<p>We just returned from a visit to Brandeis. D had a great interview followed by an informative info session. THEN we went on a campus tour. The tour guide was SO disappointing. First of all, she did not speak intelligent English, but rather a “valley girl” type of language. During the hour long tour, there was no mention of the academics at the University, but rather a giggly, immature description of nothing in particular. Boy did we get turned off and so did the others in the group whom we spoke with at the end of the tour. For the entire ride home my family kept discussing the fact that we still think that Brandeis is a top level university, but now we are a little confused. If D is accepted the bad experience will warrant another trip up to Boston to hopefully dispel our reactions.</p>
<p>The following day we stopped for a campus tour of Yale. Wow - it was like a breath of fresh air. After our experience the prior day it made Yale look like an institute of higher learning and Brandeis seem like summer camp.</p>
<p>Someone, please tell me that we just had a bad experience and that Brandeis is still the great school we thought it was!</p>
<p>I took a tour of Brandeis over the summer. My tour guide was very knowledgable, and covered academics, Brandeis’s history, student life, etc. I felt it went well; in fact, it was one of the better ones I’ve been to. The school’s definately one of my top choices.</p>
<p>Brandeis is a great school so if your d is accepted, a second visit is well worth your time. My daughter graduated 3 years ago and the Accepted Students Day visit in April was very positive. You might want to give Admissions some feedback about the disappointing tour. We had the same experience with an airhead tour guide at Northwestern as well as some other schools that were more safety schools- Delaware and University of Hartford.</p>
<p>My D is a first-year at Brandeis and she definitely feels like she is at a first-rate university. She is challenged academically, has smart, interesting friends (something she lacked in HS), and is finding campus life vibrant and exciting. She texted me yesterday to proudly say she was skipping class to be at the Goldstone-Gold debate ;)</p>
<p>I think maybe the tourguide you had was related to the one we had last year at Macalester - she giggled about having ADD and how it made it hard to stay on topic during the tour. Really?!</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you or your D have any questions.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t judge the school solely on the tour guide. My son hopes to major in math/music and often times the tour guides are political science or English majors and steered away from courses/discussions on the math/science depts at the school we were visiting. He has found it far more helpful to try to speak to a student with similar interests to him at the school. He is applying to Brandeis. The tour didn’t sway him one way or another - speaking to a student, an alum, and admissions; as well as looking at the professors and what they’ve published/done in the fields of study he is interested in. He was really pleased for a school Brandeis size they have a lot to offer.</p>
<p>In my d’s mind Brandeis has a lot going for it. We did, by the way, choose the tour guide who was majoring in Bio which is what d is also considering. Let’s all face it, Brandeis is far from the best looking campus around so upon first impression it is a little disappointing. The weather is another negative in D’s mind but all else were positives. In some ways the tour was one of the “deal breakers” for us. We were looking to justify the 2 negatives.</p>
<p>Thanks to all for you helpful advice. I might be PMing you in the next few months when acceptances come out.</p>
<p>We’ve done two Brandeis tours, one in the summer before our son’s junior year, and one at the recent open house. Both tour guides have been impressively smart but pleasant and unpretentious kids. Neither said a great deal about academics, though; in fact few of our tour guides at any schools have done so. At most colleges we’ve visited, they’ve used the info session to cover academics (as well as the admissions process), with the tour mostly focusing on campus life and resources available to students (library, arts & sports facilities, dining halls, etc.).</p>
<p>We scheduled an appointment with the Physics Dept for the same day of the tour to really access the academics in s planned major. We were wowed by the dept, and the amount of time they spent with my s. He is now a sophmore majoring in physics and math and loves it. He finds it extremely challenging, but everyone has been most supportive.</p>