You may remember my previous post “Brandeis and your child choosing a college -from a parent”. Well, after attending my son’s graduation at the Gosman Center at the weekend, I thought I’d better add a coda.
First, for any prospective parents who are looking at Brandeis, please, please, please be aware I’m writing this with 100% honesty. Also be (more) than aware that every school has its warts… some are just good at using makeup to cover them up. Further, some of my criticism of Brandeis can more than easily be applied to many, many other schools.
If this post is too long, you can page down to the summary at the bottom… OK, with that being said, let’s get on with it, first the positives:
Want to know what what my son said was a highlight of Brandeis? The professors! He had the good fortune to experience some really great professional academics. That’s some serious praise right there. And I’ll also add that I always had a sense that the quality of education really is first class and that many of the academic staff really cared.
My son is planning a post grad degree, and he has been accepted to some great schools (all within the usual top 10-20 rated universities). That says something not only about my son, but also about the rigor and quality of education Brandeis offers.
As previously noted, my son “found his people”. But again, from my previous post, this isn’t necessarily a function of Brandeis.
While the university isn’t in Boston, my son regularly used the Branvan to get to Boston. Two thumbs up for Brandeis providing this service.
Brandeis University handled the COVID pandemic as well as any school I knew did. They kept people informed and kept the ability for students to stay on campus. On the cynical side one could argue this also enabled them to keep receiving housing payments, but it still kept my son’s college experience as intact as I believe it could be. But… while this is a good thing, I have to admit that such a pandemic is, well, unlikely in the future, so I guess this really isn’t a big deal now to parents of prospective students.
The negatives:
Well, money talks, and Brandeis -as are many of the other schools in the USA -is simply exorbitantly expensive. For graduating year 2023, there were around 800 students. Multiply that number by the average amount a student pays and it has to have you wondering. But again, not necessarily a Brandeis problem per se, but one of a broader nature.
I will also add from commencement today, being informed of the importance to change things for less privileged individuals rings a little bit hollow when you consider those school costs as well as salaries (President Liebowitz with a salary of about a million dollars and has publicly complained about his salary previously). Admittedly in the big picture, this may be well in line for other universities, but then again perhaps other universities don’t preach as much.
The biggest negative I experienced as a parent was the general level of maintenance of infrastructure and standard of living accommodations. Some of the dorms my son stayed in (Charles River apartments) had decaying concrete steps, weed ridden patches of grass and less than inviting dorm rooms from the 1970’s (what’s interesting about this is my son didn’t even seem to notice, ahh the innocence of youth). Visiting parents, want to make the admissions office uncomfortable? Ask for a campus tour that includes the Charles River apartments. I hope Brandeis got some good money out of Netflix for letting them use it as sets for filming “The Walking Dead”.
And as an addendum to that, the other big disappointment for me was the ubiquitous trash that seemed to permeate whatever part of the campus I happened to be on. Surely they could have been more proactive in getting facilities to pick up trash? (honestly, if I was the president, I really would be happy to donate the $60K of my salary to hire a person who works 40 hours a week just picking up trash, you have to have some pride in your school!) At this point, I know it’s all too easy to blame the Facilities Department as being inept, however, that’s a cheap shot; it could simply be they are a severely underfunded and/or understaffed department or saddled with poor leadership (or that they have a nightmare scenario of just keeping some 1970’s buildings barely habitable that swallows all the budget!) I don’t think I’ll ever know, but I will say I was singularly unimpressed with the standard of maintenance
and care of campus.
Summary
So would I recommend Brandeis University? I have to most definitely say yes from my and my son’s point of view, but with more than a little discomfort as a I straddle a fence. Yes, if this university talks to your child. Yes if you value academics. Yes, if you think your child is likely to go onto a post grad degree. Yes, if it is economically feasible.
But no if your child hasn’t got academics as a priority but does have social life as a priority (workload can be high). No if the costs are really going to put you in a huge financial hole (go to a state school, seriously much better value). No if you want a pristine campus or a traditional campus.
