<p>As an alumnus, here’s my view. The kind of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis is an intellecutal and/or creative sort who is friendly and comfortable with himself or herself and not competitive or pretentious. Intellectual but down-to-earth and friendly I think is an apt description of the student body. Unlike some preppy place or frat-oriented environments where social interraction is based on the “exclusivity” of the frat system, Brandeis has a welcoming, relatively-nonjudgmental environment–yet there are some off-campus frats for those who like what they have to offer. There is no pressure to party, but parties are there if you want them. Often social interaction centers around the numerous clubs and other terrific extracuriculars like theater and music.</p>
<p>As I like to describe it, Brandeis is a special combination of small liberal arts college and world-class research university-with the smallest student body I believe (less than 800 in a class) of any top tier national research university matched with high-powered professors who actually teach in small classes. So, the research opportunities are tremendous. Educationally, I’d say its a nuturing rather than a cut-throat environment. Plus it’s very close to Boston, which is the world’s best college town, but on its own suburban campus. Few other schools can quite match Brandeis’ special combination of attributes. </p>
<p>Most college rankings don’t emphasize undergraduate satisfaction and accomplishments. One that recently did, the Forbes Magazine national rankings, placed Brandeis 15th among research universities and 30th overall among all private univerities and LAC’s–a testament to its focus on undergraduate education. Larger schools, including some Ivies, were ranked much lower. </p>
<p>As evidence of the cool students that go there are the cool alumni who were of course students at one time–to name just a few: Nobel Prize winner for chemistry Rod Mackinnon, Fields Medal winning physicist Edward Witten (often called “Einstein’s successor”), 3-time Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Friedman of the NY Times, The Earth is Flat etc; Mitch Albom of Tuesday’s with Morrie (about his Brandeis professor), the Creators/Producers of Friends; actress Debra Messing; Robert FX Sillerman (billionaire businessman–currently owner of American Idol and Graceland) and Christy Hefner, former CEO of Playboy). I went to school with several of these folks and can tell you that it’s no coincidence that these fascinating alumni have emerged from the stimulating brew that is Brandeis. Also, if you’re into social justice, Brandeis is a very exciting place to be (Angela Davis, Abbie Hoffman, I could go on, are alums as well).</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>