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<li>Professor-student interaction is very good. professors teach at Brandeis b/c they know they will be interacting meaningfully with undergrads including at the freshman and sophomore level. in terms of academics, all my profs. have been happy to meet during office hours or any other time with a quick e-mail. catperson stole my favorite anecdote, but I was in the same class with her when we went to Eileen McNamara’s house for dinner and to watch one of the final primary debates. This semester, two of my three journalism professors have Pulitzer Prizes–McNamara and Mark Feeney. Feeney gives two single-spaced pages of comments on any piece of writing we hand in so my writing has improved tremendously. </li>
<li>How politically and socially activist are the students? very. read [Innermost</a> Parts](<a href=“http://www.innermostparts.org%5DInnermost”>http://www.innermostparts.org) to get a taste of campus activism. the number one campus group in terms of student participation is the community service group, the Waltham group. they organize blood drives, tutor kids and do a lot more. See [The</a> Waltham Group at Brandeis University](<a href=“http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/]The”>http://people.brandeis.edu/~walthamgroup/) </li>
<li>Is it easy to take out-of-major courses (for a science major, specifically)? yes, definitely. the requirements are not very overwhelming so there’s a lot of room to take what interests you. even if a class has a wait list, an enthusiastic e-mail will almost always result in you obtaining an override code. </li>
<li>What’s the “feel” of the campus? Community-like? Friendly student body? Any clique-ishness? What are students like in general (in other words, what’s the “kind” of person who would feel comfortable at Brandeis)? i really like the student body. on the whole, we’re intelligent, friendly, down-to-earth, and unpretentious. like most campuses, there are cliques but it’s not to the point where you wouldn’t chat with or eat with new people you meet in class or in your clubs. Brandeis students care about their work and aren’t afraid to be who they really are. </li>
<li>How is the administration, as far as efficiency and responsiveness? Are there a lot of problems with them? i like the senior administrators including Jehuda Reinharz and Jean Eddy. I’ve interacted with them and I do think they work very hard to make Brandeis the best it could be. Both have open office hours and both respond to any e-mails. Jehuda stops by many events like thirsty thursdays, sports games and friday night dinner. when i told him i was writing a paper on the founding of Brandeis, president reinharz told me he wanted to see it so I sent it to him. he replied with thoughtful comments and a few weeks later, the university archivist contacted me to say a man wanting to set up a Vietnamese-sponsored university wanted to learn more about Brandeis’ founding so she asked, at the suggestion of the president, if i could send my paper to that man. just a small anecdote to show how much the university president is in touch with all students.</li>
<li>How much time do people spend off campus, and what do they do there? How is the town of Waltham? Do people tend to go into Boston a lot, and does that get expensive? i think there are many, many ways to spend a weekend at Brandeis. sometimes we go into boston to eat and sometimes we go into waltham to eat or see a movie. there truly are a lot of good restaurants on moody street and you can take the branvan to eat there. on campus, there’s usually dances, shows, performances or other events.</li>
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