Official Brandeis Decisions: Blue Ribbon

Cami215
Sun, 12 Feb 2006 05:25:25 +0000

Cami, I’m not sure how observant your son is, but there is NOTHING like shabbos at Brandeis. It is so wonderful, and, frankly, many observant students say that cannot imagine studying anywhere else. See www.booweb.org for details.



Sulsk,

My son is shomer shabbat. Our family attends a modern orthodox shul. Son has been in Jewish day school since kindergarden. His best friend from synagogue was accepted off the Brandeis wait list last April and was able to negotiate a merit package at that point.

Son already has other acceptances (U Chicago EA) as well as the promise of significant merit aid (Rochester). U Rochester has also asked him to interview for the Rennaisance scholarship, which carries full tuition. He has other applications that won’t come through till April. All of these are at schools where he’ll have access to an orthodox or conservadox service either through Hillel, Chabad, or an independent synagogue. Son is the adventurous type. He spent a summer at Brown and was adopted by one of the nearby synagogues. Whatever happens, I’m sure he’ll land on his feet.

Although son has heard many good things about Brandeis and its Jewish life, he had already decided that he wouldn’t attend the school unless they wanted him enough to extend at least some aid. We were hoping for something given the fact that a quarter of the student body has traditionally received merit aid, plus his credentials were strong. For whatever reason, this help was not forthcoming, which means that Brandeis is off the list.