Merit Scholarships from Brandeis?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Brandeis University
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<p>Although I could not fault you for preferring a full ride financially to none at all, the two schools really are not comparable, even putting prestige aside (where Brandeis far exceeds BU).</p>

<p>To begin with BU is a large and impersonal urban school with no distinct campus of its own. In contrast, Brandeis combines a nurturing, 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. And that small student body is matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. As you can imagine, the research opportunities are tremendous. Plus it’s very close to Boston but on its own suburban campus.</p>

<p>BU is a good university, but, as I’ve mentioned to others on CC, for undergraduate students, Brandeis is truly amazing. Its 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. Also, FYI, the school is very diverse undergraduate and graduate, with a strong international flavor (in fact the majority of its International Business School is international students). </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 Medal 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); Jeffrie Laurie, billionare owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy). Also, if you’re into social justice (Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman are alums as well, I could go on) or theater/music/art, it’s a very exciting place to be. </p>

<p>With respect to pre-med, and other grad schools, Brandeis students acceptance rates are excellent. See:</p>

<p>[Brandeis</a> Admissions | After Brandeis | Graduate School](<a href=“Life After Brandeis | Why Brandeis | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University”>Life After Brandeis | Why Brandeis | Undergraduate Admissions | Brandeis University)</p>

<p>Also, if you haven’t seen it, you should watch the interview on the Brandeis website with Greg Petsko, Professor of Biochem, who left MIT to come to Brandeis. He discusses his reasons as to why he found Brandeis to be, in his words, “a better place” to teach and for his students to learn. Here’s a link to the “video tour”: [url=<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/videotour/]Tour[/url”>http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/videotour/]Tour[/url</a>]. Then, you may need to click through to the faculty interviews to find Petsko.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, I too was admitted to Brandeis without merit aid in my day and chose it over merit-aid offers from Colgate and Tufts. The magnitude of the numbers of course were much smaller decades ago. But the Brandeis experience was nonetheless worth it and I believe that can be even more true today. Loans for both undergrad and Law school were paid off in due course.</p>

<p>Ultimately, you will have to weigh best fit with affordability. Good luck with your decision!</p>

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<p>I just got a letter from brandeis with a huge surprise. My initial financial aid package provided me with only a 5,000 loan. I completely crossed Brandeis off of my list of possible colleges because when I visited I decided that it really was not a good fit for me. Today I received a letter offering me $30,000 a year. I am literally blown away. My family is not really classified as “needy” and the other schools I was accepted to have given me no where near that amount of money. The letter called it a “trustee scholarship” so what I’m trying to figure out now is whether or not this scholarship was merit based. Despite how amazing this news is, it is also somewhat difficult because it really does force me to take Brandeis into account when making my decision which is already making the process so much more difficult. (the other two schools I am deciding between are Macalester and Hamilton… any advice?)</p>

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<p>@libiem:
I’m not sure what you want to study, so it’s hard to talk in general terms (but I’ll do it anyway).</p>

<p>Brandeis is flat-out a better school than either Macalester or Hamilton – even if the finances were equal, I’d say go to Brandeis for sure.</p>

<p>One other thing – location. Have you been to Hamilton? It’s a nice campus, but it’s a few hours drive to <em>get</em> to the middle of nowhere.</p>

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<p>yeah I visited Hamilton and the location is defintely a turn off.
I’m not entirely sure what I want to study, possibly sociology or something along those lines.
What draws me to the two other schools is more the student body. The open houses forced me to be really judgemental and overall I felt that I saw a lot more people at Macalester and Hamilton that I felt that i could connect with</p>

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<p>Soze, what are your reasons for calling Brandeis a “flat-out better school” than Macalester and Hamilton?</p>