<p>I’ll try to keep this short. I just visited Brandeis and it exceeded my expectations. Students seemed nice, people weren’t as ugly as I thought and the academic program seemed good. BUT…</p>
<p>Is Brandeis really that prestigious? I know that they have high law school acceptances, but which ones? High ranking ones? Ivies? What about employment? Will future employers look at Brandeis as being on par with many top schools, even as high as the lower ivies? What else can anyone say about prestige?</p>
<p>Please back something up with facts and statistics, and post pros and cons too. I’ll try to get at least a somewhat objective look.</p>
<p>Why does prestige matter? Seriously... it shouldn't make a difference. If you're going into the college search with that mindset, you could quite easily end up at a more "prestigious" school that you hate. Prestige is only important as to which grad school you go to anyway. </p>
<p>But anyway, to the average person, it's very prestigious although many people haven't heard of it. Then again, where I live people haven't heard of Dartmouth so that's really not a big shock. The people who matter know about it and think highly of it. Granted, the average CC person would turn their noses down at it because it's not a top 20 school, but the average CC person is also severely dillusional.</p>
<p>For a school that is less than 60 years old to be ranked 34th is incredible. </p>
<p>Silver is right, people who need to know do know that Brandeis is a "prestigious school." I hate to sound elitist, but a commoner may not have heard of Brandeis, but med and law school adcoms have. Same goes for the big investment/banking firms that recruit right out of undergrad. Jewish people, frankly, are more likely to be impressed by Brandeis, and they definitely think well of students from Brandeis.</p>
<p>After I got in ED, I looked for a job during the second half of senior year. I interviewed to be an assistant in a real estate office, and the boss was very impressed when I said I'd be attending Brandeis in the Fall.</p>
<p>The "prestige" of your school might matter a little someday, but more important is how you do wherever you go.</p>
<p>That being said, I felt Brandeis' grading policies, especially in the sciences, shortchanged me and others severely. Maybe they think they're being the noble holdouts by refusing to inflate grades like many other well-known schools, but in my case it really, really hurt. If sticking to your principles means harming your students, maybe you're holding the wrong principles.</p>
<p>I've always thought of Brandeis as rigorous and prestigious as far as academics go, but also a place where people would get turned off by the other factors: the social life, the Jewish thing, the mediocre (imo) campus. I don't think it is comparable, overall, with some of the "lower ivies"; I don't think you'd elicit the same kind of hardcore prestige. I do not think that as far as people's impressions go, it will give you the same reaction as say, Wash U., or Tufts, or Northwestern. Not to say that it is necessarily a lesser school, but it is definitely a place that is far less selective and where you would find a lot more highly above average but not ridiculously excellent students. (a side note: their admittance rates, I've heard, are definitely dropping at a faster pace than others, so it's a place whose prestige will go up rather than down over the years, I think.) However, I would also say that especially locally, and like others have said with people "in the know" it IS very well regarded. I happen to be going there next year, although I got accepted to more selective places, and although I was a bit bitter about it at first (not gonna lie!) I have since been feeling much more positive and satisfied with it. </p>
<p>Also, I looked at your profile, and with your stats, you're extremely likely to get some kind of scholarship. Brandeis is very generous with its merit money. There are, you know, people who probably scraped in, perhaps with a legacy or athletic recruiting; there are also people who turned down Ivies in favor of it. The very top schools, or at least the well-endowed ones (usually it's a synonym :-p) do not give out merit-based aid, generally, and if so in rather limited scholarships. Brandeis does, and lots of it, and it usually doesn't require a separate application. So I highly encourage you to apply there anyway, and if you get that Blue Ribbon Application thingie next year it's ridiculously easy (+ you'll find out early).</p>
<p>eee, i'm not sure of the exact "formula," but they send it to kids who demonstrate interest (went on a tour, called for info, came to a rep. at a college fair, etc), show excellent achievement or come from under-represented geographic areas.</p>
<p>You come off looking really bad... Brandeis is very prestigious. I was able to get a great internship after my freshman year based on the reputation brandeis has. IT IS AMAZING FOR PREMED. They claim to get 75% or something like that into their first choice of med school.</p>
<p>I can't speak for all pre-meds, but I found my pre-med experience at Brandeis underwhelming. The classes were very large and not too interesting. And the grades are low. They tend to grade on strict curves, so if you happen to be a fairly good student but are in an especially strong class you get screwed.</p>
<p>And um, no way about the 75% thing. In a very good year, 75% of Brandeis applicants get into ANY med school at all, period. Usually it's more around 65%. Probably very few students get into their first choice school. Perhaps 5-10 a year if 75 or so people apply.</p>
and the academic program seemed good. BUT…</p>