<p>For the longest time I had considered Brandeis to be my first choice school. It boasted a fairly diverse and activist (they prided themselves on this concept of “student activism” very much) student body as well as a very well known Middle Eastern Studies program, and almost everything I read about it was essentially perfect (plus it has a castle!)</p>
<p>And then I visited. It was sometime in April, on a monday. The tour was gross to say the least. As our tour person mumbled to a crowd of forty-something people (most college tours divide crowds into smaller groups, but now I sound picky), I was surprised to see portable classrooms not far from the three chapels. My junior high school had portable classrooms, and that was only because of reconstruction. It was the first university I’ve ever visited to have them.</p>
<p>The tour continued, and we were shown a dorm room. Our tour group was greeted by a massive trashcan that had tipped over; garbage was everywhere. Students casually walked by it as if they were used to such a lifestyle. (On that note, most of the students I saw during the entire tour seemed dreadfully unhappy, with their heads bent low and frowns on their faces). Did they expect someone to come and clean it for them? (I only saw one janitor/cleaning person during the entire tour, and granted everything I had seen I doubt he comprehended the work Brandeis students cut out for him.) From there we walked to, but not inside, the library. By this time it finally occured to me that I had to be in the front of the crowd to actually hear the tour guide’s mumbling, and I heard him say something about a program at the library where you can meet certain teachers who will rewrite your papers in order to receive a higher grade (!!!). The tour progressed, and so did my disappointment. Cigarettes covered the ground. Students having lunch ate outside on the grass. When they finished eating they simply left their paper plates and plastic forks on the ground, and it was clear that many students had this habit considering the enormous amount of trash everywhere. It was something so small like that that saddened me. They’re activist students but they can’t even pick up their own trash?</p>
<p>Then the castle. That was the peak of my sadness. I’ll admit that during the tour up until this point I hadn’t quite given up on Brandeis. My parents, neat freaks by any standard, were revolted by the campus in sharp contrast to my mere disappointment. After the portables, after the dorm, after the cafeteria, I kept on saying “wait till we get to the castle.” It’s architecturally pretty, I’ll admit, I like the concept of pie shaped rooms and halls that lead to nowhere. It was a pity that the students took little care of it and that the administration never bothered to clean it up. I saw at least four broken windows, and most of the screens were ripped (many of the screens for the other dorms were ripped too). We didn’t actually go inside the castle, we just sorta went around and through a part of it that remained outdoors. Then we just sort of brushed by the gym and track without actually visiting it.</p>
<p>We went to the info session afterwards. We were told about all of Brandeis’s extra-curricular activities (shouldnt a school that prides itself on rigorous academics not brag about how students go out of their way to create a “pirate club” ?) and the “student activism” on campus. (The lady talking to us repeated this phrase often, though she provided no instances of the students actively helping the Waltham area or speaking out on a political issue, or even cleaning up their own campus.) Then she mentioned the enormous price of college tuition (well all college tuitions are enormous, but this was more so than most), and the exact price escapes my memory unfortunately. But where does all that money go? To the career services department? To keeping the school renovated and clean? To big names who come and go giving a couple of lectures without actually connecting to the students? I got the impression it was the latter of the three, as the lady seemed to adopt a defensive tone when it came to professor/student connections. She spoke of big names (Anita Hill strikes me as one that she mentioned, which impressed me), but little about actual student experiences with these big names.</p>
<p>After the tour I picked up a copy of the Justice, which was a surprisingly well-done newspaper. A long article was written (it made front page) about students being disappointed with the university’s career center (75% of students will spend their entire time at brandeis without once receiving career counseling) and that the majority of students (if I remember correctly the number was around 60%) felt that their writing skills had not improved (perhaps because they supposedly have their professors rewrite their papers?).</p>
<p>My conclusion on Brandeis, particularly after reading the Justice article, was that it isn’t the school for me. I’m not an organized person, but I prefer a school where the students respect the campus and the administration takes care to keep it clean and renovate it. Especially during the month of April, when college visitations are the highest, wouldn’t you expect the university to at least make an attempt to clean itself up? I consider myself to be an “activist” as I volunteer in many local events, political social or otherwise, and I was bothered by how the school flaunted the phrase “student activism” like an empty title. Also, I look for a school with an emphasis on actual education and career services (I wont pick a school because it has a pirate club, though pirates are really cool!)</p>
<p>My post in lengthy, I know. I’m not writing this to anger current Brandeis students, because everybody has their own priorities when it comes to finding the right college (I know that many things I have written may sound bitter, a lot of that comes from how high my hopes were for Brandeis and how much they were shot down, I apologize if anyone may be offended). Though I would love if students there could respond somehow, perhaps to justify their school? This post was written simply to detail how disappointed I was, and also to ask if anyone (anyone meaning people who are considering applying) has had the same experience while visiting Brandeis.</p>