Brandeis University

First impressions of Brandeis University as a social environment in which to spend four years of your life and over a hundred thousand of your dollars may be that it is a warm, open-minded and fun place to be. As I've experienced it, if you're not the type of person who easily makes friends right off the bat in any social situation, you're not going to do well, at least in the beginning. Cliques form in a second, and tend to be quite exclusive. It's very hard to make friends after cliques form at the beginning of your time. It's especially hard if you're not a well-off, connected student in one of the popular majors (neuroscience, biochemistry or global studies, for example). Another anecdote to that end is that I'm from the midwest, and in my time here I have yet to meet a single person who's from within 200 miles of where I live. It can also be hard to make friends if you're not the type of person who goes out and parties (at any of Brandeis' really lame parties that get shut down before 1 am) every weekend. The people who you do meet are likely to be self-absorbed and won't last as your friends; they'll dump you for better friends who enjoy getting ratchet more than you or come from a more similar background as them (more often than not, it involves being Jewish to some end).

Academically speaking, you'll do very well if you're the type of person who appreciates breadth over depth in your education, enjoy immersing yourself in whatever takes your fancy one semester or another, are talented in many areas and enjoy letting academic advisors tell you what to do. Granted, there are many extremely interesting courses that I wish I could have taken in the past or could in the future; Brandeis is blessed with world-class faculty who are extremely passionate about their teaching and about enriching the students. Many faculty lead discussion-based courses, which is excellent if that's the type of course you like taking. Faculty are approachable and love working with and knowing their students, no matter how deep your interest is in their subject area. The rigour of the work is high; it comes in two stages. During your first year you're likely to take some lower-level classes, and the instructors will sometimes treat you as though you've never written a paper before, and other times they'll be flexible in terms of working with you at your level. Beyond these courses, stuff gets intense really fast. If that's what you're up for, then go for it - I personally enjoy a challenge academically, but if you want a place that you can just breeze through, it's not Brandeis - students in general here love the challenge of the coursework: it's central to the academic ethos of the school, and that's something to like a lot.

Now, Waltham is (and there's really no other way of putting it) a sh*thole. There's absolutely nothing to do and it isn't the safest place at night. Campus is very isolated as it's up on a hill and there's one road in/out (which is a HUGE drawback if you either enjoy going out or, like me, have to have a job and don't get helped by the university in finding a federal-work-study job on campus that you're qualified for - more on that later). Getting to Cambridge or Boston can be inconvenient at times. There are busses on the weekend from on campus, which sound convenient on paper, but are chronically late or canceled, and crowded. A regular bus service, the 553 stops outside campus and takes an hour to get into Boston via Newton. The commuter rail also stops right outside campus, but it's bloody expensive. Zipcar oneway is convenient from getting from doorstep to doorstep in terms of where you're going, but a car isn't always available near campus. Once you're in Boston or Cambridge, though, there's a wealth of things to do. Boston metro area also has many other universities that host events and parties.

The administration of the university is not the best. They try hard to listen to the students' needs, but in recent years have failed to effectively answer students' questions and qualms about the budget and how bloody expensive everything is, or, while still being pretty progressive compared to other universities in America, to address issues of diversity that have been brought to attention recently. (The student body is very much divided on issues of diversity; half are ignorant, rich, privileged white kids who don't understand issues facing marginalised demographics barely represented at Brandeis and in the real world, and half are socially conscious and occasionally hostile students who are very active in tackling issues of social justice - the latter half obviously includes the small percentage of students of colour and students who are from low-income backgrounds).

The resources at the university are mediocre. Academic resources like the library are really nothing special - I've gone to other universities nearby for academic material more so than gone to Brandeis' library. The health services are subpar, as well. The health centre is understaffed and not particularly friendly; the psychological counseling centre provides pretty good services, but it's almost impossible to get to them at all - speaking personally, it took me over a full semester to even book my first appointment due to being double-booked more than once.

The facilities are mixed. Dorm life is pretty crap freshman year - the buildings are outdated and the appliances are broken more often than not (I had no heat all winter and facilities services *never* came to fix it), and the dining hall food is absolute garbage (the people who prepare it are all warm-hearted, wonderful people who strive to please, but unfortunately the food they're given to prepare is awful). This is a trivial complaint, but since the school is not actually secular at all, we *never* have real bacon. The bottom line here is that if you're looking for an academically stimulating environment in which to delve into many of your interests and learn from world-class faculty just as passionate as you, and you aren't worried at all about social life, living on a college campus, caring about the community you live in or paying for all of it, then you've found the right school. If you're even remotely worried about any of the other above attributes, look elsewhere - it isn't worth 40k a year.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2018

Education Quality: A, Campus Aesthetics: D

There is a good and a bad to Brandeis. The unfortunate truth for me was that many of the students are rich, white Jewish kids from MA, NJ, and NY. The little Jewish microcosm that is Brandeis does not reflect the real world outside, unfortunately. If you are not white and Jewish, (I'm middle class, half-Asian, and Buddhist) some students can make you feel real bad about it. The majority are tolerant, if not accepting of differences. The political slant of Brandeis is to knee-jerk hypersensitivity at every issue. Students think they are really doing something because they hold up a sign or hashtag something. The school is very politically active.

In pre-medical sciences, there is a lot of cut-throat competition. Students sabotaged my lab experiments to get a better grade via the bell curve. Labs were taught by graduate students. Most were good but some seemed to not have a very good grasp of the English language.

The student body is one of the most unattractive of any campus in the Boston area. If you want to meet cute guys, Brandeis is probably not for you. There is a roaring, underground greek life which is not endorsed by the university, yet it is there... and it is lame. There is not much to do in Waltham on a Friday night. I hung out in Cambridge instead. BTW, the dining hall food is quite good! The meal plans are expensive, but the food is good.

As a woman, I felt pretty safe on campus. It is not that well lit at night, but I still felt pretty safe. Waltham is a bit sketchy though.

Since social life is mostly off-campus, having money certainly helps. I had none, so I had to get creative. Of course, if you are creative, you can create social opportunities. Most of my circle of friends just studied through the weekend anyway. The Castle is supposed to be a 24 hour quiet dorm for pre-meds to study away all day, but it houses the campus coffee shop and can get loud on Saturday nights. Classes at Brandeis can be challenging. The academics are hard and usually very good. There is a huge chip on Brandeis' shoulder, though. The school is overshadowed by MIT, Harvard, Boston College, and Tufts. Most of the students at Brandeis did not get into these schools or, like me, did get in, but received more money from Brandeis. Students and professors alike can be arrogant and kind of don't want to be there.

4th Year Female -- Class 2006

Useful Schoolwork: A, Social Life: F

Brandeis is an extremely friendly campus, which sounds lame in writing, but actually means a lot when you're a scared little freshman. Its not for everyone, in that if you have no interest in getting an education you're going to be a little out of place and if you need parties at clubs with top of the line champagne you're not going to find them. That being said, the idea that there is not party scene on campus is absurd. Those who want to go out every weekend, usually end up joining a frat, sorority or athletic team. Though, these organizations aren't as big or well endowed (greek life isn't even recognized), they are much more close knit and diverse than their counterparts at other schools.

Boston isn't as easy to get to as the school likes to advertise, but its definitely possible. The commuter rail and T aren't hard to figure out and there's a Crystal Shuttle that takes students into Boston for free Thursday through Saturday afternoons. The Crystal Shuttle runs until 2:30 in the morning on weekends so its easy to get back from a BU, Harvard, MIT whatever party.

The academics are really good. Most of the time, only beginner classes are large and the professors are pretty approachable, though there are quite a few that are overqualified. Brandeis isn't a cut-throat school and although you'll find plenty of competitive people the school encourages friendly cooperation. I thought the dorms were average, until I visited my friend at UPENN, the dorms are above average. They're not huge but definitely roomy and definitely not hard to live in.

1st Year Female -- Class 2014

Useful Schoolwork: A+, Surrounding City: D+