<p>I hope that I can visit Brandeis once, but I’m too far away from it and I have to prepare my IB exam. So can people in Brandeis give me some idea how’s student’s life in Brandeis? e.g. academic and social life , maybe the atmosphere of the campus </p>
<p>By the way, can anyone tell the differences between the kind of student’s life in University of Washington in Seattle and Brandeis? </p>
<p>Thank you~</p>
<p>Is there much to do at Brandeis? Boston is kind of far away. Are students really engaged at this school?</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I’ll try to answer your questions but they are very broad questions and I’ll probably forget to mention a lot.</p>
<p>Academics - Brandeis is a very serious school when it comes to academics. People take their work seriously, tend to study a lot and get good grades, plan for the future (research, internships, projects), and double/triple major a lot. If everyone seems stressed and you have free time, you’ll probably feel like you’re not studying hard enough (but really, maybe you’re just more efficient). It can be a little intimidating, but at the same time the support system is amazing. People study together all the time, there is a peer tutoring program called BUGS (Brandeis Undergraduate Group Study), professors are very responsive and available, and most TAs are very helpful and competent. It’s also not a competitive atmosphere. The best part is the intellectualism of the student body - people talk about things they learned in class or other academic topics all the time. You’re bound to be caught up in some riveting, random intellectual conversations while you’re here.</p>
<p>Social - The one thing I find most notable about the social scene is the devotion to clubs and activities. Most people find an organization or five that they really care about and put intense amounts of energy into it. Everyone is passionate about a cause, a hobby, etc., and what’s more is that the student body is generally supportive; most productions, events, shows, etc. planned by individual clubs - even small ones - get great turnouts. Brandeis has a reputation for being “socially awkward.” While there are a lot of socially awkward people here, it can kind of endearing and usually they find their niche. For the most part, however, Brandeis students are indeed a bit “dorky” but not to the point of social awkwardness. It is not difficult to make friends. Lastly, Brandeis is not really a party school. We have unrecognized fraternities and sororities off campus and while that is a good option for many, the vast majority of students don’t really pay much attention to the Greek organizations. Typically on weekends, students go into Boston, have small parties in their rooms/suites (this could mean drinking and playing board games with 5 friends), talk or observe Shabbat with friends, and go to one of the many events that take place on campus each weekend. See my paragraph below on things that happen on campus! People who want to find a crowded, drunken party usually can, but most people enjoy a more relaxed social scene.</p>
<p>Campus atmosphere - The people are friendly, liberal (with plenty of conservatives to voice opposition on hot button issues!), nerdy, involved/passionate about many things, intelligent but not pretentiously so, and talkative (you can hardly walk by someone you know without having a conversation). Also, I know most people don’t like to hear this, but Jewish - there is no denying the Jewish presence on campus; it’s a great resource for Jews and a source of much amusement and learning opportunity for non-Jews (there is also a fair amount of religious and cultural dialogue - people genuinely care about learning from others). The campus is small, cozy, beautiful in the spring and fall (many green spaces and diverse, colorful foliage), and architecturally pretty bland/ugly except for the Castle. Personally, I feel that the small campus size (it takes 10 minutes to walk across the entire campus!) and the friendly people make Brandeis feel very much like a community or a neighborhood - I’m very at home here! Let me know if there is anything else you want to know about atmosphere - it’s a very subjective thing to describe so I hope I was helpful.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about UW, but I know it’s really big so you’re probably not going to get the same personal attention. Also, you won’t recognize many of the people as you’re walking across campus like at Brandeis (anytime I go anywhere, I see people I know).</p>
<p>There are A TON of things to do at Brandeis. I usually miss a lot of things I wanted to do/see because something else is happening at the same time. Every semester there are several large events which attract a huge portion of the campus. These include the twice-a-year Pachanga (a giant party/dance), the Hillel/Chabad Simchat Torah and Purim parties, Liquid Latex, Culture X, Louis Louis weekend and Bronstein weekend events, the 24-hour musical, the drag show, etc. In addition, every weekend there are smaller events - dance performances, a capella, improv/sketch comedy shows, speakers/panels and assemblies, plays and musicals (a wide range - this semester so far there’s been Julius Caesar, Children of Eden, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, M. Butterfly, Super Mario Brothers the Musical, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and probably others that I don’t remember), etc. There are also parties going on every weekend (it might take some digging to find out where, but they are there for sure!). On weekdays, there are similarly a lot of performances and speakers. Also, during the week (a couple of nights a week from 9-12 PM) Chum’s (the campus pub) hosts coffeehouses, which are sponsored by a club or organization and feature a variety of a capella, improv, and musical groups as well as stand up comedy and previews of upcoming shows and musicals. </p>
<p>I hope this answers your questions or at least serves as a good basis - let me know if there’s anything else I can tell you!</p>
<p>Hi sstGO27,</p>
<p>Thank you sooooo much~ Your answer is really comprehensive and helpful. At first, I thought weekends in Brandeis would be boring, but as you said, there are activities and parties that I can take part in. So how’s dining and housing there? How’s your dorm? </p>
<p>What about Sociology in Brandeis? Is Brandeis good at Sociology and other majors in Social Science? Sorry, I don’t know if there is a rank about this kind of major.</p>
<p>Could you please give some suggestions about how to prepare well for the coming campus life? Actually, I’m an international student from China, and I need to take the Gateway Program in summer. I think that program will help me a lot, but I think I still need to make more efforts to improve English and adapt the enviornment in Brandeis. Maybe I should learn more culture of Jew, right? Is there any books about Jewish culture or Sociology that you would recommend? </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m just a little bit nervous because my English level is away from natives. I chose Brandeis was mainly beacause I was moved by ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’. I am really happy and feel lucky that I can study in Brandeis, but I know that everyone here is hard-working, so I hope that I can catch up with others quickly~</p>
<p>Housing - This varies a lot. There are two freshman quads (North and Massell - total of 8 buildings, all traditional style) and of those, I would say two are really nice and recently renovated, five are pretty nice for freshmen dorms, and one is kind of gross (Shapiro). I’ve had no problems with the quality of the housing - sometimes we make fun of the water quality in the drinking fountains, but other than that it’s fine. The sophomore dorms range from really nice (the Village - traditional) to somewhat gross (East - traditional) and falling apart (Castle, both traditional and suites), with options in the middle as well (Rosenthal - suites). Juniors and seniors can also live in the Village, in Ziv (suites) which is nice, or in Ridgewood (apartment-style) which is really nice. Seniors can also get housing in the Mods (apartment-style), which are also a great option. As you can see, there is a wide range!</p>
<p>Dining - I’ve found the most frustrating thing to be that as a vegetarian, I tend to eat a lot of the same things. There are a lot of veggie options but not enough, in my opinion. One dining hall just got a makeover, probably because compared to the other one it was really kind of sad and no one wanted to go there except for the kosher options. Overall dining services is good - but good luck figuring out the meal plan (it’s kind of complicated).</p>
<p>Brandeis has a very strong social science faculty and a lot of very interesting classes in areas like psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, etc. I don’t know how the school compares with others but the large number of social science majors on campus indicates that this is a good place to pursue those disciplines.</p>
<p>I think that with the Gateway program, you should be fine transitioning. I wouldn’t worry about being knowledgeable about Jewish culture - as long as you come in with a respectful attitude. You’ll learn all about the culture once you’re here because it’s all around. I’d say just practice English and don’t get too stressed out about college! You’ll find that there are a lot programs and resources to make the transition easier.</p>
<p>Brandeis is very strong in sociology and social justice, a good friend of mine is a sociology major and works for the department and is always putting on a lot of different events. She’s helped her professor with research about civil rights in the American south and traveled to the state of Mississippi to investigate information in the archives first hand about healthcare among black Americans You can see here a list of places that Brandeis students will be interning over the summer in sociology and other fields:
[2010</a> World Of Work Summer Fellows | Brandeis University](<a href=“Hiatt Career Center | Brandeis University”>Hiatt Career Center | Brandeis University)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about the aspect too much. There a lot of students at Brandeis who do not come from a Jewish background and even many who do may not be religious, there are some Christian students who know more about Jewish traditions than the Jewish ones do .This is something I think one best learns through talking with your fellow classmates once you are there. </p>
<p>This essay, by senior who is graduating this year, I think does a good job of describing how non-Jews learn about Jewish traditions:
<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/deansoffice/pdfs/abdelghafar.pdf[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/studentaffairs/deansoffice/pdfs/abdelghafar.pdf</a></p>
<p>Getting off campus</p>
<p>Distance to Boston and Cambridge
Cambridge is approximately a 20 minute ride by commuter rail from campus. Downtown Boston is 11 minutes further. There are about 15 trains a day on the week days, about half that many on Sundays and somewhere in between the two on Saturdays. </p>
<p>You can look at the schedule at the mbta web site by consulting the commuter rail line: Fitchburg.</p>
<p>It seems like at my high school Brandeis has a reputation to be completely disrespectful to non-Jewish students. When I said to a couple of friends that I wanted to go to Brandeis they just shook back in horror! And asked if I was serious or not. Then proceeded to tell me all the stories they heard and what they hear from their relatives, how they were ostracized when the student population found out they weren’t Jewish, and the school student body turned against those students. </p>
<p>So, I take this with a grain of salt but, how bad is it really? I feel as if the this is grossly exaggerated.</p>
<p>tomphn:
It’s not grossly exaggerated. It’s a flat-out lie.
The student body at Brandeis is no more than 50% Jewish anyway, so I’m not sure how “ostracizing” half of your classmates would work anyway.</p>
<p>Which dorm is the most social dorm for freshmen? I just got accepted off of the waitlist but I don’t really have a clue about housing. What is the difference between North and Massel - if there is any?</p>