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My D applied to Brandeis regular decision although when we visited the campus she wasn't too enthused by it. (We visited in the summer, though, when there weren't any students around.) Some of my D's friends both in hs and in college have said that the social life at Brandies is pretty unexciting and I know that the Princeton Review ranked Brandeis students #3? as being the most unhappy. My D doesn't want a college atmosphere where students are partying all the time, but she would like the students to be fairly "cool" and fun-loving. We'll probably visit the campus again but in the meantime, can anyone shed some light on this Brandeis stigma?

By Dstark (Dstark) on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 01:01 pm: Edit

Brandeis did a study about the students, who liked Brandeis and who didn't. Jewish females liked it the most and liked it very much. Non-Jewish males liked it the least. The study may be on the web site www.brandeis.edu. I know a couple of kids that absolutely loved the school. There are web sites that have Brandeis students giving their opinions of the school. I can't give the names because this post will then be deleted. But, there are a couple. Maybe, you can use yahoo to find them. Also, you can subscribe to the Brandeis paper online if you haven't done so. My daughter also visited in the summer and wasn't enthused about it. I tried to get her to apply, and told her she could visit the school during the fall or winter, but she wouldn't do it. She decided she wanted big.

By Nitebirdmom (Nitebirdmom) on Monday, January 26, 2004 - 11:25 pm: Edit

My son is a freshman at Brandeis. He loves it. He's easygoing and makes friends easily and finds the social scene relaxed but not boring. The first time we visited was during the summer. You really don't get a good feel for the campus when there aren't many students around. It's very different during the semester. There are always different activities going on - concerts, sports games, political events. Last Friday he went with a bunch of friends to watch a couple of basketball games (mens and womens) and although Brandeis obviously is not known as much of a jock school, the stands were filled and there was quite a bit of enthusiasm. While the academics are somewhat rigorous, there are plenty of fun-loving kids at Brandeis, and they have time for work and play.

By Robin (Robin) on Wednesday, January 28, 2004 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Workingmom, my son is a sophmore at Brandeis and like Nitbirdmom's son, my son loves it there. And yes THERE IS DEFINETLY a social life there. My son is having the time of his life. Brandeis's reputation for having no social life is very untrue. The people your D is listening to probably are not even students there and have no first hand knowledge. You must realize that Brandeis is a school with a stigma attached to it because of its large Jewish population. In this anti semetic world we live in, people will say anything negative about Brandeis they can think of. Since the academics are Ivy League caliber and that cannot really be disputed, they focus their negativity on the social life there. By the way, my son heard the same thing about the social life at Brandeis when he as applying. After spending an overnight for accepted students and talking to current students, he realized that everything he heard just wasn't true.

By Workingmom (Workingmom) on Sunday, February 08, 2004 - 10:48 am: Edit

Thanks Dstark, Nitebirdmom, and Robin! Your reassurances were helpful for both my daughter and me. It's a shame that this stigma exists because from what I understand, Brandeis truly is a fabulous school.

-Workingmom

By Drosen2 (Drosen2) on Sunday, April 11, 2004 - 02:49 pm: Edit

Hey everyone. I am a senior at Brandeis and about to graduate. I will try to give you a neutral evaluation of the school. I can tell you that this notion of Brandeis having no social life is completely untrue. In my opinion, the social life at Brandeis could be described as relaxed. A friend of mine at school made a really good point about Brandeis. She said that our school is what it is. People who do their homework before coming to Brandeis generally are very happy there. On the other hand, people who choose it blindly risk not being so happy. This would be true of any school. My roommate freshman year was very unhappy at Brandeis. But he also liked to go out on weekends to do drugs and get drunk. I can completely understand why someone like that would not be happy at Brandeis. If you like wild partying and doing drugs, don't come to Brandeis. It's not that type of school.
And of course, I get frustrated about aspects of the school sometimes as well. Many of the students there are very driven, which is a good thing, but that means it could be hard on occassion to find people who want to, for instance, go into Boston for an evening with you. (The school runs a bus to and from Boston Thursday through Sunday.) This is especially true during midterms and finals. On a different note, on-campus housing is only guaranteed for freshmen and sophomores. They always get through the waiting list and somehow everyone who wants housing ends up getting it, but the housing lottery generally makes for a stressful period in March. Feel free to email me if you have other questions.

Dan