Judaic Studies/IMES major

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
1

<p>Are Judaic studies and IMES majors a dime a dozen at Brandeis? Or is it a relatively small department?</p>

<p>I am trying to get a sense of whether my kid’s intended major is the sort of thing that makes the admissions office say, “Oy, not another one of THESE.”</p>

2

<p>Brandeis does have a lot of IMES and NEJS (Near Eastern and Judaic Studies) students because those are both large and strong programs; however, I think the same could be said for so many subjects as Brandeis (like the sciences, IGS, psychology, economics, and others). I don’t know how the admissions people view applicants when they have a common major like that, but it might help if your kid explains somewhere (maybe in the “Why Brandeis?” section) why (s)he wants to pursue those majors. Brandeis is really huge on political and social action, so if that is a motivation for your child, that might be a big plus since the admissions office will see that his/her ideology/interests mesh really well with Brandeis’ values. Also, I’m sure they like interesting people so if your child has some specific interest or goal in mind relating to those majors, that might also be a plus.</p>

3

<p>I think while NEJS is fairly popular, IMES is a pretty small program, so I think if you emphasize your interest, that concentration of IMES, that could be good. Not to just say I’m interested in NEJS, but what ares of NEJS and IMES they are interested in and why.
Even though there is both a major and minor in IMES and NEJS:
[Majors</a> and Minors | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University](<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/areas/majors/index.html]Majors”>http://www.brandeis.edu/areas/majors/index.html), in the class of 2008 neither was one of the most popular majors
<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/DegreesAwardedAY2007-20081.pdf[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/DegreesAwardedAY2007-20081.pdf&lt;/a&gt;
and only NEJS was among the most popular minors
<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/DegreesAwardedAY2007-20081.pdf[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/institutionalresearch/pdfs/DegreesAwardedAY2007-20081.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

4

<p>Good to know. You can do a Jewish Studies major just about anywhere, but the number of schools where you can combine it with Arabic, Middle East studies, etc., is much smaller–and a lot of them are huge midwest state universities.</p>