INTRO: 00:06
MJ: Hello everybody, I'm MJ, I'm a first year here. I'm a health: science, society and policy major. That is one major. It's a long major name. And to keep where I'm from, long story short... I'm a citizen of Iraq and Russia, I was born in Libya. I was raised in Malaysia. And my family immigrated to Orlando, Florida four and a half years ago.
WHY BRANDEIS 00:23
Title screen of image of Louis Brandeis statue with “Why Brandeis” written above.
MJ stands on stairs that lead up to Louis Brandeis statue.
MJ: Okay, everybody. Welcome to the Next Stop. This is the why I choose Brandeis story. I am an immigrant here, which means I don't have a status yet. My immigration case is still going, so I was regarded as an international student by every university I applied to. It was a whole bunch of me going on the phone and telling admissions, "Can you guys please waive this requirement for me? I physically cannot do it. It does not exist in America." That whole thing. So, college application process wasn't really the best time, really, for me.
Brandeis when I first applied, of course, treated me as an international student, so I called over and I wanted them to waive one requirement. I was going to try my best to waive the others. I just went, "Hey, do you guys mind?" And they said, "Can you tell us more about your case?" I was like, "Duh!" So I told them more about my case and the next day they treated me as a domestic applicant. Just like that. And I was like, "Okay, that's really cool." They were the only university that did that, so I put them in the front burner, I guess you can call. And then I got accepted 03/21/2019. Woo!
And I went through my financial aid package and they gave me a domestic scholarship. After being told that you don't qualify for aid, you don't qualify for the FAFSA because you don't have a status, I was really expecting a really big bill but it was ... They met my need. And I called over and I was just like, "Oh my goodness. Did I lie on my application by accident? I am so sorry if that happened. I don't have a status here." And they were like, "You deserve it. You earned that scholarship." And at that moment I was like, "There is no doubt where I'm going to go." I bought a sweatshirt with the money I did not have. I told everybody that I could get in contact with. I put on my Instagram bio Brandeis class of '23. I was really excited about it. I realized that Brandeis treated me as a person rather than just a quota and I felt like this was the place.
I'm, of course, registered as an international student but Brandeis says I'm a cool hybrid international/domestic student. I thought it was really cool that we got to do that. I go to a department and they ask me, "Are you international or domestic?" I'm like, "I don't know. Figure it out." It's really great. It's a really fun game I like to play with myself. Guess which one I am? I think it's really cool. The people I've met, I'll talk your ears off about the advisors and the people and the teachers I've met here. It's an amazing university here and I really could not picture a better home for me than Brandeis.
SHAPIRO CAMPUS CENTER 02:23
Title screen of image of students eating at tables in Shapiro Campus Center atrium with the text “Shapiro Campus Center” written above.
MJ begins talking from inside of the Shapiro Campus Center.
Welcome to the Shapiro Campus Center or the SCC. We love acronyms here at Brandeis. This has a whole ton of resources so let's get to it. So, right over there is Einstein's Bagels, very important for us college kids. You need a bagel? You go to Einstein's. Super fun fact: Albert Einstein was one of our founding fathers here at Brandeis. So, I like to think of it as a small Easter egg, hidden, it's really great. Right behind Einstein's is our bookstore. Need to rent a book? Need to get a stick of deodorant? Get AirPods for some reason or buy a really neat sweatshirt. You go to the bookstore. We price match and if you're too busy to really go in and person and like peruse the catalogue you can just order everything online. And they'll tell you when your order is ready. It's very convenient for us fast paced college kids. Right in that corner over there is our bookless library. It sounds like what you think it is. It's a library without books. The Shapiro Campus Center is open 24/7 for us students so if you need a nice quiet place to study that is not your room because you don't want to wake up your roommate at 4 a.m., we have the bookless library. The bottom floor is collaborative study the top floor is quiet study so you go up it's your forte. Great right? Right over there is our ticket booth. Super fun fact: Brandeis students get the same discount and perks as students that go to university in the Boston area. So, you want to go the Museum of Fine Arts, go to the Aquarium. We had a whole thing where during Halloween we got to Six Flags for twenty dollars and they provided transportation, great right?
So, Brandeis really wants us to have fun and it's amazing we have a resource like that. You can also use the ticket booth to catch shows here on campus. Oh, let's talk about shows, shall we? Right next to the ticket booth is our undergraduate theater collective, our UTC. They put on seven to twelve shows in an academic year and they're really good because this is where everybody gets to collaborate. You can try out, we have so many organizations here and groups, we have Shakespearean groups, we have comedy groups, we have sketch groups, any groups you can really think of, the UTC is under it, it's great. One big tradition here we have at Brandeis is the 24-Hour Musical, it sounds exactly like what you think it is. You have 24-hours to put on an entire musical during your orientation week. And it is so good, because it sucks. Everyone forgets their lines after the second weeks, everyone’s costumes are just so ill fitted it's amazing. Everyone who tries out gets a spot, so you kind of know how that's going to go. And we did Legally Blonde my orientation and it was hilarious. These are people we met the week before or even like two hours before. And we get to laugh with each other so I thought it was like really cute. We get to form these connections so early on here on campus. And we can just go on from there, it's amazing. And I can direct your attention right up to that corner over there, you see a whole bunch of banners here. The purple one is our Waltham Group. (shot shifts to a purple flag hanging in atrium that says Waltham Group.) What's Waltham Group? This is our volunteer umbrella organization here on campus. Who here likes to volunteer? I do. So, we have organizations arrange from hospital helpers to teaching five-year old's how to read and all that good stuff. And if there isn't an organization under the Waltham Group you want to volunteer with, we have two hundred plus all-inclusive organizations here on campus and if you don't find one, (which is rare), You can just start one your own, it's really easy to do that. My friend started a Model U.N. last semester, it's amazing. So, getting involved here on campus is super easy and just doing stuff on campus is even easier with a place like the Shapiro Campus Center.
ALL THINGS HOUSING 05:38
Title screen of brick and glass North Quad residence hall with text that says “All Things Housing.”
MJ begins speaking from in front of short stone wall and Massell Pond.
Welcome to Massell Quad this is one of two first year quads here at Brandeis. The only difference between the two is that Massell has a super great, super cute aesthetic pond. Can you guys tell I live in Massell? And while North Quad has a nice green area that's so gorgeous in the fall. So, before you can step foot into Brandeis you have to do a whole bunch of surveys. I like to call them Tinder surveys. That's where you match up with your roommate and just to make sure your living accommodations are great. So, the first survey really is just to submit your documentation if you have accommodation, if you prefer a co-ed floor, single gender floor and all that good stuff. And the Department of Community Living, or DCL as we like to call them. Will meet your needs. It's really great, super convenient. So, roommates, you get sorted into three types of housing. So, let's start! There's the double, there's the lofted triple and there's a natural triple. You guys eyes might've widened when I said triple, but let me get there. So, double this is two people to a room. A lofted triple is a slightly bigger room with three people so this is like a bunk bed kind, kind of situation. While a natural triple is two room for three people you can arrange that any way you want. Where do you get those roommates? Great question. So, Brandeis first years, we can't pick our roommates because we really don't know anybody. So, we do this little survey that matches us up. So, it's kind of like what's your favorite ice cream flavor? What music do you listen to? How late do you stay up? How messy you are? You gotta to be honest with that question. And they'll pair you up with an amazing roommate.
I got paired up with a roommate his name is Gordon. He's from California but he was raised in China. So, our backgrounds were very, very similar it was just really cool to go, "wait, like you say that too?" "Your parents do that too?" That kind of thing, he's amazing. And our schedules matched up perfectly too, so I wouldn’t have to worry about waking him up, or him waking me up if he gets home really late from like a study session. Because I'm coming home from a study session too. It's amazing. And all my friends’ roommates love their roommates it's a whole thing. Ugh, they do such a good job with pairing you guys with roommates y'all.
So hooray, great you have your roommate. Let's talk about where you're going to live. So again, you're going to live in either one of these quads and let's talk a bit more about the quads. So, each quad has a laundry facility, they're free which is really great. They also have a kitchenette per second story which is great you can definitely cook with your friends, it's accessible. It's open for us to use so might as, well right? We always make cupcakes with my friends it's amazing. And we also have common rooms per story. So, these are like empty spaces you can study and your CA's can host events. Oh wait, what is a CA? Excellent question. You guys might've heard RA's in other universities we call them CA's, Community Advisors to really hone in the feeling of community. I think it's really cute people think it's cheesy. So, the CA's job is to facilitate roommate disputes, which I really don't hear much of to host events and just to be a peer, just to be a peer for you to talk to. It's amazing. I live in Renfield 3 so that's the third story and my CA's name is Bobby and she is amazing, guys. She's a junior but I feel like our connection is like we’re basically besties now, I can go to her and go, "You wouldn't believe the day I had." And she'll be like, "Girl, same." And we just start talking it's amazing that we have that relationship so early on with my CA. Some events they do is they decorate cookies, we can make your own bread together. And Halloween night there wasn't a single CA Halloween night. Like it's just amazing. The CA's are adorable here. And they really do apply for this position so they are devoted to making sure that your first-year experience goes in nice and smoothly. It's amazing. So yeah, that's a little bit about housing and just to ease your mind about upper classman housing, housing is guaranteed for the first two years here at Brandeis. And about housing is guaranteed for the first two years here, 80% of Brandeis students stay in housing for all four years, which is really great. And if you choose to go off campus there are apartment options all around. Waltham is really great when it comes hosting college kids and apartments and leasing and all that good stuff. It's really great. That's a little bit about housing here.
CHAPELS FIELD 09:29
Title screen of one of three Chapels and Chapels Pond with text that says “Chapels Field.”
MJ stands on Chapels Field with two of the Chapels in the background.
Hello everybody, welcome to Chapels Field named after the three very beautiful chapels right other there. (MJ gestures to Chapels buildings across the field.)
So, a brief history about the chapels.When Brandeis University was first founded it was under three main religions at the time, with Catholicism, Judaism and Protestantism.
That was in the past, so each of those chapels represented said religion and the way how they're built is no matter what time of day it is none of the chapels’ shadows overcast each other and I think that's so beautiful.
It's kind of like no religion is like the triumphant religion. And everything is tolerated here. It's amazing. And in the middle is a heart shaped pond, aesthetic and adorable, right?
Today Brandeis represents a multitude of religions and spiritual beliefs. We have a whole department for it. And scattered around campus are praying rooms.
So, in our campus center, that we were in there was a Dharmic praying room. In our student center there is a Muslim praying room, there's the Chapels. It's a whole thing. We even have a mediation room, that you can use to pray for your spiritual beliefs.
How amazing is that?
It's great and you can choose to be as religious or non-religious as you like here at Brandeis because we are non-sectarian, which means we are not affiliated with any religion.
So, there is no pressure here to confirm to any religious beliefs. You can just be who you want any and all religions and spiritual beliefs are tolerated and accepted here.
And I think that's cute right?
SHERMAN DINING HALL 10:43
Title screen of bustling dining hall with “Sherman Dining Hall” in text above.
MJ stands in Sherman Dining Hall as people eat and mingle in the background.
MJ: Okay everybody, welcome to Sherman Dining Hall. This is one of two dining halls here on campus.
The other one is Lower Usdan in Upper Campus. The only difference between the two is that Sherman has a Kosher section.
This is if you guys aren't aware a set of dietary restrictions, set upon the Jewish faith.
Anybody can eat at Kosher though. I eat at Kosher,and it's great. I think it's great food.
As long as you respect the rules set in place you're all bueno.
So, both of the dining halls are equipped with My Zone Sections. Which is a section for the top twelve most common allergies. There's a vegan section, there's a my simple serving section, gluten free, and vegetarian options. There are so many options here. And if there is a accommodation that you need met, you can always talk to the head dining leader. There's a whole poster right over here.
You don't have to protest, you don't have to cancel anybody. You can just talk to them and they will meet your accommodations.
So, my friend Ari she's a devout vegan and she really wanted an extended vegan section in Lower Usdan so she just talked to the head lady and the next thing we know they extended the whole section, it was easy as that.
This was my first semester here too, it was amazing. So, they really do listen.
And apart from two dining halls we do have vendors scattered across campus.
So, we just saw Einstein's Bagels we also have a Starbucks on campus, a Dunkin Donuts, a Currito which is like a Chipotle but it's not, and a Sub Connect which is like a Subway but it's not. It's really great, they taste the same. And we also have a convenience store that fits your fancy.
(Images of each location cross the screen as MJ talks about them. He continues.)
How do you pay for all of this?
Great question.
First years are required to live on campus therefore we are required to have a meal plan. This corresponds to a set number of meal swipes and a set number of dining dollars. A meal swipe gets you access to a dining hall. With dining dollars you can buy a burrito, you can get chips, or a thing of sushi or even a stick of deodorant if you need that from the convenience store.
It's very convenient for all of us.
And if you're not happy with your meal plan you can change it within the grace period the first week.
It's not a big process, you just do it online.
They love you!
College kids are stressed enough, we are going to start our first year alone. So, they're just like let’s make everything easy for you. And it's really great!
We also have Moody Street, which is the street right next to us on Brandeis. And they have amazing food, guys. It's amazing, so there is always a spot to eat here at Brandeis.
Plus let me add that in, sometimes the dining halls have a thing where you can submit your own family recipe, how cool is that? And they'll make it, it's amazing.
They have always have nights, if there's a celebration like for the Lunar New Year, they had a whole Chinese New Year event going on with like traditional food and it tasted really, really good. It's a whole thing. Dining here is amazing.
THE FARBER AND GOLDFARB LIBRARY 13:13
Title screen of library with name in text appears.
MJ stands in front of the Library and speaks.
MJ: Okay, everybody, welcome to our library. Don't let the size deceive you. It actually goes down five stories. Is built on a slope. It's kind of awesome.
So let's talk about the library. It's divided into three main sections, really. That beautiful brick cube over there is our Rappaport treasure hall. That's reserved for our more upscale events. So we've had a lot of Brexit talks with British politicians through our Center of German and European Studies. We've also had the Green Party president of Germany come in and talk too, which is really cool.
I'm not from Europe. I've never been to Europe either, but it's just really cool to like sit down and hear what's happening on the other side of the world and how it's affecting their lives. And you can even draw parallels to what's happening to us. It's really interesting, really, that we have events like this here at Brandeis.
This middle section over here is our Goldfarb Library. So this hosts a lot of our resources. So let's get into it. One of our requirements here at Brandeis is you take a University Writing Seminar class is just to prepare us for college level writing.
So one of our assignments is a research essay. I don't know about y'all, but I didn't know how to write a research essay. So where did I go? The research help desk. I went in, I had my prompt, and my assignment. And I was kind of freaking out. I was going all over the place with my research essay. So I was like, "Okay, if my essay's about disability, that means I should do something with hidden disability." So I want to do something with BoJack Horseman. But then the Simpsons... It's another show I want to talk about. I was just frazzled out. Right?
But the lady got it, and she was just like, "Okay, these are the resources. This is a citation machine. This is how I recommend going through with your research." And it was just really great. I had like a nice outline to go into. Hooray. I have my essay written. I made my friend Nicole read it. She said, "It sucked."
Where do I go? The writing help desk. So the writing center is amazing. It's free for students to use. And with my professor, Professor Adams, she gave us an extension if we utilize the writing center. It's amazing. Right? So I go in with my essay, she reads over it, she's not writing my essay. She is just perfecting it. So she's adding in comments, she's making suggestions. It's really great. I have my essay. It's amazing. Oh no, I didn't read the instructions. I needed to have a physical book.
Okay, great. I locate a physical book that thinks matches my thesis. I go to the information and borrowing and I go, "Hi, I don't find this book anywhere in Brandeis." And they're like, "Oh, don't worry about it."We located it in, let's say, Tufts University, and it's on its way right now with our loan borrowing system." Convenient. Great, and it's out of charge for me.
So it's just great that we have research opportunities like that. Brandeis has subscriptions to so many scientific articles and journals as well. So if you need to do research, information's not barred from you. Just go to information and borrowing. Hurray. Great. I have my essay. Everything's looking really cute right now, but my laptop spontaneously, during this part of our story, decides to just die. Okay, where do I go? I can go back to information borrowing and check out a laptop or check out a charger or I can go to the IT help desk and get my problem troubleshooted if my computer didn't just die and there's something wrong with it. They can help me find out what's going on with it.
Or I can use the computers in the library, because it is a library after all, and use that to print with the printers in the library. So many resources in Goldfarb. Hooray, I have my essay print. It's looking really cute. I'm happy Professor Adams is even happier. We're all happy at the end. That's just a little tidbit on like the resources we have in Goldfarb. There's also studies. There's also books. It's a whole thing.
And right over here is our Farber Library. So Farber has the most important resource of all, a Starbucks. But other than that, we also have our MakerLab. So if you're interested in digital animation, you are interested in 3-D printing, the MakerLab is open for us to use so long as you take a class on how to use the equipment in the MakerLab. One of my friends, [Cathedra 00:03:34], 3-D printed her own phone case, which I thought was really cool that she just did that. And it was free, and it was like a really cute case, honestly.
So it's just really cool we have resources like that. And how Farber Study is built is that the higher you go, the louder it is. And the lower you go, the quieter it is. So the top floor is upper green. That's my favorite place to study. So dynamic, everyone's just having fun. It's so collaborative. Ah, that's my energy. So I love studying in upper green.
But if you prefer more quiet like breathing and noise kind of silence, we have what we lovingly call the dungeon. That's the lowest floor. And it's really great because it's isolated study. So if you need that, you have that. Or if you prefer more collaborative spaces, we have upper green. So many great studying options here in the library.
USDAN STUDENT CENTER 17:34
Image of person walking down stairs inside Usdan Student Center with the name written in text. MJ stands in hallway in the student center and speaks.
MJ: Hey everybody. Welcome to the Usdan Student Center. This is the heartbeat here, at Brandeis University. So let's get into it. So in that corner over there is our Study Abroad Office. Super fun statistic, 40% of our juniors study abroad, but that's just not reserved for the juniors. My best friend, her name is Nicole, she's going to study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark this summer and she's only a first year. By the end of her first semester of sophomore year she'll be done with her Economics Major. So she's going to pick up an applied mathematics just because she can. She's so intelligent and I love her a lot. And it's really cool that they helped her through the process. She would talk endlessly about how they helped her with the application process, the acceptance process, and they're going to be with her during her study abroad term and even after to acclimate.
It's amazing that we have such a great resource. If you, guys, love studying abroad, our Study Abroad Office is amazing resource. The next corner, is our Hiatt Career Center. Super fun factor, would Hiatt in Arabic, means for life. What do I even say that? Because [foreign language 00:00:58], is there for you, for life. So, as long as you graduate from Brandeis University, you have a Career Center at your disposal. But what do they even do? Great question. So, some things they do, they can trim up your resume. They even have templates per resume major online, which is really great. They help you with mock interviews. They host career fairs. All the time they send out emails about opportunities. They're amazing. And they also have a website, called Beyond Brandeis. If you, guys, are interested in what a specific major does here at Brandeis, it goes into majors, then the fields they went into, and then where they even studied, the companies, where they even live.
It's amazing that we have a resource like that. And they also do a thing where you can shop their closet and if you, guys... The Hiatt Career Center does recognize that professional attire is a burden and a challenge for a lot of our students. So you can go in, pick out a free professional attire to rent out for your beautiful interview. It's amazing. That's the Hiatt Career Center. Let's talk about our Center of Academic Services. So, I start about Academic Services. When you get to Brandeis, you have three advisors. It's our faculty advisor, academic advisor and Roosevelt fellow. So our faculty advisor, this is major specifics. So if you decided to go crazy and triple major, triple minor here, at Brandeis, which happens a lot, you get six whole advisors. But since we're undecided first years, we only get one advisor. How do we even get assigned an advisor?
We do a whole survey, like a roommate survey but for your advisor. It's like the same questions except you have a whole section about where you just pour your hearts content of what you think you want to go. Our philosophy speaks to me, but psychology is like another check I want to go to, but my mom forced me to do Pre-Med. Like you just spill everything into this little thing and they'll pay off an advisor. I've got Pre-Med with Professor Gordon. He is a Political Science Professor, but he still helped me for my Pre-Med schedule, which is just really convenient because they know everything. Then we have our academic advisor. You, guys, have guidance counselors at your high schools. We have academic advisors. They help you meet university requirements, general requirements and they could also be your best friend. My advisor, her name is Elizabeth Rotolo, and she is amazing, guys.
I mean, I can go to her office and we can talk about anything, whether it be about her daughter or about my life, or even like spa days, or even like tea time. It's amazing that I have that relationship with my academic advisors so early on in my first year. And it's just really great. We even had a whole event because I'm part of a scholarship program, called MLK Fellows, which is for underrepresented minorities. They're on campus. We had a whole event and we bonded really close, like us, the other MLK fellows, and miss Elizabeth Rotolo. And it was just like a whole bonding Mo. We ate Italian food, it was really good Italian food, and we learned a lot about each other. It's amazing. And we have a Roosevelt follow. We all have questions that we are afraid to ask adults. So, where do we go?
Oh, Roosevelt fellows. These are upperclassmen. They apply for this position and they have been what we're going through first year. So, first year, no matter what university you go to, no matter what major, minor thing you're going to do, it is hard. It's a whole different standard. So, we have somebody who's already gone through it, right? So, you can just shoot them a text, an email, meet with them. They have office hours as well and they can just help you figure out. So, I got paired with a political science person. Again, I don't know what to do my survey to go political science, but I wasn't complaining because I could talk to any of the Roosevelt fellows anyway.
So I talked to the political science about general university life and I talked to the biology one about forming my major Pre-Med requirements, how to meet them, should I stretch it out? Should I just condense it all? All that good stuff. So just really great that we have a resource like that here. And, few things to point out in this beautiful complex, we have a Department of Community Living right over there. Financial Aid Services is also with Academic Services. And my [inaudible 00:04:26] is our convenience store, mail stop room, and our second dining hall. That's a little bit about the Usdan Student Center.
SHAPIRO SCIENCE CENTER 21:12
Large glass Shapiro Science Center with name written in text.
MJ speaks inside building with wall to wall windows overlooking athletics fields in background.
MJ: Yes, I can. Okay, everybody, welcome to the Shapiro Science Center, not to be confused with the Shapiro Campus Center. We have a whole bunch of Shapiro buildings here.
So let's talk a smidge about academics. So our average class size is 26 and our faculty to student ratio is 10 to 1. However, the number 26 is slightly skewed because those intro classes are, of course, going to be massive. They're there to fulfill general major requirements and general university graduation requirements. Right?
So my general chemistry class with Professor Novack had like 250 people in it. It was terrifying. I walked in and my mouth just went, "What? How am I going to learn?" It was like a really scary experience for me at first. But, Professor Novack remembered all of our names, which was kind of amazing that she took the time to get to know us like that.
And number two, with big classes like that, they are divided off by sections taught by teaching instructors and supplemental instructors later on. So let's say in the morning Professor Novack gives a nice lecture about oxygen. Right? It is a chemistry class. So later on a supplemental instructor would email everybody going, "Okay guys, like I have a session going from like 7:00 PM right here in the atrium. If you girls want to come in and you have questions, I have worksheets printed out for you. We can go over the topics, all that good stuff."
So it's kind of nice that we have like a double lecture. So you really get to know the knowledge. But if you have a question that you were too afraid to ask in a lecture hall, it happens. Everyone gets nervous. All professors have office hours. So you can go to Professor Novack's office hours. You can go to one of the supplemental instructor's office hours. It's great.
So about office hours, right? So professors have super fun office hours. So last semester I took a women's studies of sexualities class with Professor Singh. Her office hours was, she locked our phones in her office and we walked around campus. So it's just like really cool that there's this idea where we can just go in and like talk to her naturally. And we couldn't fill in any awkward silences by taking out our phones because we didn't have those. Right? So it's just like really cool that there's an idea. And I also took a Fundamentals of Environmental Challenges class last semester with Dr. Perlman, and his office hours were coffees and croissants on him. I don't know about y'all, but if it's free coffees and croissants and talking with such a great professor, I am going. So it's just like really cool, right?
So office hours can also lead to amazing opportunities. You can go in with like a question, or you can go in with a golden answer. Uhh, love it.
So let's talk about my office hours experience real quick. So I'm taking a Sociology of American Immigration class with Professor Lucken. Amazing class, amazing professor. And I went in and I had a question about research. I really wanted to start to do my own research and I was just like, "Hey, I want to do something with third culture kids." If you guys aren't aware, they are kids born in one country, family's from another, and they move to a third country. So they kind of don't know where they're from. It's a whole identity problem and it's not been researched well. I'm a third culture kid, so I thought it was like really neat and kind of, you know, disturbing that there isn't research done, right.
So I just went in with like a simple question. I just wanted to know if it was viable or not to do research. She stopped me and she was like, "Do you want me to help you?" And I was like, "Yeah." So the next day she sent me articles about their culture because she said "These I think will fit great with your thesis. Please read them over, annotate them, all that good stuff. If you have any questions, I really want you to schedule another appointment with me and we can talk about more where your research can go, where I can like really focus in." And I thought that was amazing. Like I'm a first year and I'm really about to embark on my first research opportunity. Shocking.
Research. Great segue I did there, right? Research. Research is found everywhere around Brandeis. We are an R1 research school. That means we have the most amount of funding. Because of our medium size, that's a lot of money going to so many research opportunities, whether that'd be the humanities, the sciences, or the social sciences.
So let's give a few examples, right? My best friend, Claire, she's a first year and she just finished research on mice impulsivity. So she trained mice, she detected their brain, their... It's like a whole thing. And she gave out her research right here in this atrium in front of everybody. It was amazing. I was so proud of Claire.
Our Near Eastern and Judaic Studies program translates languages, ancient languages, Akkadian, Assyrian, Mesopotamian. And I thought it was really cool because my Iraqi dialect is Mesopotamian Arabic. So I'd be like, "Oh, can I understand this?" Not at all. So it was just like really cool.
And again, if you want to go with a professor's research, you can just go to their office hours and talk to them. They can bring you on board, they can defer you to someone else, they can talk to you more. They're like mentors here. It's amazing. Research is such an abundant thing here. There's so many, there's so much funding, so much resources. It was just like an amazing thing that we have here. Okay, great.
GOSMAN ATHLETICS 25:29
Gosman Athletics Complex entrance with different flags above the doorway and the name of the building in text above.
MJ speaks from location in previous place.
Now let's segue to the very related sports section. Who here likes sports? I don't. So let's talk a smidge. Brandeis has a health requirement as high schools do. Right? College health is so much more different than high school health. So we have to take a navigating course in wellness within our first semester. Then we have a physical requirement and a mental health requirement.
Physical requirement. You can take a soccer class, a tennis class, a basketball class. You can do that, or do what I did and take a Latin ballroom dance class. Like I can do the Cha Cha, but like not really. And it's just for the class to fill up my requirements. So it's such a fun class that I took with my best friend, Nicole. Y'all remember Nicole. Study abroad.
And for mental health you can take a breathing class, a research class, just like how to research, or like your brain on carbon and pollution. That's a class we offer here as well and you can fulfill it. And none of these classes hurt your GPA because they're weighted for nothing. They're just there for the requirement. So it's not going to hurt you to take as many classes as you want. It's really great.
So sports, where do we even do all these sport activities, right? We have a whole gym. Much like the library, it also goes down, it's kind of massive. We have cardio rooms, we have squash courts, track fields. Oh my gosh. We have a whole pool, which is really cool. We have weightlifting. It's a whole thing. Anything you imagine a gym would have, we have it. My Latin ballroom dance class was in a dancing studio in the gym. And it's also open for us to use. So you can go in. They're open as late as like 11:00 PM some nights. You can go in and just like work out to your heart's content. It's amazing. Judge-free zone, too. It's great for us because you know working out is really healthy and all that. Whatever they say, right?
So, let's talk a smidge about sports. So I did mention a few sports here and there, but let's talk really about it. So we have three main categories of sports really. We have our varsity. Those you have to try it out for. That's like varsity track, varsity basketball, varsity tennis, all that good stuff.
We have our club sports. So those are like club tennis, club basketball. You can also do club Quidditch, which is what I did last semester. Club Ultimate Frisbee. So these club sports are all inclusive. You can join them, you don't have to try out for them. You don't even need previous experience in them. Let's be honest, nobody has heard of Quidditch as a sport before entering Brandeis. Like at least I didn't know it was like a whole sport, right? So it's just like really cool. So it's like, wow, I didn't have to try out, and I had so much fun during my time with Quidditch. Right?
Then there's the intramurals. Those are my favorites to talk about really. So you guys heard of Battleship, the little board game? Yeah, we don't do that at Brandeis. Right? Our Battleship is you're in this canoe in our little pool and you're trying to sink each other with buckets and water. It's a whole thing. People get really, really wet obviously. That's our Battleship and it's just so much fun.
We also have bubble soccer. You're in this big bubble and you're playing soccer. You're either the soccer ball or you're kicking a soccer ball, whether that's a person or the actual ball itself. It's loads of fun and people can start them over. They're just like one day sports really. And it's just like really cool that we get to do that. So yeah, that's a little bit about sports and academics. HUMANITIES 28:25 Spingold Theater that looks like a white top hat with “Humanities” written in white text.
MJ stands on Great Lawn with green Shapiro Campus Center in background.
MJ: Okay everybody, welcome to the Great Lawn. What's so great about it? Let's talk about that, shall we? So during your orientation you're going to have a massive club fair. We have again 200 plus organizations here on campus and they're all trying to get you signed up for their email lists, they're throwing free stuff at you, free friends, free shirts, free food. So it's massive, it's chaotic. It's really cool, honestly, to see so many clubs represented. When I signed up, I signed for 40 clubs, didn't know what half of them were, and I woke up the next day with a thousand whole emails. It was really funny. I could just join any club I wanted and it was just really cool. So that's a little bit about club fairs. Again, they're all inclusive, so it's really cool. And again, if you don't have a club that you fancy, you can always start your own. Getting involved here again, it's just so great. [inaudible 00:00:48] is so easy and accessible. Yes.
So let's talk about buildings, shall we? So that top hat shaped building over there is our Spingold Theater. This houses our graduate theater department. These are senior theses, senior projects, all that good stuff. Undergraduates can get involved with tech, with auditioning, all that good stuff. So it's really great. And inside Spingold itself is a bunch of other small theaters, all different layouts, so whatever fits your fancy. If you want to go into theater, you have options for that. One big event, however, that happens in Spingold Theater is This Is Our House. This is a massive pep rally for all the first years. Our Dean of Student Life, Jamele Adams just starts screaming out, "Whose house is this? Our house." That kind of thing. So it's just really cool that we have this big pep rally. It lasts until 11:00 PM, everyone is just so exhausted, but it's just really cool because we all have fun in the process. Loud music is playing, free shirts are being thrown, everyone's having fun, we're all playing games. It's a whole thing. It was just really cool. This Is Our House is definitely a great highlight during orientation.
Right over there next to it is our Rose Art Museum. It has a super easy, super fun to remember name. It is the largest museum of contemporary art on a college campus in the New England area. Easy to remember, right? So this is open for us to use, Brandeis students and the public. It has amazing, amazing art pieces. There's always installations going up. We even have Andy Warhol stuff if you're interested in that. There's also a program called Make Room For Art. So if you live on campus and you want to decorate your room with really cute art pieces, they have more than 40 collections, you can just go in, check one out and decorate it in your room. Make Room For Art. It's great.
Right in front of it is our Light Of Reason monument. One big thing happens during orientation is that you get teacup candles and you have to write one thing that you want out of your Brandeis experience. I wrote identity. We're all trying to find our identity here in college. But you can write whatever you want. And at the same time, everybody holds our teacup candles up, they light up at the same time as the whole monument lights up and it's a massive moment. I think that's the official introduction to Brandeis as in the, whoa, we're college students now. That was just a moment I will remember. I still have my teacup candle hanging on my little desk and I look at it and it reminds me of why I'm here. I came here, I have a purpose here. It's a whole thing. It was emotional. People's Snapchats, there were long stories about people crying, just like, oh my goodness, we did it guys. We did it, we survived orientation. We have class the next day. That kind of thing. So it was a memorable moment.
Let's talk about Slosberg. So Slosberg is our music hall. It hosts are quartets, quintets, chorus, a cappella, anything that makes sounds really is in our Salzburg music hall. It is also open for us to use. So if some reason you have a weird inkling to play the grand piano at 9:00 PM on a weekday, you can go ahead. Play to your heart's content. You don't need to know how to play the piano. I didn't know how to play the piano. But it was just so much fun. Just dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. It was a whole thing. And yeah, that's a little bit about buildings.
Screen fades to blue Brandeis logo. Video ends.