<p>it’s all in the title :)</p>
<p>No, it isn't.
Unless being an "observant jew" totally defines you.</p>
<p>What do you want to study?
What are you looking for in a school?
What do you like to do for fun?</p>
<p>Need I go on?</p>
<p>by observant do you mean Orthodox? because one can be observant within other denominations.<br>
in any event - i believe either will provide a fine supportive community for an observant Jew -- regular Shabbat services, kosher food, sizable population, numerous Hillel activities to choose from.
One difference may be academic calendar -- Brandeis has off for the high holidays as well as first day sukkot, shemini atzerit, and its spring break coincides with Passover - but I don't know that this should be a major factor -- my guess is that the holidays at Penn are well supported.</p>
<p>you can probably move on to other factors on your list -- the schools are otherwise pretty different -- urban vs. suburban, upenn is about 3 times larger than brandeis.</p>
<p>Previous posters have the correct approach. It's quite easy to be an observant Jew at either campus, the exeption being chagim. So you should use other factors to decide.</p>
<p>its not even close. upenn in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Yeah, are you kidding me...UPenn is better than Brandeis in almost all departments possible, plus you'll find plenty of other Jews there.</p>