<p>First years live in two quads: massell (muh-sell) or north. They are traditional dormitory style living spaces. Most students will live in a double with a roommate. A Few students will be selected to live in natural of forced triples. Some students will get a single room, most of them for medical reasons (allergies was a reason cited for the one guy I knew). There are 4 buildings in every quad. One of these buildings will have single sex floors. The other 3 will have coed living.</p>
<p>North is in upper campus near the library and usdan whereas Massell is closer to the campus center and sherman. Shapiro hall in Massell is considered to be the worst dorm due to how old it is but I think that’s grossly exaggerated (I lived there and it was great). I think Massell is the nicer looking quad because of the pond. It gets really pretty when the weather is nice.</p>
<p>I like Brandeis a lot. When I was applying for colleges, I applied mainly for big city schools because that’s where I thought I wanted to be. I applied to Brandeis because my high school guidance counselor urged me to. I am extremely happy that I followed her advice. There’s a lot to like about this school but if I had to pick one I would say it was the people. If the school is a block of marble then the people are the hands that are crafting this experience.</p>
<p>College is inherently social. You CAN be a person who is here strictly for the academics but I think you’ll miss out a lot. I think there is a common thread that all Brandeis students share and that is passion. Every student seems to have an innate desire to achieve, to learn, to engage with one another. The people I’ve met here over my two years have made this experience. The laughs, the talks, the dinner conversations that just keeps going on. Whether through the extracurricular events or through classes or through whatever reason most people have a uniqueness about them. I know that I will know some of these people for the rest of my life and I want that. I’m so interested to see where my classmates will be down the road because they are so damn motivated and interesting.</p>
<p>I’m sure you can get this at other schools and I’m sure a lot of it has to do with what type of person you are and who your surround yourself with but for me it has definitely been one of the best parts of Brandeis.</p>
<p>Thank you! In order to be successful in college, time management is one of the most important factors. From your two years life at Brandeis, what’s your suggestion for the incoming students? Can you also give some good examples of current students?</p>
<p>I think success (i.e. high GPA vs. learning vs. etc.) varies in definition so I wrote generally.</p>
<p>My advice would be to don’t over stress yourself from the get-go. Most students take 4 classes, science students take 4.5. I would not take more than that. The first semester is to learn about yourself and your interest. Do a couple things. We have a club for any sort of interest. Like economics? Join the economics club or the economics journal club. Want to act? There’s always shows going on that you can participate in. Keep a balance between extracurriculars and academics. I wouldn’t want to go straight academics --I’d burn out. I know people who study 10 hours plus a day and if that’s what they want to do that’s fine. </p>
<p>I think the biggest contributing factor to my success in college is to find a friend who takes the same classes as you (sciences this seems to be the case) and study with them. But again it really depends on the student and how well you know yourself. Overall my advice would be to do something outsides of academics, do not overload yourself your first semester, and make friends because they’ll be yours support column throughout this.</p>
<p>In terms of time management for myself I always put academics first, map out the next two weeks for exam and paper dates. Squeeze as much as I can from my extra-curriculars with the time I have left. Meet up with my friend and really learn the material. I remember last semester we had a biology lab exam on Friday and next Monday was our Cell Biology final. We studied 50/50 for each exam until Friday and then that weekend we spent all of it doing Cell Bio. </p>
<p>Again, this doesn’t work for everyone. Students will have to learn what they need to do to succeed. What I need to do and what everyone else needs to do varies dramatically. I don’t make lists but some people love to. I want to stress the importance of the first semester because that’s when you’ll learn a lot about yourself, your study habits, how much you need to work, what is your limit, etc. Come to Brandeis with an open mind.</p>
<p>Edit: Also know your classes. Talk to people who have taken the classes before. Some classes are “easy” A’s others are difficult. Know how to distribute your time according to your classes. For example, in American Healthcare last semester I took Organic Chem. and Cell Bio. along with both lab courses. I knew that American Healthcare had a lot of reading but I also knew that it wasn’t necessary to fully read all of it. I also knew the discussion sessions were highly useful. In order to balance out my schedule I focused most my energies in my science classes until exams or papers came up for American Healthcare (which took significantly less effort).</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the terrific advice, and I believe they are very helpful for the incoming students. College is about discovery, and at the same time to learn how to live an independent life with good time management by balancing between academics and extracurriculars. I wonder what your major is. </p>
<p>Would you please also give some advice about the meal plan?</p>
<p>Would you say that Brandeis is more collaborative or competitive? Is it a high-pressure environment? What do students do on a typical Saturday night?</p>
<p>Sorry for a late reply. I’ve been relaxing :).</p>
<p>Here is what I and Autumncomet wrote earlier in the thread regarding meal plans.</p>
<p>Robinpoohg: First, I do not recommend the 21-meal plan. If you don’t plan on eating breakfast it’s essentially a waste. After that, It depends on your preferences. I opted for the 10 meal 525 points. Points will allow you more options in C-store (campus convenience store), einsteins, etc. It’s a bit more expensive than the 14 meal plan. But I think the added flexibility outweighs the cost. The 14 meal 20 points plan is if you want a slightly cheaper option with less choice.</p>
<p>@meal plans: I’m on the 14 meals a week plan, which is the cheapest and fits me. Most people I know are on the 10 meals a week plan (which gives 500 points to be used on any food item + the meals), or they’re lucky and have kitchens, so they don’t need to be on a meal plan.</p>
<p>In my opinion Brandeis is a very collaborative school. From the humanities to the sciences the classes I’ve taken have shown me this. When I took an Intro the Anthro. class people readily shared review sheets, organized study sessions, and answered questions. In my Intro. to Behavioral Neuroscience class the same thing was observed. The professor was known to repeat questions that most students missed on the first and second exams and put them on the final exam. My classes response? Make a google document and share it with the entire class so people can put down the questions they missed so we, as a class, can better pinpoint the repeat questions. In Gen. Chem. II a group of students made a practice exam and shared it with the class in preparation for the final exam.</p>
<p>In terms of competition it’s definitely who you are as a person. I am competitive with my friends that take the same classes that I do. We have a friendly competition every exam to see who scores highest. It’s definitely amicable (he wins usually by one point!). It’s positive competition which allows me to better myself by competing with him. Most importantly though as a person, I compete with myself and that’s the most common answer you’ll find regarding Brandeis. Students moreso compete with themselves than with each other. [INCOMING CLICHE:] We’re all trying to be the best we can be. If anything we raise each other up rather than bring each other down. </p>
<p>In terms of high pressure I would say the same thing. It’s as high pressured as you want it to be. If you want A’s in every class than you will be working hard, and it’s going to be stressful. However, it is possible to have a great GPA while maintaining a balanced environment. You’ll learn quickly what you need to do to achieve your goals. The most high-pressure times for me are usually during final exams and overlapping midterms. Other than that its up to you to learn how to keep up with the material during lax parts of the semester. This is just regarding classes then add in extracurriculars/volunteering/work and it’s a balancing act but it can, with practice, be highly manageable. </p>
<p>Students do a range of things. There are parties, shows, boston, staying in, etc. I do what I feel like doing and what my exam and paper schedule allows me to do. But this is just me, I know people that will go out the weekend before an exam – the day before even. This works for them. It’s hard to answer what a typical student does on a saturday night because everyone is doing different things. Sometimes I go out, sometimes I hang with friends in the dorms, sometimes I watch a movie alone in my room, sometimes I go into boston, sometimes I’m working on a film project. You do what you want to do and hopefully you surround yourself with people that respect and enjoy what you do. </p>
<p>A small note: If you’re big on the party scene, try to get to know as many people as possible, especially upperclassman. There are parties often at Brandeis. If you do not know many people you will only know about the open ones. People throw closed parties all the time. The more people you know the more parties you’ll be invited to. Not to toot my own horn but because I do comedy/film/science/etc. on campus parties are fairly easy to find on the weekend. It would be difficult to find a weekend there were no parties. Again, it’s about who you know. Generally, the more upperclassman you know the more parties there will be for you.</p>
<p>Sounds like you are doing well for yourself at Brandeis! If you do not mind me asking, do you think I have a chance at being accepted to Brandeis as a transfer student? </p>
<p>Long story short. My first two years of high school amounted to a C average student. My last two years of high school, I became an A/B+ student while taking honor classes. I ended up going to a state school and soo far…</p>
<p>-Freshman year: 3.95 GPA
-105 hours volunteer @ Hospital
-100-150 hours volunteer at Big Brothers Big Sisters
-Manger at a restaurant (15-20 hrs/wk)</p>
<p>I hope to apply after my first semester of Sophomore year, and obviously raise my GPA and extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I’ll be honest, I’m not very familiar with the transfer process but, if I recall, schools usually do not look at your high school transcript if you have 3 semesters completed. But again I’m not entirely sure. Regarding your statistics, You’re looking good in regards to GPA/EC. What matters now is your essay. I think Brandeis takes student interest into consideration during applications. I actually had a similar story to yours during high school. When I applied to Brandeis I got waitlisted but then I sent a letter of interest and was accepted off waitlist. (side note: Thank you! I am enjoying myself here and have done well. Actually, I was recently got accepted to Tufts Med. School through the early assurance program with Brandeis!).</p>
<p>Edit:</p>
<p>@janani</p>
<p>The lofted triples are much better than the forced triples. I lived in Massel in my freshman year so I mostly know about the forced ones. Though if I remember the lofted triples are set up as such: two beds in one room with dressers and closets which is connected to another room with one bed and three desk. Because theres two rooms instead of one room for three people there’s a bit of space. With only three people I can imagine that it doesn’t get too cramped. Though the link provided by RoselawnMom makes me think that there may be two setups for lofted triples. The other setup would look like the blueprints in the link which I believe provides floor area size.</p>
<p>tomphn - I think you are confusing a lofted triple with a natural triple. (The terminology is all Brandeis) A natural triple consists of 2 rooms that are shared by 3 people.</p>
<p>My daughter was in a natural triple in North Cable her freshman year. They set it up with all 3 beds (2 bunked and 1 single) in one room and the desks in the other. Dressers were split between the 2 rooms. It worked out very well for the girls and it did not feel cramped at all.</p>
<p>Lofted triples and forced triples are the same room type/size. It is essentially a double room being shared by 3 people. This is a much tighter living arrangement.
Sorry janani…I can not speak to how hard it is to live in this room type. But, many of my daughter’s friends did and they managed :)</p>
<p>Thanks! In Massell we called them forced triple. I haven’t heard of lofted triples until I read that pdf.</p>
<p>@janani</p>
<p>It’s a tight fit but manageable. A phenomenon seems to arise in triples wherein two of the three roommates become very close and the third roommate is more of a floater. The friends I had in triples spent a lot of time out of their rooms. Then I had two friends who spent all their time in their room. I would advise to talk to your roommates before hand to see who is bringing what so that the room isn’t overstuffed with things.</p>
<p>does the school plan to replace any of the non historic 1960’s lookiing dorm buildings with more modern updated housing? and is there any plan to deal with the need to triple students?</p>
<p>@zobroward
Over this summer the University is actually in the process of renovating some of the dorm buildings on campusI know that all of East Quad (sophomore housing) is being renovated from the inside out and from my understanding North Quad (first-year housing) as well, although i need to double check that. I’m a current student and I’ll be honestthe housing is not that bad. It’s completely livable and it’s really nothing to worry about. </p>
<p>The University has also initiated the "strategic plan"a long term, 5 year solution to fixing a lot of the issues that have come up in the last few years, like housing and dining. Here’s the website:[Strategic</a> Planning | Brandeis University](<a href=“The Framework for the Future | Brandeis University”>The Framework for the Future | Brandeis University). It’s kind of useless right now; they haven’t released any decisions or updates yet. They’re expected to release some kind of report by the end of the upcoming Fall semester. Part of the administration’s plan was to expand the size of the school, which explains the marked increase in students for the last two first-year classes. Their goal is get around 4000 students at the schoolproblem is the campus is really only built for 3200-3500 students. This accounts for the crowding in dining halls and the increase in triples, which really sucks for students. So basically to fix the lofted/forced triple problem they’re backtracking and reducing the amount of students they admit starting this academic year.</p>
<p>thank you, I just read the link and it was in my translation…we are going to have a meeting , to plan a meeting to have another meeting…but first let’s have a pre meeting about meeting! schools seem to like that stuff!</p>
<p>“thank you, I just read the link and it was in my translation…we are going to have a meeting , to plan a meeting to have another meeting…but first let’s have a pre meeting about meeting! schools seem to like that stuff!”</p>