<p>is this a prestigious college? do people generally think of it as good? better or worse than rensselaer polytechnic institute? anyone go to either? also, anyone know if brandeis has biomedical engineering? thanks soooo much...</p>
<p>Yes, it's considered a serious, intellectual place with a high level of student satisfaction. The professors publish nationally and are respected speakers. It is a young school that has risen like a rocket since its founding. People are known to study and work quite hard there, but then on weekends enjoy going into Boston a lot. About half of the students are Jewish, all kinds of Jewish not just orthodox! </p>
<p>I don't know enough about the majors you're asking about, so others might chime in.</p>
<p>There's some noise about its premed program being very competitive, perhaps cut-throat. I don't know what's real. My brother (became a lawyer) and sister-in-law(business manager) went there 25 years ago, so did my cousin (went to med school, now a professor at Johns Hopkins med school). My brother met his wife there. They're sending their son there. So, not too shabby.</p>
<p>Its a big Jewish school, so dont go there if you are uncomfortable with people of Jewish faith or have a problem accepting their traditions and culture</p>
<p>overall, its a pretty good academic school...I'd say in the league of Villanova and Johns Hopkins (undergraduate-wise)</p>
<p>matrixrebloated's description isn't exactly accurate.</p>
<p>It is not "big" and it isn't "Jewish." Its actually quite small, about 3,000 undergraduates. And while it was founded by the American Jewish community (in response to the Ivy League denying admission to Jews) in the fourties, it is not actually a "Jewish" school. It is totally secular. Admittedly, the student body is 50% Jewish, and the class of 2010 was the first Brandeis class to be less than 50% Jewish. As paying3tuitions mentioned, it is not just orthodox though, most of the Jews at Brandeis are not orthodox.</p>
<p>I would say it is a very good school academically (that's why it was my first choice). But that's not what your question was, you wanted to know if people thought of it as prestigious (huge difference). Honestly, the only way to gauge prestige is to look at things like USNEWS rankings, where Brandeis is at 31. Your call.</p>
<p>It doesn't have biomedical engineering. OP should look elsewhere.<br>
But Brandeis is a great school and I am still waiting to hear from them...</p>
<p>thanks, guys.
see, i kind of have a dilemna: i wanted to major in biomed. engineering, but i'm not sure. i mean, i might want to be premed, and if i do premed, i'll prolly want to do neuroscience or something instead of that. but i wanted to at least try biomed. eng. so far, i've gotten into umass amherst (not a fan), uconn storrs (lots of fin. aid, but not full), rpi (lots of fin. aid, but not full again), and brandeis (full tuition scholarship). brandeis doesn't have biomed. eng., but i've heard it has a great premed program. plus, i'll have elevated student status at brandeis for having my scholarship. but at uconn, i'd be in the honors program. and idk if i want a techy school like rpi. and i'm waiting on a bunch of even "better" schools, including 3 ivies (they're reaches, as they are for everyone, but it's not completely out of reach, i mean, i think i have just a good a chance as everyone, except that i'm unhooked and middle class). so yeah, that's the situation. i mean, the full ride (i still have to pay board/room, though) is a pretty sweet deal...</p>
<p>Are you already admitted with a full tuition schlarship at Brandeis? ( I thought RD and fin aid decisions were not out yet; did anybody else hear RD?)<br>
And you didn't bother to check if they have biomed engg? Hmm...</p>
<p>Congrats (or should I say Mazel Tov?) on your full ride at Brandeis!</p>
<p>That is a very sweet deal and I am quite jealous. You have a hard choice ahead of you. I chose Brandeis over the "better" schools (that is to say I chose to not apply to them and just apply to Brandeis ED) because it was the school for me. Good luck with your thought process.</p>
<p>I was just accepted to Brandeis, with the Blue Ribbon thing. Brandeis is really good when it comes to Merit Aid, I got the Dean scholarship, and they have a ton of other merit scholarships available.</p>
<p>I think Brandeis is rising in prestige, especially given President Carter's recent speech there. As a University, it has a wide array of resources and its proximity to Boston inevitably provides both education opportunities and fun on the weekends. Brandeis is also well equipped with many academic fields, from science to humanities. It is very Jewish, so if Judaism is something you're uncomfortable with, Brandeis probably isn't your place. I'm not Jewish, but I don't mind the Jewish presence on campus. The campus from an aesthetic point is somewhat lacking, it isn't a type of place where there's mansions and eye-shattering architecture. It's somewhat urban, but I felt as though it provided a comfortable environment, partly due to the lack of beautiful, overwhelming landscaping, etc.</p>
<p>Just my two cents (or more) on Brandeis. I like it, I'm pretty likely to attend (although I'm still waiting on a few other colleges), and it's worth considering!</p>
<p>They accept 36 percent... semi selective. CollegeBoard and Google are your friends...</p>
<p>beantowngal: did i bother to check if it had biomed eng? not really; i kind of applied on a whim bc of a waived app fee (blue ribbon). I actually almost withdrew my app, but i decided to just wait and see. but now that i got so much fin aid, i'm seriously considering it, b/c it's rare for a selective school to give so much merit aid.
And I'm not Jewish either, kev07wan. I don't mind; i've heard that everyone at brandeis is pretty accepting, etc. but i would want some ppl of my own faith to talk to, but i'm sure i'd find that.
argh decisions...</p>
<p>I'd kill to go there.</p>
<p>For the OP, sounds like you're weighing Brandeis vs. Rennselear Polytechnic Institute vs. some other Ivies (pending acceptances at Ivies), and that you put serious consideration about your major and program as important to your decision process. Some people change their minds about their majors once they get to a school and experience the department. Is there any way to contact people within the specific departments that interest you?</p>
<p>On the more overall factors, a big difference between RPI and the other places are the male/female ratio. It might just be the one department a friend of ours attended at RPI, but he found a male/female ratio of 4/1.
Only you know what that might mean to you!</p>
<p>Also, Brandeis proximity to Boston is much more attractive than RPI's location.</p>
<p>But I think you're probably goign to decide more according to the departments offered. Still, just thought I'd mention these other lifestyle factors.</p>
<p>There's a book called Tuesdays With Morrie, about one guy's relationship with his Brandeis professor, judging from that, I'd say it's a great place to go to.</p>
<p>My son visited both RPI and Brandeis - and very much preferred Brandeis' atmosphere (academically, socially and geographically). I think that part of it will come down to how committed you are to the biomedical engineering major.</p>
<p>Brandeis has a very high med school admissions rate, FWIW, and many excellent science departments.</p>
<p>Could you attend accepted students sessions at both schools to help you decide?</p>
<p>I was hoping to, but I don't know if I'll be able to, because I applied to 10 schools, and I'll hear from 7 of them in April, so I don't want to wait until then. And yes, it does depend on the biomed. eng. major. I mean, I would like to try the major, but I'm not sure if I would even like it, and there's a good chance I want to go to med school, in which case Brandeis would probably be better? Plus Brandeis is less expensive for me. I don't know.</p>
<p>It's tough trying to make life decisions when you are only 17!</p>
<p>Money is a big issue if med school may be in the future; its very expensive, and there is little funding for it. </p>
<p>Regarding the biomed engineering degree - you might want to investigate RPI's course catalog to look at the courses you would be taking.</p>
<p>well i just visited and i found out that brandeis allows its students to go to nearby schools (such as olin, tufts, bu, bc, bentley, mit, etc.) to take courses that aren't offered at brandeis (like engineering and advanced business courses). and this wouldn't cost extra for me, because of the scholarship. would this be really inconvenient and annoying though?</p>