Brandeis: The Big Picture
The people at Brandeis are amazing. There's a really strong sense of community, and it makes it very easy to call Brandeis home. People are very accepting, and it's rare to feel like an outsider. Everyone is welcome.
The size is perfect. You can walk across campus and bump into dozens of people you know, but it's also big enough to find a few different niches and escape from the people you always see.
Waltham sucks, but Boston and Cambridge are nearby and awesome.
There isn't school pride in the traditional pep rally sense, but people are very aware of what it means to be from Brandeis, and students constantly talk about what it's like to be a Brandesian. I'm proud of my school, and I love having my friends from other schools visit.
The campus is kind of ugly, but there is construction for lots of new buildings.
Brandeis Academic Life
Non-intro classes are small, and professors get to know students really well. They're very accessible and love to talk to students outside of class.
There are lots of hands-on classes, in which you can apply what you're learning outside the classroom. I took a class on teaching science to kids, and we did all sorts of physics experiments with balloons and K'nex and batteries. I learned more physics than I had in high school, and it was tons of fun.
Some students study all day and all night, and some rarely study. It depends on the classes you take. Science classes require a lot more time to work than some others.
Students are competitive against themselves, not each other. Most of my classes have not been curved, so it really doesn't matter what grades anyone else gets.
The psychology major requires too many hard science classes. I wish I could have taken more classes like Abnormal, Social, and Developmental Psych, instead of calculus, statistics, chemistry, neuroscience, etc.
The general university requirements are easy to meet, and valuable for a liberal arts education. I have finished all the university requirements and one major by the end of junior year, and I only have two classes left before I finish my other two majors. That means that after 7 semesters of college (3.5 years), I will have completed the general requirements and three majors. They make it easy to cross-list courses and get credit for different majors.
Brandeis's Student Body
There is no type of student who would feel out of place at Brandeis. People think of Brandeis as being super-Jewish, but it's easy to forget that. There are plenty of students who practice other religions. There are plenty of resources and clubs for people in the LGBT community (such as the QRC, and Triskelion), and different racial and ethnic communities (AHORA, SASA, KSA, BSO, JSA, etc.).
Students dress fairly casual for class. Some wear pajamas and sweatpants, others wear heels and mini-skirts. But the average student wears jeans and t-shirts.
Students do tend to group off. In the dining hall, there would be a frat table, an international students table, a dorky table, and a table of "average" white, middle class students.
There are a lot of people from the Northeast (New England, NJ, and NY). It is very hard to say what financial background people have. It's rarely discussed or flaunted.
Students are very politically aware, generally left-wing/liberal democrats. Lots of people are invested in social justice/human rights. But there are also a lot of people who are here just to be doctors or investment bankers.
Brandeis Student Activities + Social Life
I'm the Waltham Group, which is the student-run community service organization. There are 13 programs, and students can get involved in as many as they want. They address issues of housing, education, healthcare, immigration, and homelessness.
Students leave their doors open until they go to sleep, when they lock them. It's a safe campus, and people are generally open to visitors.
I met my closest friends by living in the same dorms.
The dating scene is very chill. People generally meet through friends or at a party, and then hang out until something happens. A lot of people end up dating their close friends.
If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm probably talking to my friends, watching TV, playing video games, or smoking/drinking.
There are parties every Friday and Saturday, along with smaller party-like gatherings on Thursdays, and sometimes earlier in the week. There are a few bars off campus that students over 21 go to on Wednesdays. There are plenty of people who drink heavily every day, and plenty of people who abstain entirely.
There is a small unofficial greek scene at Brandeis. Their only point is really to throw parties. There is no pressure to join them, and they are not an overwhelming part of campus life. They don't think of themselves as being different than anyone else, and they're not cocky like fraternities and sororities at other schools. It's easy to be friends with them if you're not involved in Greek life.
There are always enough university-sponsored events on Saturdays (guest speakers, dances, shows, concerts) that you don't need to drink to have fun. There is also an hourly shuttle that goes into Cambridge and Boston, so you can go there if you're bored of campus.
