Brandeis vs. Binghamton vs. UDel Honors...?

B77
Sun, 18 Apr 2010 10:50:57 +0000

Everyone should pick a school that is the right fit for them, and if that is UDel, so be it. However, Californcation9 is undoubtedly correct when he says “The only thing that worries me about UDel is that most people I know don’t look at it as being as strong academically as other schools I got into.” UDel is simply not comparable to Brandeis academically or in terms of intellectual/cultural/extracurricular opportunities or access to a great city–in this case Boston, a cultural mecca and the world’s best college town.

As for the suggestion that Brandeis someohow is not diverse or is overtly “Jewish,” that is simply inaccurate. Brandeis’s student body is less that half Jewish–about 40% when you fairly count grad students since they’re integrated on the same campus as undergrads. And even the students identifying themselves as Jewish are from diverse backgrounds.That percentage is higher, but not a lot higher, than exists at Tufts, Penn, Columbia and many other top schools, including Harvard. Plus around 25% of the Brandeis student body is minority and international students (in fact its International Business School is majority international students). So, ultimately the school is quite diverse.

Equally important, Brandeis not a religious institution like a Georgetown or Notre Dame. It always has been a secular school, although founded in the tradition of Harvard, Princeton etc by a religious-affiliated group.

UDel is a good but very large state school–16,000 undergrads versus 3000 for Brandeis. Your classes your first few years will be very large, and you will have TAs in many of your introductory classes. At Brandeis, you will have dramatically smaller class sizes and classes taught by professors, not TAs. Brandeis has all of the elements of a small liberal arts college, but set in a research environment. Undergraduate teaching is the main focus of the faculty, not research. In contrast, if your main interest is mid-major athletics and partying, then you should consider UDel. But if your focus is academics, class size, quality of teaching, then Brandeis is your clear choice.