Brandeis University Top Questions

Sports events have gotten more popular as the athletics program has improved even over just the past 2 years. The biggest party of the semester is Pachanga, which is actually school-sponsored (so pregaming is a necessity), and is held each semester. The dating scene is not fabulous...most people pair off right away or want to spend their years hooking up/avoiding commitment. I'm sure that is most schools though. Frats and sororities are not official, but they are certainly around, and they have some decent parties. Most are cool people and fun to hang out with, and there is no pressure to pledge one unless you want to. There are plenty of other ways to make friends. Most of mine I met through my classes, and then from there you sort of meet a friend of a friend and they become your friend etc... We do get some interesting guest speakers and there is usually an open lecture at least once a week about something relevant to the world today. My friends and I usually watch movies, drink usually 1 night a weekend (either fri or sat), go out to eat in Waltham or Cambridge, and work most of the week. The library is where you will find most people on week nights, so it's not really a place for someone who wants to party all week long, but we still have our fun.

Dorms or hallways are often a social group, although not everyone is necessarily best friends. Jewish religious activities are huge campuswide, especially on Friday nights. A lot of time is spent studying, but it's always possible to find a party on the weekends. The theater is really good here, and what the tour guide will tell you is true: there really is always something happening at Chums, the on-campus coffeehouse. There are a few recurring events: Pachanga, a huge club-style dance party with lots of drinking; Liquid Latex, a choreographed show with skits and incredible costumes; Culture X, where culture groups from every part of Brandeis perform... the list goes on.

Greek life is not official at Brandeis but there are underground sororities and fraternities. I am closest friends with those on my hall and those in my major. Everyone leaves their doors open and people in the hall are really talkative. It helps if you're on a co-ed floor, like me! I'm involved in a poetry group, I go to a lot of the live band shows, and I like going to the basketball games and cheering for our team. Dating is kind of hard at Brandeis. There aren't a whole lot of couples on campus, everyone kind of dates and has a good time, nothing serious though. People party every weekend. During the week it is WORK time. Some fun events we have are a Naked dance every fall where people wear their underwear, DiscoTent which is a huge party in the woods behind the school, Purim which is a Jewish holiday kind of like Halloween where you get to party in a Rabbi's house!, and Culture X where all the cultural groups and dance teams on campus perform in a big show in the spring. Life at Brandeis is never boring. There is always a speaker or a band playing or something going on. If you don't drink, that's not a problem. There's a late night diner where people hang out and get pancakes at 3am, karaoke, and plays to go to. Plus, Boston is only 9 miles away! It's fun to go out to dinner, go dancing, or shop on Newbury St. I love going to Brandeis.

international club!!!!

Brandeis theater is really first rate for a liberal arts school. In the undergraduate world, we have the UTC (Undergraduate Theater Collective), a coalition of five theater groups which work together to plan the season. The five groups in the UTC are: Tympanium Euphorium or Tymp (musical theater), Brandeis Experimental/Ensemble Theater (BET), Brandeis Players, Hillel Theater Group (which is an option for shomer shabbas actors), and Boris' Kitchen (long form sketch). In addition, we also have Hold Thy Peace, which does Shakespeare and Deviant Culture, which is the resident "Rocky Horror Picture Show" troupe.

My social life revolves around the track team. Partying is very personal. Some of my friends do it every weekend, some of my friends ahve not had a drink in their life. On a Saturday night there is usually some kind of concert/show going on somewhere and plenty of people just hanging out who have no interest in drinking. Athletic events are becoming more popular as sports improve. The dating scene is one I'm not involved in...but there are a lot of UGLY people at Brandeis so a lot of people look to other places.

As I've said before, the most important part of the Brandeis social experience are clubs. We're not a party school but our clubs sort of function as our mini social networks. I'm a pretty active member of our debate team. We have competitions over the weekends at other schools and meetings twice a week for practice. There are about 30 of us and everyone's pretty much friends. We have bbq and parties and we had a novice kidnapping this year. A lot of what we do is work and competition but a lot is also bonding and fun. Most clubs are like that, a close social network based on a common interest. When students live on halls, they totally leave their door open. Freshman year, our door was only closed when we were changing, not in the room or asleep. This year, my hall has 5 other people on it, so we don't keep the doors open as much, but we do visit and socialize a lot. We get a lot of speakers on campus, actually a club just formed this year with the sole purpose of bringing speakers to campus. And after about the first 4 weeks of the semester until the week before exams, there's some sort of student theater performance every week. Almost every night, in the coffee house, there's acapella and improv. Personally, my closest friends are from my hall freshman year, the debate team or friends I met through people at some random event. Random happenings are a pretty big thing. I love the spontenteous hall parties that can happen on a Saturday if people are bored. But most people don't party too often, and when they do party, it's pretty much only on the weekends. Our Greek life is small and unofficial so people rely on themselves for fun since frat parties are not a huge thing. Our campus wide events- from Louis Louis spirit week in the fall to Bronstein Fest in the spring- are large and organized and a ton of fun. There's campus wide dances a couple times a semester and it's just all a lot of fun. In terms of off campus, it's really easy to go in Boston to go to a game or so shopping or see friends at other schools. I'm also a big fan of just going and wondering a Boston touristy area with friends. Nights like that have led to searching for the best Italian food in the North End, exploring Newbury street and driving from Lexington to Concorde in the middle of the night to celebrate Paul Revere.

Surprise surprise, the party scene at Brandeis is pretty low-key. Don't expect massive keggers every weekend. The average Brandeis party is about 20 or 30 people in a dorm suite drinking. Cool if you're with friends, less so if you don't know anybody. The theater/music scene is pretty good, with regular performances all around campus. Student pieces as well as classics. Sports are roundly ignored by everyone but the newspaper and those actually playing in them. Nice gym though. Frats/Sororities are technically not allowed, although a few of them do exist 'underground'. They never interested me so i couldn't tell you. The dating scene, alas, is usually like this: you meet someone you like freshman year, and you NEVER LET GO. EVER. Even if you can't stand eahh other. Most of the Brandeis couples I know are like that. It's actually rather sad. My average Saturday night was going to see my girlfriend at Wellesley, but at least we had the wherewithal to call it quits before it got ugly. Failing that, I'd go into Boston with some friends or see a play/concert at Brandeis. The parties (such as they were) took place late enough so I could do what I wanted to do and THEN go drink.

Party scene is whack. Fraternities play a surprisingly decent role on campus, providing many of the weekend parties.

Like I said before, social life is what you make of it. I've had a pretty vibrant social life, and I was Director of Social Affairs on the Student Union government's Executive Board, so I dedicated a lot of time to social life at Brandeis - maybe I'm biased. But we have a lot of opportunities, we just need students to take advantage of them. For instance, we offer two parties $50 each weekend. That's so cool! Most party schools don't pay you to throw a party. Clubs are the main part of social life though - club meetings, the friends you make in clubs, club events. That's where the social scene is. Though I've had luck in my dorms also. People here are generally friendly and willing to hang out.