<p>I just came across this while procrastinating my physics homework (how ironic). I’m a physics and math major at Brandeis.
About the Brandeis physics major: It’s not structured. At all. So you have a lot of freedom (do I take Astrophysics or Thermodynamics? Electromagnetism or Mathematical Physics?), but that also gives you the freedom to go wrong and make mistakes (such as taking Electronics Lab instead of Classical Mechanics). The professors: there about 3 stellar professors, and 1 who’s decent, but the rest of the department couldn’t teach Einstein to count to 5. The hands-on research: perfect. As a physics major you can get a lab job in any lab you want (astro to condensed matter or high energy) and you get paid well. Unless, of course, you’re looking for a theory job, in which case you should probably prepare for disappointment.
The math major: there is a number of excellent professors and excellent courses in the math dept. Actually, I think there are only 3 bad profs in the entire department. If you take the right courses with the right professors, you could end up with such a solid foundation in mathematics you could probably challenge any Ivy League graduate in math.
So that’s it. Hopefully that answered some questions. Time to get back to my problem set.</p>