Summary
Brandeis University is a Liberal Arts college that values challenging what students know and expanding knowledge. This University is for students who want to challenge their thinking, find rigor in education as a means to challenge themselves and do not follow society’s trends of what is acceptable—going back to when the University was initially founded in 1948 by the Jewish community in support of their pursuit for higher education, in a time where that was heavily discouraged for this group of people. When the University opened, it also welcomed women, another group ostracized and not considered fit to attend universities. From the beginning, Brandeis’s mission has been about inclusion and forming a community of challenged thinkers where they have the space to “answer questions and have your questions answered” (BU1). Brandeis is looking for a student to expand their thought bubble and look beyond society’s perspective of acceptable and unacceptable. Brandeis University uses the Ideal Reader and Purpose analysis techniques to show what a perfect candidate for Brandeis is.
A photo of Brandeis University Insignia.
Analysis
At Brandeis University, they are building a community of forward thinkers who challenge schools of thought and belief. “A Brandeis education is a vigorous exploration in critical analysis, creativity, and self-expression.” (BU1). Using the Ideal Reader analysis technique on the website’s academics page, the University is looking for creative thinkers who do not want just a textbook secondary education but a place in which they can further question what they know and learn what they know they do not. Brandeis University students have to be willing to work hard academically because education and the fostering of learning are held at an extremely high value, unlike other universities that are there to give out degrees.
Brandeis continues using the Ideal Reader analysis technique to cater to what they want a prospective student to represent outside academics. In the second sentence of the About page, they paint a picture of what they are looking for: “There is no other place like Brandeis. As a medium-sized private research university with global reach.” Brandeis starts the first paragraph of the page, claiming who they are as a University, which is represented by the demographics there. Starting with the primary identifiers for the student population at Brandeis through a perceived mission statement, letting us know three prominent identifiers of what a Brandeis student is. Firstly they say, ‘There is no place like Brandeis,’ showing that these students defy the normal bounds of what is perceived as higher education. The next part of their opening stance is ‘private research universities, ‘ showing that a typical student can pay for a private university education. The last part of the statement is that it is a ‘university with global reach.’ They state this throughout the website, but it is genuinely reinforced with their statement on ‘global reach,’ letting prospective students know that they have a diverse population of students and are socially conscious on a global scale.
Brandeis’s academic page is constructed in a way that creates a calling for students they are looking for while managing, not outwardly, to show what they do not want in a student. Brandeis incorporates the Purpose analysis technique to reveal the characteristics of this student. “A Brandeis education is a vigorous exploration in critical analysis, creativity, and self-expression.” (BU1). The blanket statement of what a Brandeis education is leaves no room to question what being a student at Brandeis is like making it clear within the first few sentences of their academic page. Immediately stating how a Brandeis education is ‘vigorous exploration in critical analysis.’ Using vigorous to show the difficulty level of their curriculum while hinting at it being self-led through the words ‘exploration.’ The strength of starting with exactly what they are looking for shows how this is a selective university with high academic standards for its students.
Brandeis wants to inform incoming freshmen that they are a University of rigor and diversity throughout the pages. After giving an overall summary of what academics means to Brandeis, they have pop-ups that take prospective students to each of their different colleges that show how many majors each school has. They build in the Purpose analysis technique in this section as well to indicate that because they deal primarily in Liberal Arts, their options in Schools are mostly Schools of Arts and Sciences. Though this is true, the University ensures that they have a wide variety of majors and minors within the undergraduate school and a variety of master and doctoral programs in the Graduate school. They also use signifying sentences in the blurb, such as, “Almost half our students double major and some even minor in a third discipline” (BU1). The language in the blurbs tells students how high of a degree can be achieved and what a Brandeis student does to reiterate the idea of increased rigor and high achieving among Brandeis students.
Response
In life, I want to pursue pediatric psychology, and I enjoy challenging myself academically. I also surround myself with people who like to be challenged and work hard. One of my key characteristics is being socially aware. I believe in civil rights, women’s rights, and equity. Due to my stances and academic self, I want to go to Brandeis. A very equitable University that also intends to challenge students alike. Earlier in the year, we read an Interview, “To This Scholar, For-Profit Colleges Are Lower Ed,” conducted by Anya Kamenetz with sociologist Tressie Colton. In this interview, Tressie Colton spoke on ‘The Education Gospel,’ invented by Economist W. Norton Grubb and Marvin Lazerson. They say, “The Education Gospel is about the faith we have in education and what a significant role that faith plays in what we call our opportunity structure… we trust education will have a positive effect on our lives and society.” (Kamentez, 1) Through my analysis of Brandeis, I believe they reflect the educational gospel’s positive effects. Brandeis provides a place of higher education where education is prioritized. All in all, I would attend Brandeis University.
Work cited
Brandeis University. Retrieved March, 15, 2023