Brandeis University Top Questions

Academics is entirely what you make of it. If you want a close relationship with a professor, it's yours for the taking. If you want to be anonymous, you can be. As a side note, it's only my Brandeis friends (as far as I know) who will get drunk and wind up discussing politics, philosophy, etc.

Professors know my name, but they don't know most peoples names...My favorite class is an American Utopias class where we discuss randooo deep ass literature, I am pass/failing it so I am not graded and can just listen/not take notes. Least favorite was a class with an awful professor, it wasn't the class' fault. Student studying varies a LOT. Some people study all the time, some people never study. Class participation is on and off, doubt much different at another school. Sadly, yes, Brandeis students do have intellectual convos outside of class - but we are working on cutting that down. Students are competitive. Most unique class I have taken is Behavioral Neuroscience (pass/fail). Got a D- which didn't affect my GPA because of the pass/fail system, and it was weird as hell. I am in the Politics department - I think it's more of a History of Politics Department than it is a politics department honestly, I think there is a lot of room for improvement...barely any classes deal with contemporary issues. I do not spend time with professors outside of class, I think our academic requirements are verrry easy and that's a good thing. Education at Brandeis is def. for its own sake.

All my professors know my name, I make it a point at the beginning of the semester. My favorite class is Spanish because I learn a totally new perspective on how everything is viewed. I'm not taking a non-likable class. Everyone's pretty serious about school here since we worked so heard before to get in; I think students study probably more than average here than other places. Depending on the class, there might be a student who already took a similar class and can contribute more, others everyone is completely lost. Yes, I hear of conversations about physics and quantem theory at lunch sometimes! The most unique class would be my WMGS 5a, because it shows me things I never realized still occured or anything else. It's a very good course to gain a better reality of the world around you. You're not ignorant nor oblivious anymore. The academic requirements are a little harsh, and I think administrators should start talking to students earlier about taking core classes instead of just electives because then when they want to study abroad or something it will have an impact on how many hard classes they take the rest of the semesters.

Most professors know my name, but I speak up in class. Education is definitely geared toward learning for its own sake, which I LOVE. Discussions can be fantastic! I wish I could spend more time with professors outside of class, and most of the professors seem to want to spend time with students outside of class as well. Students spend a lot of time studying.

One of the things that was most surprising to me about Brandeis is how often intellectual discussins occur outside of class. I have spent quite a few late nights in the lounge on my hall talking about issues the election or immigration.

Professors tend to know you and miss you, especially in the small classes, when you don't know. I have had professors that tell you if you miss more than one class you are going to fail the course, you need to go to the small classes. For intro classes, you can miss those and be okay but the professors are happy to help and most are approachable in those classes. I find myself doing work most nights but not a lot, I do most of my work on Sundays. Science kids will tell you otherwise. I am doing more of a liberal arts type education

Academics at Brandeis are definitely rigorous. If you want to be pre-med, pre-law or in the social sciences, Brandeis is the place to be. People do study pretty often and the workload can get overwhelming, but people tend to deal with it pretty well. Obviously there are those people who live in the basement of the library, but the majority of students find time to play just as hard as they study. The class sizes can range anywhere from fewer than 10 students in upper-level seminars to over 300 in the beginning of General Chemistry. Coming from a social science background, I have found that the vast majority of professors at Brandeis are genuinely interested in each and every student's development and learning. They will listen to you if you go to their office hours and most of them are pretty interesting people!

My intro class professors don't, unless I make an effort to go to their office hours (GOOD IDEA) and talk to them. If I do that, they remember. Classes of 30 or less they tend to remember names. Favorite class: Modern Art with P. Kalb. An interesting and enthusiastic teacher who broadens your mind by elegantly and engagingly talking about art. You can't ask for better. Worst class: Advanced Intro physics. Need I say more? I don't know if it was because this class is taught poorly or if I'm not up to par, but i kicked my ass. Studying varies. I've seen people who study constantly in the library to the detriment of their social life, and I've seen people who barely crack open a book. I think you would find that anywhere. In general though, people study a fair amount, but know when to spend time doing other things. Above all, Brandeis students love to achieve and do well, so they work for it. I think this is an admirable trait. It shows passion for knowledge and a level of discipline indicative of a high level of maturity. Don't come here if you want to goof off. Intellectual conversations are always happening. I have them with my friends, my boss, everyone. I love to learn about people beliefs and idea, and in turn share my own. Sometimes these discussions degrade into arguments, but for the most part they are civil. It's a very stimulating environment. Nonetheless, we're not preoccupied with it. We hang out, play video games, do nefarious deeds, all that good stuff. We just tend to keep it a little more in moderation. Competition is surprisingly low, especially considering most science classes are graded on a curve. I've never felt like I was trying to beat the person next to me. Indeed, if I didn't work with other students on my physics HW I would probably be failing. I guess there's a tacet sense of competition but nothing overt. The only real friction is between liberal arts major and science majors. It's more of a playful thing, but I have gotten pissed when a friend in film studies starts bitching about having to go to film screenings. "Here, have my bio problem sets, I'll go watch gone with the wind" unique class: I don't really understand, but if you mean a class that has challenged what I believe in untraditional ways, then I would have to say my University Writing Seminar (required for all freshmen). It was a class all about space. Not outer space, but the space we occupy on a daily basis, like building, communities, everything. The reading were absolutely astounding and they broadened the way I think about how I occupy space. It made me question my basic assumptions about moving and living, and in the end I wrote a great final paper on the use of page space in comic books. It was a really open-ended class that asked students to put themselves into the discussion. My major/dept. Don't really know yet. I'm almost done with the basic courses, but I haven't really hit the upper level classes yet. So far so good, I guess. Spend time with professor: I don't really so, beside office hours to just chill and get to talk, but I have dozens of friends who go to meals with their profs, get invited to dinner at their houses, and even baby-sit for them. Your relationship with professors is mostly dictated by two things. 1) How actively you pursue getting to know them and 2) being in the upper level small classes and getting involved in your department so that they will actually know who you are. Academic requirement: Perfect. Not to many, not too few. There are a couple of writing and research seminars, and then a few distribution requirements such as humanities and social sciences (check the website for a more detailed list). The requirements got me into classes I would never take, like Literature of the Caribbean. The requirements are a push to go outside your major and get a well-rounded education. View them as an opportunity, not a burden. The education is more for learning for its own sake, but our pre-med program gets people into med school (about double the national average for acceptances). Nonetheless, brandeis prepares you by forcing you to mature and develop discipline. No matter what your major, you will be ready to handle most entry-level jobs in any sector.

In all of my classes at Brandeis, only one has disappointed me. My calc10a class was taught by someone who didn't speak English well, and I was bored in class because I knew a lot coming in and didn't get a lot out of it. Also, math is not in my professional outlook, so I skived it off. Otherwise, I have been very happy with academics. I have had challenges, and if I was more narrow-minded, I would have hated a couple of my classes, but my outlook was to get a rounded experience of teaching, topics, and styles of class, and I got that. Some of my classes were so tiny that the pressure was on- one philo class there were four students (including me), and in true Brandeis fashion, three were named Dan. Some of my classes were on the large side, 100 or more, but I still felt like the professor carried the class and I enjoyed them quite a bit (Adolescent Literature and Behavioral Neuro). Outside the classroom, the professors have been surprisingly helpful, open, and friendly. My favorite music professor invited me to hang out with him at an artist's retreat. I had questions about my philosophy essay and my professor forced loads of foreign candy on me because she had gotten so much in thanks for writing recommendations. My Near-Eastern and Judaic Studies professor is coming to my musical, and the next week he's making sushi for a resident hall event. With fellow students, I am scared to leave college and be bereft of the knowledge sharing we engage in. Like I mentioned above, people are connected across all the disciplines, and finding people to collaborate or help you is very easy (also Academic Services has a great peer-tutoring program). I'm full of cocktail knowledge because people who have exciting classes tell us about how cool they are.

The professors in classes of 25 or less tend to learn your name, which is really nice. In general they all care about there students, but some of them need to be approached before they'll try to lift you out of an academic dilemma. Students ares always studying. I think the only non-study days are Friday and Saturday. The library is open really late and it's usually packed, especially during exams. I feel like most of the students here are geared toward a career, but the knowledge gained at the university is often its own reward.