<p>I would say kids are probably nice at both schools. Both are good academic places. </p>
<p>Waltham is a suburb of Boston. Brandeis is not really anywhere except off a road. It has a leafy green campus. They have regular shuttle buses to the train and to other schools. If you want at some point to live off campus, it will cost quite a bit more than Rochester. Waltham is a hike from Boston, meaning not a trip you’d take often. Waltham itself is a reasonable town, mixed income, lots of immigrants, some nice ethnic restaurants. There is a Hannaford’s supermarket.</p>
<p>Waltham, btw, is where American manufacturing took off. Waltham Watch started making watches - duh - using interchangeable parts, meaning they made a lot of each part and then made watches rather than fitting each watch together handcrafted piece by piece by piece. This made watches affordable and was one of the first American style “make a lot and put the pieces together” companies. This was before the Civil War, so if you see movies or re
enactments, the officers at least would have timepieces. </p>
<p>UR is located in Rochester but is separated from the city by the river, parks and a giant green cemetery. The school runs shuttle buses downtown - where Eastman is - and out to the shopping centers around the city. Those are a few minutes away because it’s extremely easy to get around Rochester. </p>
<p>UR’s campus is not as leafy. It looks more like Brown, with a lot of red brick and traditional college looking buildings in quads mixed with new buildings. UR and Brandeis are good examples of those two kinds of campuses. </p>
<p>At both schools, you’d be living on campus for at least 1 year, probably 2. Rent in Rochester is very low. </p>
<p>I’m not sure about community service at Brandeis. I assume it’s done a lot because the school was founded in that tradition. There is a lot at UR and the size of the community means it’s quite easy to become involved fairly deeply. UR is the largest employer and has many ties all over the area, from government to charity to business.</p>