<p>Hey you guys. My sister just got into her first college, Brandeis. She’s afraid that she’s heard that it’s really nerdy (after she applied), but she liked it when she went there. She’s going to stay with a family friend who goes there right now, but she happens to be nerdy so I don’t know if my sister will get the best idea. Is it known for being extremely nerdy?</p>
<p>Well, I don’t see how someone could label ANY college nerdy. There are a lot of opportunities on the Brandeis campus. If you’d rather not be nerdy and study all day, there are the parties and the things to do in Boston (woot! We rock as the best college town 
). If you want to be nerdy–well, then you can study all day. It all depends on what you want–it sounds to me that your sister is interested in education, but also wants to have fun (like me :D) and she will love that at Brandeis. Brandeis offers tons of clubs, sports, and parties too. Tell your sister to relax–there ARE nerds at Brandeis, but there are also people like her. </p>
<p>Also, by the way, tell her congrats from me. Brandeis is an excellent school :).</p>
<p>I had a question along this line of thought as well. I met a senior who told me that Brandeis was majority Jewish and that it had a major impact on the social life at Brandeis. Does anyone know what the Non-Jewish to Jewish ratio is at Brandeis, if that kind of information is even published? Also, if this is true, will my not being Jewish detract from the “Brandeis experience?” The person who told me this is Jewish as well, and he visited the campus recently. He might just be overly sensitive to the issue.</p>
<p>StotheK, Brandeis is quite diverse undergraduate and graduate, with a strong international flavor (in fact the majority of its International Business School is international students). With respect to the issue of the school’s Jewish population, less than 50% of its student body is Jewish (40% overall if you count the grad students who are on the same campus and often work alongside undergrads in research). I don’t think there is a particularly overt feel of Jewish culture on campus unless you are looking for it. Many top schools have a significant percentage of Jewish students and certainly more in numbers than mid-sized Brandeis. Brandeis is a non-sectarian school that embraces students from all types of backgrounds based on merit. The school has no religious affiliation (i.e. it’s not Notre Dame or Boston College or Georgetown), although it was founded and is funded signigicantly by the Jewish community. You should visit the campus to judge for yourself.</p>
<p>It is a fabulously diverse, open school. As someone else said, you can be who you really want at Brandeis because of the type of students there. Our tour guide was a great kid named Mohammed from NYC and the session leader was McCarthy or McCleary. Our in-law cousin from Nepal went there, too, and found it to be culturally comfortable. It is more like a mini-UN in how many different students there are. </p>
<p>The tour guide was an athlete and could do serious stand-up comedy. he was awesome. While the school was founded by a group of Jewish folks, it was founded to allow ANYONE of any faith, creed, race, etc., to pursue an excellent college education. It is a stimulating and challenging academic setting… Worth the cost!</p>
<p>We are thrilled our S got accepted, and while he still waiting to see FA and review other acceptances, I would be very proud and happy if Brandeis were his school of choice.</p>
<p>Current student here.</p>
<p>Aside from the breaks during major Jewish holidays and the probably higher than average Israeli/Palestinian activism, you really couldn’t tell that the school is about 40% Jewish. If anything, you’d be surprised at the number of international students from China.</p>
<p>We just had a party called “Tel Aviv Night.” And upcoming (hopefully!) is our annual Pachanga. BAASA is throwing a party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of APAHM. A few other organizations had big intercollegiate parties last semester.</p>