<p>I am just wondering if Brandeis has a good reputation academically..
I know its a small school, and ranked the 34th,
but honestly, no one really knows about it here in NYC..
I got accepted to both NYU and Brandeis, waitlisted to Tufts,
and am not sure where I should go..</p>
<p>and how would you rank the schools in Boston Area?</p>
<p>anyone, i think u guys will be unbiased…</p>
<p>Brandeis is certainly reputable. It couldn’t be more different from NYU, but you can get a great education at either. My daughter is a Harvard student and she considered both Brandeis and NYU. But of the two, she only applied to Brandeis.</p>
<p>Brandeis has a good reputation in New England, in New York, and pretty much anywhere. It’s not true that “no one really knows about it here in NYC”. What you mean is that 17-year-olds in New York who don’t know much about anything don’t know much about it.</p>
<p>It’s relatively small, fewer than 1,000 students/class, with a small graduate program and small professional schools – just a little smaller than Dartmouth, and a little bigger than Wesleyan. It was founded as a secular institution that would not discriminate against Jewish students at a time when discrimination against Jewish students was the norm everywhere else. It retains something of a Jewish cultural character, and about half of its student body is Jewish (I think), but there is no required religious participation of any kind. (And while Brandeis may have slightly more religiously observant Jews than most other universities, most hard-core orthodox Jews will go to religious institutions, like Yeshiva University, not to secular Brandeis.) </p>
<p>In terms of the Boston-area food-chain, my perception is that it’s roughly equivalent to Tufts (but more intimate, less preppy) or BC (but really less preppy and a lot less Catholic) or Wellesley (but with more guys). Which is to say that not too many people will choose to go there rather than to Harvard if they have been admitted to both, but it is competitive with any school below that top-top level and has a strong intellectual character. It doesn’t really have an engineering program, so it isn’t exactly competitive with MIT or tech schools, but it has lots of pre-meds, and a five-year engineering program with Columbia. </p>
<p>It’s pretty suburban. Unlike most of the other Boston-area schools, except Wellesley, it’s not on the T system, but there are commuter trains that go into Boston on a regular basis.</p>
<p>It has been hurt financially by having been perhaps the largest single victim of the Bernard Madoff fraud – Madoff was a trustee and the university’s treasurer. But it’s not going anywhere.</p>
<p>Compared to NYU, historically it has a better academic reputation, but I think NYU has come up in the world enough that there’s no longer a difference there. NYU is way larger and more urban, Brandeis much more like a suburban LAC. There’s no clear advantage one has over the other without knowing a lot more about what you want out of a college.</p>
<p>How did you already get accepted to Brandeis if you didn’t apply ED?</p>
<p>That’s a good question! I thought maybe Brandeis and NYU were Early Action colleges, but they both have Early Decision. That looks really sketchy!</p>
<p>JHS’s comments largely are fair. One innacuracy is the Madoff connection. Madoff had no direct connection to Brandeis nor was any Brandeis money invested with Madoff–there may be confusion here with Tufts or some other institution.</p>
<p>Brandeis is truly an amazing school. It’s 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. And, yes, some applicants have even turned down the vaunted Harvard to attend Brandeis. Certainly some very influential Harvard professors are products of Brandeis–e.g. Michael Sandel and Marty Peretz.</p>
<p>Brandeis’ intellectual environment is comparable in many ways to its University Athletic Association sister school, U Chicago (perhaps no coincidence that the President of U Chicago is a Brandeis alum). Yet its students are down-to-earth, friendly and non-competitive with one another. FYI in a recent Forbes national college rankings survey, Brandeis was ranked 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>Despite its small size and relative youth, Brandeis alumni are very distinguished–to name just a few: Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Rod Mackinnon, Fields Metal 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>
<p>Finally, the school is very diverse both among undergraduate and graduate students, with a strong international flavor (in fact the majority of The Brandeis International Business School is international students). With respect to the issue for some of the school’s Jewish population, you should understand that less than 50% of its student body is Jewish. Brandeis is a non-sectarian school that embraces students from all types of backgrounds based on merit. The school has no religious affiliation, although it was founded and is funded signigicantly by the Jewish community. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!.</p>