<p>Both are fine schools, but very different experiences. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large state school–around 30,000 students versus 5,000 for Brandeis. At Brandeis, you will have dramatically smaller class sizes and classes taught by professors, not TAs. </p>
<p>Unlike UNC, Brandeis does not offer big-time athletics or lots of Greek life. For that, UNC would be a better choice. But if your focus is academics, class size, quality of teaching, then Brandeis, I believe, is the clear choice.</p>
<p>As an admittedly biased Brandeis alum who chose Brandeis over two other liberal arts experiences, Tufts and Colgate, here’s my take. Brandeis is truly an amazing school. Its small student body- the smallest I believe (about 800 in a class) of any top tier national research university–is matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. So, the undergraduate research opportunities are tremendous. Plus, it’s very close to Boston (the world’s best college town), but on its own suburban campus with lots of activities of its own.</p>
<p>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. </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), Jeff Lurie, billionaire owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy). Also, if you’re into social justice or theater/music/art, it’s a very exciting place to be.</p>
<p>On the question of whether Brandeis is a good fit for you, I believe the kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis is an intellectual and/or creative sort who is friendly and comfortable with himself or herself and not competitive or pretentious. Intellectual but down-to-earth and friendly I think is an apt description of the student body. Unlike some preppy place or frat-oriented environments where social interraction is based on the “exclusivity” of the frat system, Brandeis has a welcoming, relatively-nonjudgmental environment–yet there are some off-campus frats for those who like what they have to offer. There is no pressure to party, but parties are there if you want them. Often social interaction centers around the numerous clubs and other terrific extracuriculars like theater and music. </p>
<p>Finally, 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). 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>Forgive my enthusiasm, but I loved it.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!.</p>