<p>I have the great fortune of deciding amongst several schools by May 1st. Most people have a few clear favorites at this point, but Ive find myself extremely enthusiastic about no fewer than six different schools. Ive visited them all but not at great times for example, I was at Brandeis during the February break. I am considering all of the significant differences amongst them and still not finding any one that stands out above the others, so now I need to consider all of the little nuances. I was wondering if anyone, especially current students, alumni, or parents, could tell me a little about the following things (which normally wouldnt make or break a college decision) in relation to Brandeis:</p>
<li> Professor-student interaction</li>
<li> How politically and socially activist are the students?</li>
<li> Is it easy to take out-of-major courses (for a science major, specifically)?</li>
<li> Whats the feel of the campus? Community-like? Friendly student body? Any clique-ishness? What are students like in general (in other words, whats the kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis)?</li>
<li> How is the administration, as far as efficiency and responsiveness? Are there a lot of problems with them?</li>
<li> How much time do people spend off campus, and what do they do there? How is the town of Waltham? Do people tend to go into Boston a lot, and does that get expensive?</li>
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<p>Sorry if some of these questions are vague, but I want as much info as possible, so Im avoiding specific questions! I would so much appreciate answers to any of these questions. Thank you in advance!!!</p>
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<li>There’s a lot of professor-student interaction. It’s really easy to go to prof’s office hours. One of the popular econ professors often meets with students in the campus dining hall. A lot of students have stories about visiting their professors at home. As part of a politics/media class last year, our prof invited us to her home to watch a debate between Obama and Clinton. For another angle, here’s a listing of research opportunities that various profs would offer students:
[Research</a> and Guided Inquiry Courses | Experiential Learning | Brandeis University](<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/experientiallearning/forstudents/research.html]Research”>http://www.brandeis.edu/experientiallearning/forstudents/research.html)
2) There are many politically/socially active students. Last semester about 60 students went to New Hampshire on weekends to campaign for Obama, and political groups also organize phonebankings throughout the year. There’s also a very active environmental group. </li>
<li>I’m not a science major, but there are distribution requirements so you would need to a class in the humanities, social sciences and the creative. I’ve found it pretty easy most of the time to take classes that fulfill those reqs that I also find personally interesting. </li>
<li>I’d say there are all kinds of people at Brandeis. We can give you a better idea if you tell us what you are looking for or what extracurricular you are interested in. But in general, I’d say everyone is friendly and you will find a close group of friends depending on your interests etc…</li>
<li>I think at every university there’s always going to be students who have issues with the administration or bureaucracy at Brandeis or anywhere. But I think if you generally have a concern and you go speak to someone anybody will happy to help you.</li>
<li>Students often go into Waltham or Boston on the weekend. Waltham has a lot of ethnic restaurants, and ice cream parlor and a bookstore run by Brandeis alums. There’s a always a club that organizes volunteer activities with schools and institutions in Waltham. [The</a> Waltham Group at Brandeis University](<a href=“http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/index.php]The”>http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/index.php)
[Brandeis</a>’ after-school program in Waltham ends season - Waltham, MA - The Daily News Tribune](<a href=“Wicked Local: Local News in Boston, MA”>Wicked Local: Local News in Boston, MA)
Students also go into Boston to have dinner, see a movie or go to the theater (there’s a club that offers discount tickets to productions such as Dirty Dancing). There are free shuttles to Waltham, Harvard Square and Boston, and Brandeis is also convenient to the commuter rail that goes into Cambridge/Boston.</li>
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<p>As an alumnus, here’s my view. The kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis is an intellecutal 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>As I like to describe it, Brandeis is a special combination of small liberal arts college and world-class research university-with the smallest student body I believe (less than 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. Educationally, I’d say its a nuturing rather than a cut-throat environment. Plus it’s very close to Boston, which is the world’s best college town, but on its own suburban campus. Few other schools can quite match Brandeis’ special combination of attributes. </p>
<p>Most college rankings don’t emphasize undergraduate satisfaction and accomplishments. One that recently did, the Forbes Magazine national rankings, placed Brandeis 15th among research universities and 30th overall among all private univerities and LAC’s–a testament to its focus on undergraduate education. Larger schools, including some Ivies, were ranked much lower. </p>
<p>As evidence of the cool students that go there are the cool alumni who were of course students at one time–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) and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy). I went to school with several of these folks and can tell you that it’s no coincidence that these fascinating alumni have emerged from the stimulating brew that is Brandeis. Also, if you’re into social justice, Brandeis is a very exciting place to be (Angela Davis, Abbie Hoffman, I could go on, are alums as well).</p>
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<li>Professor-student interaction is very good. professors teach at Brandeis b/c they know they will be interacting meaningfully with undergrads including at the freshman and sophomore level. in terms of academics, all my profs. have been happy to meet during office hours or any other time with a quick e-mail. catperson stole my favorite anecdote, but I was in the same class with her when we went to Eileen McNamara’s house for dinner and to watch one of the final primary debates. This semester, two of my three journalism professors have Pulitzer Prizes–McNamara and Mark Feeney. Feeney gives two single-spaced pages of comments on any piece of writing we hand in so my writing has improved tremendously. </li>
<li>How politically and socially activist are the students? very. read [Innermost</a> Parts](<a href=“http://www.innermostparts.org%5DInnermost”>http://www.innermostparts.org) to get a taste of campus activism. the number one campus group in terms of student participation is the community service group, the Waltham group. they organize blood drives, tutor kids and do a lot more. See [The</a> Waltham Group at Brandeis University](<a href=“http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/]The”>http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/) </li>
<li>Is it easy to take out-of-major courses (for a science major, specifically)? yes, definitely. the requirements are not very overwhelming so there’s a lot of room to take what interests you. even if a class has a wait list, an enthusiastic e-mail will almost always result in you obtaining an override code. </li>
<li>What’s the “feel” of the campus? Community-like? Friendly student body? Any clique-ishness? What are students like in general (in other words, what’s the “kind” of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis)? i really like the student body. on the whole, we’re intelligent, friendly, down-to-earth, and unpretentious. like most campuses, there are cliques but it’s not to the point where you wouldn’t chat with or eat with new people you meet in class or in your clubs. Brandeis students care about their work and aren’t afraid to be who they really are. </li>
<li>How is the administration, as far as efficiency and responsiveness? Are there a lot of problems with them? i like the senior administrators including Jehuda Reinharz and Jean Eddy. I’ve interacted with them and I do think they work very hard to make Brandeis the best it could be. Both have open office hours and both respond to any e-mails. Jehuda stops by many events like thirsty thursdays, sports games and friday night dinner. when i told him i was writing a paper on the founding of Brandeis, president reinharz told me he wanted to see it so I sent it to him. he replied with thoughtful comments and a few weeks later, the university archivist contacted me to say a man wanting to set up a Vietnamese-sponsored university wanted to learn more about Brandeis’ founding so she asked, at the suggestion of the president, if i could send my paper to that man. just a small anecdote to show how much the university president is in touch with all students.</li>
<li>How much time do people spend off campus, and what do they do there? How is the town of Waltham? Do people tend to go into Boston a lot, and does that get expensive? i think there are many, many ways to spend a weekend at Brandeis. sometimes we go into boston to eat and sometimes we go into waltham to eat or see a movie. there truly are a lot of good restaurants on moody street and you can take the branvan to eat there. on campus, there’s usually dances, shows, performances or other events.</li>
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