It was very easy for me to choose Brandeis. I wanted a school that was friendly both physically in terms of the campus and people. Brandeis as a campus is open and circular and right outside of the wonderful city of Boston. Students and faculty are warm, engaging, and will go out of their way to make you feel that Brandeis is your home for the next four years. There is something wonderful about your first community being one that you can call home and recall with fond memories.

Brandeis students are definitely a motivated group. People here care a lot about their academics, but it the various activities and causes students get involved in are the things Brandeis students tend to be most passionate about. For some people that can be promoting autism awareness, for others it could be debate, or something unique like their love of cheese. Brandeis students also know how to have a great time on the weekends, but collectively were not a group that party's nearly as much as the people do at most State schools. The other thing that has always stood out to me is how accepting and genuinely nice Brandeis students are. I honestly feel like nine out of every ten people I meet at Brandeis are people I could be potential friends with. Brandeis is a pretty great place, and that is because the students are such an awesome group.

People often complain that there isn't anyone datable at Brandeis, but that hasn't stopped most people from dating someone. A lot of my friends are in serious relationships, and I know several people who have ended up marrying people they met at Brandeis—but don't worry, people date casually too! There aren't that many good date options in Waltham other than restaurants, but it's easy to get into Cambridge or Boston for the night, and in a city like Boston it's easy to meet students at other colleges, especially if you have high school friends who go to area schools and have cute friends. Relationships tend to be either casual or serious, and there isn't much middle ground, but it's certainly not impossible or unheard of.

Yes, Brandeis is a non-sectarian Jewish-sponsored institution of higher learning, but in no way will your education be steeped in Judaism. There is surely a plurality of Jewish students, but one of the things I love about Brandeis is its diversity of cultures, ideals and ethnicities. For our size and definition as a small liberal arts institution, I believe that we are probably one of the more diverse campuses on the East Coast. If you want to get involved in a religious or cultural club on campus, there are plenty of options such as Hillel and baRuCh (the Conservative Jewish group), along with the Korean Students Association and the Catholic Students Organization. However, I know many Jews that have never attended a Jewish cultural event, club or service in their 4 years. Believe me- the school does not shut down on Friday nights, there are plenty of school-sponsored social events and parties to attend. You may note that there are many Orthodox students at Brandeis, more so than perhaps you would see at other institutions. Students are concerned about Israel on campus and many lectures are based around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides given equal time.

We have a lot of active clubs on campus. Our student center is open 24/7 where most of our clubs meet. Some of our most active clubs include community service, event programming, student union, and theater groups. I also really like how open community living is in terms of security. At some schools they are really strict about guests and going to other residence halls. But, at Brandeis it is a really relaxed atmosphere, which makes really easy to go around campus. I don't have to worry about checking it at my friend's place at 2 or 3 in the morning. We don't have a lot of security issues to begin with, so I don't really mind walking about at night. We also have a lot of great events that are thrown by our student clubs, most of which are free and amazing.

While lecture halls at Brandeis can be pretty big classes, it is easy to be as known or unknown to the professor as you want to be. From my experience, professors have generally been scholarly and devoted individuals who are genuinely caring and compassionate about their students and their subject material. Academic classes usually present clear requirements and expectations from the beginning, and they often can be rigorous and demanding, especially in certain areas of study such as science. However, professors are often approachable, hold office hours, and are willing to help you succeed. Maintaining a high GPA may not be a cakewalk, but any student willing to put in the time and effort can do well. Studying is a must, as there will be many papers to write and tests to study for. It is necessary to spend afternoons and occasional weekends in the library. At Brandeis, I am a psychology major, film studies major, and journalism minor, so I have gotten a taste of many different areas. My science-related classes have all incorporated more challenging work and the understanding or learning of more difficult concepts than my humanities classes, which often allow for more freedom and interpretation when writing papers or having discussion. I have generally found my professors to be interesting lecturers and passionate about their subjects. One of my favorite current classes is my Bollywood Cinema class, where we not only get to watch really cool Indian movies from the past seven or so decades, but we also receive compelling commentaries and cultural lessons from the Indian-native professor. From the start of the class, she has made it clear that she wants us all to visit her country, and she reinstates that during almost every class session, though she still ensures we have an understanding of negative aspects of India as well as the positive. She is strict and has high expectations of us to complete all movie and reading assignments, participate in class, write good papers, and study intensively for tests, but the experience and knowledge gained is worth the effort. Additionally, she has almost 100 students but quickly learns everyone's name and encourages students to speak during class sessions. Students are enthralled enough to often hold conversations about her lectures, concepts introduced or discussed, and the movies for this class outside of class time. Many other professors at Brandeis are similar to her, and many other classes are generated like this one.

If you're looking to attend high-stakes football games with thousands of cheering students with painted faces, you need to be somewhere else. It's not that our teams are bad, it's more that the student body isn't interested. However, the athletes' are playing at a college level and any game you attend will be entertaining. (There just might not be a huge group of fans watching with you.) Intramural sports are possibly more of a big deal than division sports. The frisbee and soccer teams are always crowded. There are many options and all the teams are really accessible.

Wimpy people need not apply. People with poor time-management need not apply. People unwilling to try new things need not apply. People who want only an academic education need not apply. People afraid of diversity need not apply. People looking for engineering education need not apply. People who avoid conflict and debate at all costs need not apply. People who can't handle stress need not apply. People who want to party all the time need not apply. People who aren't excited about learning need not apply. People looking for a brand-name school and not an experience need not apply. Be sure to bring an open mind to class.

If you are a tall girl and don't like to date shorter guys this may be an issue. If you like to talk about cars this may be an issue. If you need a beautiful campus ... ..need to pay less for school... ..get depressed from cold weather... this may be an issue. Brandeis may be perfect for you if: -you love good conversation and intelligent people -you are involved with your community and you believe you can make the world a better place -you want a school small enough to bump into people and large enough to meet people your last of eight semesters -you are attracted to brunettes with big boobs or short people -you like to debate Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Ender's Game and are proud of it -you don't want to go to school in a city but want to be close to one -want to go to a school that will make your parents feel good about it

Triskelion (the GLBT organization on campus) throws the best parties, we have intelligent and politically involved students, and we have a fucking castle on campus. Brandeis is pretty awesome.

Brandeis has an above average number of socially awkward people, but that does not mean that Brandeis is a socially awkward school. Most people are friendly, outgoing, and approachable. In fact, having a couple of awkward types makes the social scene more interesting.

The most popular groups...depends who your friends are and the social circle you hang with most often. A lot of my friends are music/theater, so there is a theater show/concert every weekend, usually multiple at one time, and since Brandeis kids are so involved with stuff, you can't see or attend all of them. It's a great and terrible thing about Brandeis: Lots of good stuff happens all the time, so keep your priorities straight. There are over 200 active clubs on campus, and most of them hold programs/events/fundraising, so you can't get bored. You'll get tired from the lack of sleep because you're doing so much. Don't come to Brandeis if you have poor time-management skills: there is so much to do and the student body is so involved that you too will feel like you need to do everything and more. Skydiving? Sure. Paintball? Ok. Musical? Why not. Liquid Latex? Sexy. And on top of that, high-level academics. Be good with time-management. I don't know if other schools do this, but Brandeis gives their students free planners to schedule their hectic lives. Again with the relatively new university bit I stated before, you can make your own traditions. There aren't that many standing traditions, so there's plenty of room to make a namesake event. For example, I'm making a campus-wide scavenger hunt event for the spring. I like scavhunts, so I'm going to make one. The staff in Student Activities is all behind me on it. Brandeis flexibility in action.

To a large extent yes but the student body is just diverse enough for one to only be friends with students that don't meet that stereotype if they want. On intellectualism: You can not go to a party where everyone is wasted and somehow not get involved in an intelligent conversation. This part about Brandeis is absolutely wonderful for people who like to discuss (get this!) Israeli/Palestinian politics, Plato, Aristotle and sex, or what the stupids are doing wrong when handling the economy. On quirky/awkwardness: If you are a "normal" person this might take a while to get used to but in the end, you will be that much more capable of dealing with awkward coworkers. These include people that don't understand that you don't want to talk to them, or people that talk about coming from outerspace. And yes, they actually do exist at Brandeis although most students seem to only be slightly awkward to a level where you might only notice something they do is unusual once every month or so (a very respectable awkward level that is probably where most "normal" people align). On Upper Middle-Classness: Most students are in fact privileged but there are many that are receiving financial aid and working hard to make ends meet as well. Some students don't seem to mind getting $700 worth of parking tickets by parking in the living quads, while others work 20 hours a week. A few students don't realize that each hour of instruction they blow off due to a hang over costs approximately $300 (or more), but again... you have quite a few down-to-earth and in touch students. Most are not arrogant rich kids that take everything for granted (this is just an obnoxious handful that you only meet before knowing better- during orientation). On Jewishness: Tufts University actually apparently has more Jews than Brandeis does which is somewhat surprising to find out. A nice aspect about Brandeis is that you get to learn the different Jewishnesses: religious, ethnic, identity, etc. Beyond that though, the campus is diverse enough where most of your friends could not be Jewish by coincidence. On Parental Involvement: I've heard professors mention receiving parent phone calls and I know that the administration, health services and public safety receives its fair share. Some students speak with their parents everyday, others speak with them once a month. Again, this part probably isn't unique to Brandeis, rather it just depends on who your friends are and how independent they've been raised. On Athletics and Hotness: Brandeis not so much. We do have some teams that are fairly successful (basketball, ultimate, I can't remember because I don't care) but one of the awesome aspects about Brandeis is that if you weren't picked first for games, then you'll be amongst your peers. This means you can actually join the Ski Team (which has the coolest assortment of kids on campus), or something like Rugby (we don't have a football team) or Ice Hockey. Many students don't really pay attention to Brandeis athletics, and the athletes (you can tell who some of them are because they are a foot taller than everyone else) don't seem to make that many appearances in public places other than the gym. The rest of the student body seems to like spandex and Uggs and mismatching colors.

My favorite memory of my Brandeis career is the first time I climbed to the roof of the castle. The castle is insane; they built it from the outside in so nothing really connects the right way. While we technically shouldn't be able to get to the roof, one of the towers is accessible by a metal ladder in a closet, a tunnel, and a wooden ladder. It's dark and the ladder doesn't feel particularly stable, so many of the people in my group were scared that they would fall. No one did, of course. The school would have closed the passageway a long time ago if it wasn't safe. The top of the castle was wonderful. It was fall, so it was nice and cool out. From one side of the roof we could see the skylines of Boston, and from the other we could see across cammpus. My group--a large portion of the girls from Reitman 2 plus me--stayed up there for nearly an hour, talking and playing games like Mafia and Telephone. It was Thursday night, no classes the next day due to a holiday, and we had SO much fun.

Brandeis students clump: this group, that group, no interaction. I'd like to think that it's better here than at most schools, but people are just very comfortable in their own bubbles. I've never seen anyone be out and out mean to anyone else, and any type of hurtful racial/religious/LBGT comment or discrimination is unheard of. I think the only type of student that might feel out of place would be one who held opinions of intolerance. I also feel for conservatives and christians: they are underrepresented here, but aren't necessarily left out of the student body. That's not to say that there is no interactions among groups- there is, just not enough in my opinion. People are generally upper-middle class, and either very politically aware or deliberately indifferent. Most groups or clicks are undefinable through just a description. The real truth is that people just like sticking close to their friends.

- I fi could change one thing, i'd make campus easier to get around - right now it's full of hills and it's a pain. - I spend alot of time hanging out with friends in dorms or in the campus center cafe. - The food is not bad (in the non-kosher dining hall anyway) and Waltham has a ton of really good ethnic restaurants. Waltha is actually a pretty nice place, especially Main and Moody streets. - The closeness is Boston/Cambridge is a real plus. I go almost every week. - The administration? The President, Jehudah Reinharz, is a dog. A goat. A beast. But he's never around so he doesn't cause too much trouble.

to an extent...

Somewhat

The most popular groups on campus are a capella and improv groups. I'm involved with the ultimate women's frisbee team and love it. It was a great way for me to meet a lot of upperclassmen. People do leave their doors open, and most of my friends walk into my room without knocking. My closest friends live on my hall, were in my roommate's orientation group, and live in my building. Also my other closests friends are on the frisbee team. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday I am probably attempting to study in the lounge on my hall but instead I am getting distracted and having a good time with my friends from the hall. One tradition is Pachanga, which happens every semester and is the biggest on campus dance. Another tradition is the freshman Black and White Semi-Formal Dance, the Sophomore Royal Ball, and the Junior-Senior Formal. Dating takes the form of hanging out on campus/ in each others dorm rooms. Not a lot of people "go on dates". People party on the weekends. Fraternities/Sororities are not that important here. There are 4 frats and 2 sororities. The sororities do not have houses so they don't really add anything to the social life here. The frats are not like other colleges, they are really chill and a great place to hang out with friends on Friday/Saturday nights when they hold parties. All the guys are really nice. People tend to make a face if you say that you're in a sorority. Last weekend I went to Maryland for a frisbee tournament. The weekend before that I went to a frat party on Friday night with my friends, and Saturday night I went to Pachanga with my friends. On a Saturday night if you don't want to drink you can go into Harvard Square on the free shuttle and get dinner and see a movie with friends, or go into Boston. There are also a ton of shows (improv, theater, a capella) occuring.

Triskelion is Brandeis's GSA. It has meetings every Thursday night, and is generally pretty interesting. Meetings generally include guest speakers, movies, activities run by the different branches of Trisk (Pride, QRC, OUTReach, and TransBrandeis), and social gatherings. This year, Trisk helped push through a policy for co-ed rooms for upperclassmen. TransBrandeis is also working on a bathroom project which aims to show the administration that bathrooms need to be improved, both in their handicaped accessibility and their gender neutrality. In my opinion, Trisk is nowhere near perfect. It tends to be very sexual, and sometimes it feels like there's a clique you're not part of. Also, many of the meetings don't feel like they're accomplishing anything. This will hopefully improve in the future, since new members of the board for the coming year are aware of these problems. - The above information is from Spring 2008. I have since stopped attending Trisk, but from what I have heard they're in the process of reorganizing so that there's a place for the social events and a place for more serious. SASS, the Sex and Sexuality Symposium, is a new academic discussion group which is being absorbed into Trisk starting in Fall 2009. This past year it met weekly, alternating between big evening meetings and smaller lunchtime discussions. Topics discussed include: BDSM, masterbation, virginity, the pregnant man, and objectum sexuality. SASS also put on its first annual undergraduate sexualities research conference where students shared their work. I attended almost all of the SASS meetings and loved it. It was a refreshing middleground between the social atmosphere of most clubs and the discussion of a good seminar class. Shalem, Brandeis's Jewish GLBT group, is another new club. Although it's only a year old and its small membership is composed of more allies than queer Jews, we put on some AMAZING events this year including an ally training oneg, a queer-inclusive seder, and several speakers. We're small, we're new, but I have hope. Care to join us? Brandeis Swingers is Brandeis's swing dance club. It has lessons every Tuesday night along with a performing troupe. Brandeis does East Coast Swing, which is pretty easy to learn even though the teachers (fellow students) aren't the best. BUCO, Brandeis University Conservative (Jewish) organization is WONDERFUL. Imagine Shira Chadasha in Jerusalem without the mechitzah, and you have the energy of BUCO Friday night services. I swear, it's the best minyan in the US. Saturday morning services tend to be a little sparce, and the Monday and Thursday minyanim have virtually no energy and way too many silent prayers, but then again, who's fully awake at 7:45 AM during college? BUCO also does social activites such as a yearly snow tubing trip and a scavenger hunt in Boston. Theater is a massive thing at Brandeis. There are six different undergraduate theater groups on campus where students direct/produce/design/etc. their own shows. During the second half of the semester, there's often a different show going up each weekend. Students can also participate in the Brandeis Theater Company productions, which are run as professionally as Brandeis can make them. If you get involved in theater, however, it WILL suck up your life. Then again, that's theater. It's no different at Brandeis than it is anywhere else. Different people have fun at Brandeis in different ways. Although fraternities/sororities are not technically allowed, they exist. Yes, there are parties. Yes, there is drinking. Yes, there are drugs. For those people who want these things, they're there. However, there's also plenty to do without these things. Movie nights. Dances. Cultural celebrations of various types. Theater shows. Walks around campus, around Waltham, around Boston. Be creative. Not everyone at Brandeis drinks, and as far as I know, people are not usually pressured into doing anything they don't want to do.