<p>I'm trying to decide between these 2 universities.
Hi, I was wondering how prestigious the Brandeis University and NYU?
are they highly regarded universities across the nation. Can you also tell me about the social life, and their academics.
If you had to choose between Brandeis and NYU, which one would you choose, and why?
thank you very much.</p>
<p>These are possibly two of the most different schools ever, socially!
I got into Brandeis and I live near NYC but that’s about the extent of my familiarity so this is all just based on what I’ve heard:</p>
<p>NYC: Huge city, lots of diversity and new people, good opportunities, never will have nothing to do on a Saturday night. However, no campus feel or grassy areas, easy to get lost in the chaos, harder to connect with other students. Not a traditional college experience.</p>
<p>Brandeis: Big sense of community, everybody tends to be friendly and helpful, not much of a drinking/party scene, close proximity to Boston and constant shuttle access, lots of Nice Jewish Boys (and Girls) if you’re into that.</p>
<p>Good summary above. I would just add that the “big sense of community” at Brandeis could mean, for example, that you would be attending a play on campus on a Thursday or Friday night that friends were involved in. It’s in the suburbs, so you might not be running to Boston all the time. On the other hand, NYU is in the middle of New York City, people socialize by going out in the city. That may sound exciting, but it might also mean that you don’t get to know other students as well. You have to weigh that. Both have excellent reputations.</p>
<p>As others have suggested, comparing NYU to to Brandeis is really apples to oranges. You’ll need to judge for yourself which school is the right fit for you. As for a liberal arts education, I believe there really is no comparison between Brandeis and NYU. NYU is a huge, highly-urban school with no real campus --over 40000 students (rmore than 20000 undergrads alone) versus 5000 (3200 undergrads)for Brandeis. At Brandeis, you will have dramatically smaller class sizes and classes taught by professors, not TAs. </p>
<p>Brandeis has all of the elements of a small liberal arts college, but set in a research environment. Undergraduate teaching is the main focus of the faculty, not research. If your focus is academics, class size, quality of teaching, then Brandeis is the clear choice</p>
<p>Brandeis is truly an amazing school. It’s a special combination of small liberal arts college and world-class research university-with the smallest student body I believe (around 800 in a class) of any top tier national research university matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. So, the research opportunities are tremendous. </p>
<p>Brandeis’s intellectual environment is comparable in many ways to its University Athletic Association sister school, U Chicago (perhaps no coincidence that the President of U Chicago is a Brandeis alum). Yet its students are down-to-earth, friendly and non-competitive with one another. With respect to success rates in admissions to the best graduate schools, including med school , it would be hard to beat Brandeis. Plus it’s located just outside of Boston, the world’s greatest college town, but on its own suburban campus.–really the best of both worlds.</p>
<p>Further on the subject 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 theater and music. </p>
<p>Will going to Brandeis help you in the long run? I can only say that the combination of high caliber peer group and nuturing academic experience certainly can make a difference and has produced some very exciting and successful alumni. To name just a few: Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Rod Mackinnon, Fields Medal winning physicist Edward Witten (often called “Einstein’s successor”), 3-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman of the NY Times, The Earth is Flat etc; Mitch Albom of Tuesday’s with Morrie (about his Brandeis professor), the Creators/Producers of Friends; actress Debra Messing; Robert FX Sillerman (billionaire businessman–currently owner of American Idol and Graceland), Jeff Lurie, billionaire owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy. Also, if you’re into social justice (Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman are alums as well, I could go on) or theater/music/art, it’s a very exciting place to be.</p>
<p>Forgive my enthusiasm, but as a Brandeis alum, I loved it! Good luck to you! </p>
<hr>
<p>I got into Brandeis and nyu LSP, so many of the points against nyu (larges classes, taught by TA’s, not as much of a liberal arts feel, ect.) are mute in my case. Tough call!</p>
<p>/\ /\ the person above sounds like a brochure haha, no offense</p>
<p>Zoidberg, no offense taken. My enthusiasm is sincere. You need to decide for yourself the school that is the right fit for you.</p>
<p>Well I can only hope I’ll be as enthusiastic about my choice as you are about Brandeis (maybe it will be Brandeis haha)</p>