Brandeis University Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at Brandeis University accurate?

Alex

it depends on your perspective.. i mean we cannot deny the fact that admitted students are mostly from top ten of their highschools and are hardworking, passionate about studying, dont think of anything else other than classes.. however the great diversity of the students (caused by international people, different cultures, languages, ethnicities, religions) makes the social life enjoyable.. every person has something different to say, something different to offer.

Arielle

See above.

Arielle

See above.

Paul

There are certainly people who fit all of these stereotypes at Brandeis, but there are all types of people. For example, I'm catholic and very few of my friends are Jewish.

Amy

Not entirely. While about half the student body is Jewish, half is not. And much of the half that is Jewish is fairly nonpracticing or reform. That said, the religious community is large and influential, but we also have Protestant, Catholic, Muslim prayer services weekly and I think there are also Hindu and Buddhist groups. As for the liberal part of the stereotype, Brandeis, on a whole, is fairly liberal in terms of social politics. However, there is a vocal conservative movement on campus and political debate is encouraged and appricated. And not everyone is from the northeast--like me!

Cameron

Pretty much.

Nico

For the most part yes.

cindy

There are a lot of Jews, but it's about half and half, and many of the Jews are non observant in any way. Some minorities do get the POSSE scholarship, but it's only 10 kids a year, and they're not all minorites - so that's pretty inaccurate. Same goes for TYP. There are some ugly people here, but I've seen a lot of pretty attractive people too - more attractive than my friends' friends at other schools. There is a social life on campus. No, we're not a party school, but there are so many things to do, and you can throw an amazing party if you want to - you just have to take control of your social life. And there are a lot of socially awkward people here, tha's just true. But it's not everyone. And it's kind of fun to learn how to talk to peopl who are awkward, and because everyone assumes you're going to be awkward anyway, you can get away with anything. You can really be yourself here. Because in real life, everyone is a little weird. You're just accepted for it here. My friends at other schools have a lot of drama with their friends and feel pressured to be someone they aren't. That doesn't happen so much here, because people are so accepting of awkwardness.

Jesse

"Jewish Sponsership" is one of Brandeis's pillars. However, NOT everyone at Brandeis is Jewish. About 45{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students are Jewish, and much fewer are religious. The Jewish presence is pretty obvious--people play Israeli music and give out free candles on Fridays, you'll see a lot of students walking to and from services on Shabbat, Birthright is always advertising--but there are plenty of Jews who completely avoid Hillel altogether. Yes, non-Jews are a minority, but it's almost 50/50...

Jordan

No; the people and the place are much more complex than that.