and Brandeis. For the college environment, we like Hamilton more but New York upstate is a major -ve for an Asian student. </p>

<p>Academically, I rank them at similar level. I am quite sure that both schools will accept my son although my son decided to applied Brandeis for ED and accepted.</p>

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<p>I graduated from Hamilton and took summer classes at Brandeis and have a sibling who attended Brandeis. I am biased toward Hamilton. Excellent academics, engaged faculty who prefer teaching to research, beautiful campus, etc, etc. Is it in upstate NY? Yes. Is it a great overall college experience? Yes. Do folks go on to big, impersonal urban universities for graduate school? Yes. The students are more well-rounded and happier at Hamilton.</p>

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<p>I went to Hamilton a long time ago, so my thoughts need to be taken with a grain of salt. But I’ve known a few people whose kids have gone there in the past decade, and from their reports I gather that this much hasn’t changed: Hamilton places an extraordinary emphasis on learning to think critically and write clearly, and does a great job of teaching these skills at a high level. (Apparently they still think of this as a key part of their identity, since the tagline on their website is “A national leader in teaching students to write effectively, learn from each other and think for themselves.”)</p>

<p>This is not to say, of course, that Brandeis doesn’t do a good job of teaching writing and critical thought–just that if the idea of a school that puts these things front and center appeals to you, Hamilton may be a good fit for you.</p>

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<p>HerbDC, what was it about Brandeis that you didn’t like compared to Hamilton? Also what was your major/courses you took?</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone for replying!</p>

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<p>Trofast1004:</p>

<p>I felt Brandeis students were more stressed on academics and less well-rounded. My experience at Hamilton: excellent education, faculty more dedicated to teaching than research (where I think the reverse is true at Brandeis), and a great overall collegiate experience. I majored in government and minored in history and </p>

<p>Most students end up in grad school or working in urban areas, namely Boston, New York and DC. They get that experience down the road. Less competition academically. People may counter that Brandeis is more diverse. Certainly it has more international students, however Hamilton is making good progress on diversifying its students. Indeed, they have a large number of first in the family to go to college folks. Further, I didn’t see much intellectual diversity at Brandeis, whereas at Hamilton there is a conservative voice institutionalized through the Alexander Hamilton Institute.</p>

<p>Good luck and let me know if you have additional questions.</p>

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<p>It sounds to me that what HerbDC is describing is the essential difference between a LAC and a research university. While Brandeis is a small research university and has a strong emphasis on the liberal arts–it is what it is and that is a research university, not a LAC. I for one think that the benefits of being an undergraduate at a research university outweigh the benefits of being at a LAC, but that obviously is subjective and reasonable minds can and do differ on that. That’s why both exist.</p>

<p>What HerbDC describes as “intellectual diversity” I would describe as political diversity. And its true, Brandeis is a pretty liberal place (after all, part of its mission is social justice—what would you expect?) In the late 60’s and early 70’s, people often referred to Brandeis as “the Berkeley of the Northeast”. But it would be wrong to conclude that there are no conservatives there or that a conservative would not feel comfortable or would not be listened to. They are a decided minority, but they exist. And my observation has been that, unlike many other so-called liberal schools (and, let’s face, most schools in the Northeast are pretty liberal), freedom of speech is alive and well at Brandeis.</p>

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<p>The main conservative organization at Brandeis, the Brandeis Conservative-Libertarian Union, is the umbrella group for other conservative organizations (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Brandeis Republicans). The student newspapers do print conservative op-eds, but not nearly as much as liberal ones, just due to numbers. And the BCLU is definitely known on campus. We had a controversy a month or so ago regarding promotion for one of the BCLU’s events. (I’m not associated with any of the political organizations on campus, but this was a pretty well-known thing.)</p>

<p>As for socially awkward, it depends on who you hang out with. If you’re hanging out with the English and especially the Music crowd, don’t worry about a thing. :P</p>

<p>Brandeis is very diverse across socioeconomic lines. We have a ridiculous number of international students and first-generation college students–I’m one of the latter.</p>

<p>From what was said above, Hamilton seems to focus on critical thinking in the modern-day. Brandeis is definitely a social justice school. Not that we don’t have fun–the satire magazine on campus, Gravity, went around yesterday putting up “Boloney 2012” posters.</p>

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<p>Thank you everyone for helping me on my college process! It turns out that Hamilton is giving me a $15,000 scholarship, so I suppose my choice is made. But really, many thanks for helping me get a better grasp on these schools and to see their pros and cons.</p>