Interview with Jessica Schulman, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Brandeis University

We recently had the chance to sit down with Jessica to learn more about the admissions process and how Brandeis has been adapting to the challenges of having students on campus socially distanced.

Elton Lin: Welcome, everybody, to another one of our interviews of admissions staff from different universities across the United States. We have had quite a few interesting interviews -- Pomona College, Emory University, Boston University, Northeastern… It seems like we've been spending a little bit of extra time in the Boston area!

            Today we are excited to have Jessica Schulman from Brandeis with us --who is also the Northern California rep -- to hear more about the admissions process at Brandeis and what it's like on campus in 2020.

            But a few quick notes before we get started.  If you have any questions that come up, post them in the Q&A box at the bottom. We won't answer them immediately, but we'll come back at the very end and pose them to Jessica.

            And again, thank you so much for joining us, Jessica, and spending time with us this evening. It's 7:00 P.M. here PDT but in Boston it’s 10 P.M.! So thank you for keeping your eyes open with us – we appreciate your time! 

Jessica Schulman: Thanks for having me! I'm excited to chat with everyone this evening. 

Elton Lin: Let's jump right in. Jessica, if you don't mind, tell us about your role at Brandeis and how you got into admissions. 

Jessica Schulman:  Absolutely. My name is Jessica and you might hear me refer to myself as “Jess” once in a while.  I'm a Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Brandeis University, which is about nine miles outside of Boston, Massachusetts. I've been working at Brandeis for about four years, going into my fifth admission cycle now. I do a lot of work with our various fellowship and scholarship programs at Brandeis. I also work directly with our student athletes in their recruiting process, coordinating between the athletics and the admissions offices. I’ve held a number of different roles and worn a bunch of different hats within our office as well.

            Getting into admissions just kind of happened. I was not the campus tour guide type of student, or housing director, or community advisor, or anything like that. I knew I really liked higher education, and being on college campuses.

            In pursuing a master's degree in higher education, my graduate assistantship was actually in the University's Admission Center conducting interviews, planning events and working with students through their application process. Once I finished my degree, I landed my first job in a professional role in an admissions office in Boston. And that's where I've been hopping around for the past six or so years. I really love it and I'm excited to tell you more about my role in the institution that I represent.

Elton Lin: Awesome. And where were you at before Brandeis?

Jessica Schulman: I was at Emerson College, which is also in Boston and I got my master’s at Suffolk University – also in Boston.

Elton Lin: Fantastic. One of the reasons why we've been doing all these interviews is to get first-hand access and hear what's happening on campus. Would you share a little bit about what have been the greatest changes that have been happening to you, your colleagues, and the campus in 2020?

Jessica Schulman: Sure. Starting in March, we went virtual and everyone was moved off campus, staff included. My office – the admissions office – and departments on campus that are not necessary to be on campus, have been remote this whole time. I’m chatting with you from my apartment in Boston right now!

            I think what changes most is the campus culture. Many people are drawn to Brandeis for the community, the student body, the relationships that professors and students and staff all have amongst each other. And – as we all know – Zoom just sucks that right on out from those moments and opportunities. For an office that's super friendly and close, like the admissions office at Brandeis, I think parts of that have been lost, unfortunately.

            Everyone's working really hard and trying to come up with different ways to engage and interact with students and get to know students a little bit better. It has forced us to be extremely creative in programming.

            I'm sure you've seen other institutions trying to maneuver their operations entirely online, where there was initially a big face-to-face point of the admissions process. That's what our office is looking like. We've been remote this whole time, with no plans to go back right now. We haven't heard anything about our spring semester.

            Our students were given the option for this fall semester to be either in-person living on campus; to do a hybrid combination or commute if they live in the greater Boston area; or be completely virtual and live at home, or elsewhere, and take all of their classes virtually. I'd say about 15 to 20 percent of our classes are being held in-person. There are very strict requirements for which classes were allowed to go back in-person. The professor had to agree and feel comfortable with it. The class had cap numbers. There are certain rooms that can only be used due to ventilation and things like that. So there are not a lot of in-person classes.

            However, about half of our student body did choose to come back. Everybody is in single rooms, but everyone is being charged for a double room, or something that's less desirable. All of our dining is grab and go. You can sit in the dining halls, but they put up big white tents across campus – so while the weather in New England is still nice, students can sit outside and eat with their friends and peers.

            A majority of our programming, of course, has moved online, but they have done some on-campus programming for the students that live there. Incoming first-years had some kind of speed dating event the other night to get to know more first-year students and other people who didn't get to experience the full traditional orientation. So we’re making it work.

            Students on campus get tested three times a week.

Elton Lin: Wow! Every student gets tested three times a week?

Jessica Schulman: Yep. You can go see the Brandeis COVID dashboard. I believe in the past four weeks only four students have tested positive, which is pretty great. I've only been to campus once, and anybody who comes to campus has to take that online daily health assessment, do a module on health and safety, and get a test that day – and results are about a 24-hour turnaround.

            So it's a big operation. I think Brandeis is, like many other schools, taking it really seriously in terms of the health component, and I think it's reflected really well in our numbers.

Elton Lin: You may have mentioned this, but I'm not sure I caught it. What percentage of students actually came back for class this term?

Jessica Schulman: We're a school of about 3600, and about 1800 came back, so about half.

Elton Lin: That's great to hear, that basically 50% of the students came back, and four cases is really pretty minimal. I think that's terrific.

Jessica Schulman: Fingers crossed!

Elton Lin: Indeed. Great to hear that Brandeis is really taking this process seriously! And testing three times a week must be a little irritating, but necessary to really make sure everything is covered well.

Jessica Schulman: Definitely, I mean if you're going to be on campus, you’ve got to follow the rules!

Elton Lin: Indeed. And perhaps we can switch over and share a little bit about what the admissions process is like this year.  For example, once a student is done with the application and it lands on your proverbial electronic desk, what happens from that point on?

Jessica Schulman:  Let's start with that, and then I can answer the follow-up piece of that.

            When you apply to Brandeis and you hit “submit,” we have all of our applications ready to go. We separate them based on territory. So all of you, as Northern California students, would be moved over to my territory designation.

            I do a first read, and then from there, the students that are easily admissible pretty much go straight into the admit bin. The students whom we want to have a conversation about – and maybe we really like but don't maybe have enough funding, or we can't see them in a certain area of our campus, or something like that – those will go to committee. And then students who don't make the cut, academically or for whatever reason, are going to go straight into deny.

            I would say the top 25% go straight to admit. The middle 50% will be somewhere in what we call committee. And the bottom 25% maybe go straight to deny. More or less. That's a very broad overview of what it might look like.

            Committee is a time where our office meets – as either a full office or half the office– and we talk about students in a more personal way. So I will see, for example, Elton's, and present him to our committee. Then we talk. We are the ones that get to know you, and we are the ones that get to talk about all your strengths and talents. We talk about them with our committee to see where we can hopefully find a place for you within our incoming class. There's a little bit of fine-tuning, so sometimes we'll have to go back. That's really the only time that everybody else is going to hear about you, if you're in this committee mix.

            Most students will have at least two people read their application. I'm the first reader. I move it to a backup reader, just to make sure that we're staying consistent with our reads, and not missing any fine details or anything like that.

Elton Lin: And, really, you're touching every Northern California application.

Jessica Schulman: Yep, you got it. We look at every application. And we do a holistic review process. There's no minimum GPA. There's no minimum test score. So even if you started freshman year and had a couple of C's, or you're not a great test-taker but you submitted your exams anyway, we're still going to read your application.

            That's how it goes in the holistic review processes. Maybe there's a story; maybe there's context that we aren't able to tell just by looking at your transcript. I think that's where a holistic review process is really valuable. For students, if there’s something that needs to be explained, we're still going to read your application regardless.

            And we read it front to back. I read all of the essays, all of the interview write-ups, all of your teacher recommendations. It's fun! I really like application review. I think it's fun to get to know students even if it’s just on paper, but that's about as good as we can do right now!

Elton Lin: Two follow-up questions to Brandeis’s process:  Number one is that we've certainly interviewed a lot of schools where applications are reviewed by college or by major, and they're looking for markers to help them understand whether the student will be successful in this particular major, e.g. math for engineering, etc. Are you looking for the same thing, or are you just looking for a certain type of student that might be a good fit for Brandeis?

Jessica Schulman: Great question. When you're applying to Brandeis, you're applying to the whole school. There's no particular major that you're applying to. Every undergrad is within the College of Arts and Sciences, whether you're a stem major or a business major.  

            So we do not admit by major. You can certainly write down a major if you want to, but you don't declare a major as soon as you enter Brandeis or anything like that.

Elton Lin: Got it -- you're coming in as just a Brandeis student.

Jessica Schulman: If you're admitted, we're saying you can do neuroscience, you can do English, you can do musical theater. We don't care.

Elton Lin: And if you can do all three of those at the same time, I’m sure that'd be even even better! 

Jessica Schulman: I'm sure there are some! I am not one of them!

Elton Lin:   That sort of begs the question: what is really a good fit student for Brandeis? Is it like a computer programmer – especially from the Silicon Valley here in this area – a computer programmer who's developed their own app, and maybe competed in the Computing Olympiad? What – if it's not perhaps that type of student – what is a good fit student for Brandeis?

Jessica Schulman: When we're reviewing applications, first and foremost we're looking at your academics.  We want to see that you can be competitive in a college environment, regardless. So we're looking at your grades, and rank, if your school ranks. We're looking at the rigor of the curriculum you've taken. If you have APs available, did you try them? If you have an IB curriculum, did you try it? If your school doesn't offer different levels, that's fine. Did you take what is rigorous and available to you?

            We look at academics, number one. But number two is fit. For Brandeis students, there's no cookie-cutter mold that we're looking for. We're looking for students who are engaged in their communities, who are curious, who are passionate, who are any number of terms you could throw at it.

            I think one big thing that stands out for Brandeis students in particular, is that there are a lot of themes of social justice at Brandeis. Many students come to Brandeis because they want to advocate for something, change something, or fix something in the world. Whether that's advocating for LGBTQ rights, or environmental sustainability, or finding a cure for Alzheimer's, or working with refugees – whatever your cause is. It doesn't matter if you're a math major or a philosophy major or a music major, we like to see that students have this awareness that there are issues in the world and that they need to be solved. So we do tend to attract and admit students who have this inclination towards making the world a better place in whatever way that looks like for them.

            If that hasn't quite come across for you in high school yet, that's totally fine. But we just want to see that you're a good person, and that you can make those around you better, and things like that. I hope that's helpful.

Elton Lin: That's helpful, yes. And then – this is an associated question but maybe a little bit off our theme.  When we've spoken with other universities, some have said that their admission filter is very open, and other schools were very honest about having what they would call “institutional goals,” and they were looking to diversify their student body.

            There's been a lot of conversation on that with regards to the Harvard lawsuit that's been going on for the past couple years, but is Brandeis committed to diversifying the student body? Are they looking for different types of students? Or is it to where you're just looking for the best Brandeis fit?

Jessica Schulman:  I'm going to back up a little bit. I think an important part to know that - Brandeis was founded in 1948, so we're actually a really young institution compared to a lot of our peers, specifically on the East Coast. But we were founded at a time where a lot of the elite colleges and universities in the United States had a quota system for admitting their classes. So X amount of students from this race or ethnicity, X amount of students from this religion, X amount of women… things like that. And that's how they would fill their incoming classes.

            One group that was being discriminated against in that process was the American Jewish community, so the American Jewish community came together to create Brandeis as a response to those quotas so all students would get in based on their own academic merit, and not based on the color of their skin or race or ethnicity or religion or gender identity or anything like that. We are not a Jewish institution. We were founded upon Jewish values, but there's no religious requirement or anything like that.

            Themes of inclusion, diversity, and equality are really woven into the Brandeis experience – whether that is academically or through clubs. On on the admissions side of it -- an important part of our process is making sure that we're understanding that students come from a number of different contexts. How do we pull in students that have different ideas and values and perspectives, and come from different communities, when maybe we haven't had students like that before?

            I think that's a neat thing about Brandeis: that we're looking for anybody and everybody who is passionate about being at a small research university, but also wants to use what they learn in the classroom, and really use it to make an impact upon the world.

Elton Lin: Thank you, Jessica, for sharing the context. I was definitely aware of some of the issues with the missions in the 40’s and 50’s, but, I was not actually aware that Brandeis was started in response to that. And that does share a substantial amount of context with regards to the values that Brandeis was based on. Which really are about inclusion – wanting to create a safe space for everybody. That's encouraging to hear!

            Okay, last question about the admissions process. You mentioned that the middle 50% goes into committee. And the middle 50% – if I'm estimating my numbers correctly – that's a lot of students! That must be at least several thousand students, correct?  

Jessica Schulman: Yes, 4,000 or so!  Brandeis doesn't have the huge UC numbers or anything like that, so it's a little bit more manageable. We have a really great staff, and we actually enjoy being in committee, because we get to see all these students that we've talked about or that we've read about and we get to advocate for them. For me that's one of the fun parts of my job! 

Elton Lin: And there's always this vision or image in people's minds, where admissions people are fighting for students in a room, and they're going back and forth. “You need to accept Jane!” or “You need to accept Bill!” or whatever. Are those conversations actually happening behind the scenes?

Jessica Schulman: I wouldn't say it's like the movies or looks like that traditionally. But Brandeis has a big conference room and we do sit. It's not maybe as in-depth as everyone thinks it is, but I think it's a neat opportunity for students. What they can bring to the table is actually presented in front of a greater audience than just myself or just the additional reader who's doing a backup read. 

Elton Lin: Got it. Okay, let's switch over and talk about this forthcoming cycle with regards to what changes are happening this coming season in light of 2020. 

Jessica Schulman:   I know test-optional is the big change in most colleges right now. Brandeis has actually been test-optional for eight or so years, so it's nothing new for us. Really everyone's just catching up. 

Elton Lin: You’re the trendsetters.

Jessica Schulman: Obviously!

            But Brandeis is test-optional. I'm not sure how many students here have international citizenship and are not U.S. citizens, but we are also test-optional for international students this year, which we haven't been in previous years. Test-optional for Brandeis means you have one of three options that you have to submit in order to complete the requirement. One is submitting an SAT or ACT. If you took the exam, like your score, and think it represents you, feel free to submit that and you're done.

            The second option is submitting a combination of either AP exam scores; IB higher level scores, if your school offers those; SAT subject tests; or if your school offers A-levels, which not a lot in the Bay Area do so never mind! SAT twos, AP exams, or IB higher level exams. One would have to be math or science based; one would be English or history based. And the last one is just something else that you haven't submitted. Any combination of those, and then you're done with the requirement.

            The third option, though, is submitting no testing. Instead, you submit a graded analytical paper – something that you've already written for high school, so not specific to Brandeis but usually for an English, U.S. history, or civics class, or something that has quotes and citations and makes an argument.   We're not looking for creative writing or a lab report. We want to see that you can write at the college level and analyze a piece of text. College, regardless of your major, is incredibly writing-intensive! And we will let you submit a paper that you've already written --that fulfills that requirement.

            We don't look at you differently if you do this. We're just going to put more emphasis on your transcript, your grades, in that capacity. We've been doing this for years, so there's no change in our formulas or anything like that! If you apply test-optional – and don't submit the SAT or ACT – you're still eligible for merit scholarships. You're still eligible to be admitted to the class.

            Pre-COVID about 20% of our applicant pool was already going test-optional anyway. We think obviously it will be much higher this year – as it should be – so we are encouraging everyone to take advantage of that. If you didn't take one of the tests, or didn't have a good score, take advantage of that flexibility there. 

Elton Lin: So what you're saying is that you've been doing this for a while and you know exactly the kind of student you're looking for.

Jessica Schulman: I think the only thing that will be different for us this year is what we're expecting a greater number of students utilizing those test-optional modalities.

Elton Lin: Do you think that deferral s or gap year requests will be impactful for 2021?

Jessica Schulman: We did have more deferrals than normal. Not quite double, but close. That said, Brandeis already does typically have a high number of deferrals, because many of our Jewish students take gap years and go to Israel.  

            But we don't know what's going to happen. Are those students going to come back? Are they not? Are more students going to apply to Brandeis than normal, or fewer? It's hard for us to be able to answer that question, and we get it everywhere we go! We don't know.

            Unfortunately, that's not something students can control. All we can ask is to put your best foot forward.  I wish I could tell you that because more students deferred, there will be fewer spaces in the incoming class, but realistically this is the first time we're dealing with it. We can run any number of projections or models and still be wrong, which is probably hard to hear, but I think that's the realistic way of thinking about it –that it's beyond your control and beyond my control at this point and is  coming from a lot higher up in the university.

Elton Lin: Thank you for that honest response. I think a lot of families and parents were trying to understand how the landscape is going to be. But there are so many changes in 2020 – and things are changing every week – that it’s nearly impossible to know exactly what's going to happen in September 2021.  

Jessica Schulman: In my heart of hearts I think it will be fine, and I think the students who would normally get admitted to Brandeis will still be admitted to Brandeis.

Elton Lin: Sounds good. Why don't we go back to applications? You're reading so many applications –and you must read so many different student essays, we’d like to know What are some good essays and what type of essays do you like reading? I don't necessarily want to ask, “What type of essays do you hate reading?” but perhaps, what might be a better way to deliver a story?

Jessica Schulman: I really like talking about essays. I do like reading them. And, as seniors, that's the only really authentic part of your application that comes through. Your grades are set. Your activities are set. You can’t control what someone writes in your recommendations. The essay is the last piece of information that you have control over in your application!

            It’s  your opportunity to show us your voice. If you're funny, you can be funny in your essay. If you're sarcastic, you can be sarcastic. If you're poetic, you can be poetic.

            If you're not funny, it is not the time to try to be funny. But we're looking to learn something about you that we can't find anywhere else in the application. So if your whole application has been about theater – and theater is life; you love theater and nothing but theater – that's great, but make sure, in the essay, I learn something else about you in theater! If you're telling me all about your relationship with grandma, that's great. Tell me all about grandma. I want to know about grandma. But by the end of it, make sure I don't want to admit grandma to Brandeis instead of you!

            I think the problem that often comes up with essays is the student ends up describing the thing or the event, and talks less about themselves and their values and what they learned or what they took away: how it changed something in the student's life. I think there's a big misconception that by the time that you're 17 years old and writing this essay, that something big has had to have happened to you!

            That's not the case -- we want to just be able to hear your voice. Maybe you have had an event or something that's really impacted your life and changed who you are and the way you think, or has contributed to your personality. But many students haven't, and that's okay too. We don't want you to make up something that hasn't actually impacted you.

            Some of the best essays that we read are typically about things that are very mundane. One of my favorite recent essays about weekly Sunday night dinners at their family's house.  Not necessarily the most thrilling topic, but the way the student wrote it and described it, I felt like I was a fly on the wall and learned about the student's family and how it's shaped her as a person.  

            For me that was that was one of the more inspiring ones. I thought, “Oh, family dinner, good idea.” For some people it's about their morning routine.  Others, learning to drive. And I can only imagine, in the San Francisco/San Jose area, what it's like to learn to drive! I had to do it; they put me on a hill and I was like, “Oh my God, here we go!”

            Think of things that are unique to you and your experiences. It doesn't have to be that you won an award or something happened to your family, or you took a cross-country backpacking trip or anything like that. Because chances are you're 16, 17, 18 years old and maybe you haven't had exposure or opportunities to do a lot of those types of things. We just want to hear something about you that we can't find anywhere else.

            And we don't want it over-edited by any means! It does need to be your voice. We can tell when a 45-year-old woman has edited a 17-year-old boy's essay; it's very clear. So just make sure that it's words that you would use. I would obviously make sure it's more than edited. Make sure you're using the right college's name!

            It's a fun opportunity for those in admissions offices to kind of break up the monotony of looking at your grades and activities. It's a lot more structured outside of the essay part of it. So I think that's why people like it, and it’s one of the parts that's within the student’s control in the application process.

Elton Lin: Having been advising students for the better part of 10 years, I feel like the predisposition with many families and students is that you're writing a résumé in essay form, and you're trying to list your greatest achievements and finding a way to impress. But that information is already on your application. That doesn't really help you get another glimpse at who that student is.

            There's something about story and narrative– and again, think about 4,000 students going to committee, and you're having to advocate for certain students – you, on some level, need to have some connection to that student. In most cases, that's through the essay. Is that correct?

Jessica Schulman: Yes. That's the authentic part of it – the genuine words that come out of it. I remember one student from Minnesota – and it's really cold in Minnesota! She wrote her essay about just what it's like to be cold all the time. I loved it. It stuck with me. And here I am, four years later, thinking about it.

            It doesn't have to be this life-changing event. It also doesn't have to be what you've already told me about your science experiment at Stanford. That's great. I've already seen it. But what did you learn from it? What's new about it? What did you take away? What skills did you learn? Maybe is it why you don't want to go into science anymore, or something like that? Just make sure we're learning something new about you that we can't tell anywhere else in the application. 

Elton Lin: Right. Then to close the loop on essays –  there really aren't any off-limits stories and you really want to see something personal.

Jessica Schulman: Yes to both.

Elton Lin: Fantastic. To finish off – and those of you who have some questions, go ahead and keep posting them and we will go into Q&A very shortly –what is some of your best advice for students as they navigate the next couple months?

Jessica Schulman: Oh my gosh. Take a deep breath!

            You are the only class in history that has had to navigate this. So there is no rule book or guidebook. There's no – I don't want to say there's no help, because there is help – but there's no map.

            It’s important to note is that colleges understand that this past six months have been crazy and students have been interrupted in their school work. Maybe you're not a good online learner. I certainly would not be, so I can't even imagine having to do that junior and senior year of high school!

            We know that soccer practice or soccer season got cancelled, so you don't have a soccer season for 11th grade. We know that families have been disrupted. We know that maybe you lost your part-time job. We understand that this cycle is totally unprecedented; and I've said the word “unprecedented” more times in the past month than I have in my entire life!

            But know that on the other side of the desk – on our side –we understand what's happening. We're also clearly living, breathing humans who are empathetic and compassionate. If you do have questions – not just to Brandeis in particular, but to any of the institutions that you're applying to – take advantage of whatever they're offering: office hours, campus tours, interviews with current students… Get those questions answered. Meet a student who goes there and who is experiencing what life either is currently like as a virtual student, or as a student on campus in some cases.

            I know there's a total information overload right now. Every college is probably reaching out three times a day to you to tell you to come join all of their events and everything like that. We know it's hard to make time for all of it, so pick one or maybe two for any college you're interested in. Because you need to step away from the screen! I know it's hard to take a step back, and get out for a walk, or go cook dinner, or something like that. But give yourself a limit.

            I believe that colleges are doing their best to make sure they're catering to all kinds of students – whether public schools or private schools or charter schools or home school students – and I think that that's resulting in this information overload, this push and marketing anytime, all-the-time situation. So I'm not sure exactly if this is advice, per se, but I would take a step back.

            You all are the first in modern history to be going through this. Know that admissions offices are there for you. Our students who work in our office – at Brandeis in particular – are eager to help! They’re bored in terms of their office duties. Normally they're walking around and giving tours and meeting students and answering questions. But right now they don't have that opportunity and they want to meet students! So we've started adding our current students to high school visits, and to our information sessions, just to give them more opportunity. So ask us to meet one of our students. Ask other offices to be in contact with students and get that first-hand knowledge. They'll have that peer-to-peer relationship that you won't get with myself or another professional advisor. 

Elton Lin: Awesome. Thank you so much, Jessica.  Why don't we open up for questions? I'll invite Anthony back in. If you have any questions for Jessica – we have people listening from all across the United States -- but, if you are a Northern California applicant, this is the person who's going to be looking at your app. So feel free to ask!

Anthony Su: Perfect! Okay, one of the first questions is on advice for students. It looks like this is a parent, but they want to know if you think that prospective students should devote their time to continue prepping for the SAT, ACT – those tests – or should they start thinking, hey let's just leave that. You're going to go test optional and look at other parts of the application for this cycle.

Jessica Schulman: We were talking about this in our office the other day, and we pretty much came to the conclusion that this is the year, if any year, to go test-optional and work on anything and everything else. Work on how you're phrasing your activities. Work on looking up the programs that are actually a good fit for you. Figure out – if you haven't already – which teachers are going to be the right ones for you to write recommendations.  

            I think if anything, do not pay for a flight to cross state lines this year, or pay drive five hours to take an exam. This is not the year. Especially in California right now, it's not worth it! If you can apply test-optional, in whatever way that looks like for a school, do it. Schools are giving you that option. They want you to take advantage of it, because they still want you to be considered for admission. 

Elton Lin: It sounds like you've had some students and parents say, “Should I go to Montana and take the test?” 

Jessica Schulman: And it pains me to hear it! I would not bend over backwards to take the SAT or ACT this year.

Elton Lin:  I can understand, on the student’s side, the intent and perhaps wanting to participate, but it sounds like you're saying that admissions offices all across the United States are going to be very understanding of the circumstances.   

Jessica Schulman: Yes, they've done studies that show SATs and ACTs don't necessarily correlate to success in college. Also it's sometimes unfairly benefiting those with lots of resources, and then those with a lack of resources don't have the opportunity to do test prep and everything like that. So it’s also an access and equity issue.

            And this – of any year – this is the year to not do it!

Elton Lin: Indeed.

Anthony Su:  The next question is about AP courses or IB courses versus community college courses. Which one is preferred? Is there one particularly that would be better on a transcript compared to the other?

Jessica Schulman: For Brandeis in particular – AP is great. Community college is great. If you're taking a dual-enrollment course, I think the thing you're going to want to look at – at a school like Brandeis or similar peer institutions – is, are you thinking that you want that credit to transfer? Because some institutions will say you can't transfer in the credit from a dual-enrollment class if you're still a high school student. Others will say yes.

            I think you should consider what the purpose of taking that that higher-level course is. Is it just to expose yourself for the rigor? Or is it because you want that credit for college? Brandeis likes both. But I would be cautious of which credits would transfer, if that's on your mind.

Anthony Su: I think that's fair. Many students think, “I'm going to take as many as I can!” and that's not always a plan that pans out.

Jessica Schulman: We want to see that you're challenging yourself, but I would ask you to consider, “Why am I challenging myself? What's the point of me doing this?”

Anthony Su: Next there are questions about GPAs in the spring semester and if that's something that would be considered for admissions for a prospective student, as well as demonstrated interest and how that's tracked.

Jessica Schulman: I'm assuming you meant for this past spring semester?

Anthony Su: Yes.

Jessica Schulman: Okay. When you apply, your high school will send us something called a school profile. That gives the admissions office the context of your high school: what percent go to four-year colleges, what do the racial makeup and demographics look like, what courses are offered.

            Typically on those profiles there will also be a breakdown of how grades look. I assume most high schools this cycle are going to tell us about what they did in the spring semester. So we'll see whatever your high school reports. But I can assume that most high schools are communicating to us, “We went pass/fail,” or “This was a tough transition; it didn't work out great.” And I think again, of any year, this is going to be the most flexible.

            Brandeis does track demonstrated interest, and we're very clear about that. So if you do want to follow up with me, I'll put a link in the chat where you can add your interest in Brandeis. Or you can just email me – tell me that you met me here – and then I can add that to your “profile,” shall we say?

Anthony Su: Got it! Feel free take a look at the chat. Jessica just sent that to everyone, so if you want to put down your information, it's a chance to show that demonstrated interest!

Jessica Schulman:  Sorry just to hop back, real quick… Colleges want to admit students who want them also. We want to give offers of admission if students actually want to come to our schools. Demonstrated interest is a way to track that. So whether you've attended an online event like this, or are gone to do a virtual tour one time, those are all things that count. It doesn't have to be – and please don't make it – emailing us weekly or anything like that! That's not what we're looking for. We just want to know that you've taken some time to actually read what Brandeis is about. “Is it a good fit for me?” That's all we're looking for.

Anthony Su: Great clarification – before someone tries to send you 10 emails. Your email's there, Jessica, for crying out loud!

Jessica Schulman: Oh man, that's my own fault. I'll take credit.

Anthony Su: Awesome. Here’s a question about when you’re reading the essays. Is there an evaluation process or a grading process in regards to that? Or is it simply, “Hey, I want to learn more context about the student”? Thoughts there? 

Jessica Schulman: I wouldn't say we evaluate or grade the essays in any way, shape, or form. There's no number we attach or gold star that we put on it. When we're reading the application there's essentially an area for counselors to say “great essay” or “medium essay” or “needs work on grammar.” We want to just see that you can also write at the college level, and that's part of it. There's no formula or anything that we're checking off for that for the Common App essay.

Anthony Su: Great. Another question about testing: Should they should take the chance and take the test in December when applying? Do you think it's the same thing as before: thinking, “This is the test-optional year; I should try to take advantage of it”?

Jessica Schulman: Yes, same thing. If it's local, and you've been interested in taking the SAT, and that's just something you want to do – then, by all means, go for it. But again, I would not go out of your way to try to take an exam that's across state lines, or isn't going to work for your schedule and your grades are going to drop because of it. Focus on your academics – for Brandeis's case. I don't speak for every institution.

Anthony Su: Perfect. Now I want to get to questions that I don't typically see. There was a question about “Hey, what's the campus’s personality?” If you had three adjectives to describe a student at Brandeis, what would you say? And what do students do for fun? What does a typical student’s day look like?

Jessica Schulman: Sure. I love this question. Thank you, whoever wrote that!

            I'm going to use a bunch of words to encapsulate Brandeis’ campus. The way I like to describe both the students and the campus culture is it’s very open-minded. Very down-to-earth.  A little quirky – in a very positive way! I think the word “quirky” gets a lot of negative connotation, and that is absolutely not what I mean. It's students who are very genuine and very authentic. They know who they are and they're not trying to change who they are in order to fit in with a common group or something like that. People are very kind and curious and passionate. And I think that's reflected both academically and also through clubs and outside activities that students engage in.

            Our campus is very oriented to advocacy and social justice. You will see a lot of students protesting and advocating and making voices heard when something is unjust in whatever way, shape, or form.

Anthony Su: Here’s a tangential question -- “How would you identify a Brandeis student if they're among a group of other students, or just random people?”  

Jessica Schulman: Pretty much every word that I just said – in that order, perhaps! Over half of the students at Brandeis double major, oftentimes things that complement each other very nicely. So you'll meet a kid who is a neuroscience/psychology major. You'll meet another one who's a nice business/economics major. Something like that.

            But you'll find a lot of students at Brandeis who double major in things that are on polar opposite ends of the academic spectrum. I have a student worker who's a double major in chemistry and theater – and you're like, “What?” But at Brandeis that is very normal, very typical.

            Those are the types of students that come straight to my mind when thinking about what a typical Brandeis student looks like. It's students who have a wide range of interests or who like to really think interdisciplinarily and in a holistic manner and are social justice warriors on top of that!

            So open-minded, down-to-earth, a little quirky – that's the Brandeis community. We're not a cut-throat school. It's a lot more collaborative in nature, compared to some of our peer institutions. A lot more study group based and help-everyone-out type of experience – particularly in the STEM areas as well.

Elton Lin: Perfect. I want to get in this question before Anthony gets through some of the other questions. Brandeis has definitely been a perennial top 50 U.S. News school for many years. But I do think – in the Bay Area and Northern California, perhaps – it’s not as recognizable as some other schools.

            Certainly there are a lot of families we work with that are thinking, “Hey, will students be able to find a job once they graduate from that particular school?” And certainly the Brandeis name does go ahead of itself. Can you share some good post-graduation outcomes? I'm certain there are students who are interested in pre-med and computer science listening. What might be some post-graduate outcomes that are unique to Brandeis?

Jessica Schulman: When you graduate Brandeis, we like to highlight that you have access to our career center for life. So as a Brandeis alum – I can go back to Brandeis when I'm 71 and, if I want to change my career to be a lawyer, I can utilize their services. Hopefully they tell me to not do that! But they do report that a number of alumni come back and utilize their resources. It creates this really holistic, communal world where every Brandeis alum is trying to help each other out.

            For the class of 2019, 98% of our student body, within six months of graduation, were either working full-time; in graduate school, medical school, or law school; or doing Peace Corps or Americorps volunteer service programs. Of those, 65% went straight to employment, 28% went straight to graduate school or professional programs, and then 5% are more engaged in fellowships, travel, or volunteer work. That's with a 70% response rate, which for college students – you may or not may not know – is a really powerful number and something we're very proud of.

            Our students leave Brandeis well prepared for those next steps. Particularly six months after graduation, and I think that's something that reflects really highly on Brandeis. You can have a wonderful education, but you are also marketable to a job. We want you to get good life experiences in college and be employable at the end.

            In terms of medical school, in case anybody is pre-med or pre-health, the national average acceptance to med school is about 40 to 50 percent, I believe, in any given year. Brandeis’s acceptance rate is typically 20 to 25 percent higher than the national average and about 65 to 70 percent of our students get into at least one medical school on their first try. It’s similar in law school. In 2019, I believe 65 out of 66 applicants who were applying straight to law school were admitted to at least one law school.

            Our students are leaving very well prepared for those next steps. But just know that you have access to the career resources, and tools and technologies for the rest of your life. 

Anthony Su: Amazing. Let me sneak in these last two questions. One is about student services on campus, and aid for students with special needs. Can you describe what that might look like on campus?

Jessica Schulman: For sure! About 10% of our student population utilizes our student accessibility office. They support students who have any kind of accommodation requests, whether that is housing-related, dining-related on campus, academic-related, or mobility-related. You have to submit some documentation and IEPs do not transfer to college. It's a different process and different form of documentation that allows our accessibility office to figure out what resources we can provide – whether it’s notetakers or extra time or access to a kitchen in your first-year residence hall, or whatever it is to accommodate your needs.

            Something that we're learning about our college students is that it's a very new process for them. In college you have to advocate for yourself. It's less about school psychologists and therapists and IEP coordinators advocating for you. A big part of college – not just at Brandeis, but at every university – is going to be empowering the student to advocate for themselves, whatever that looks like.

            But yes, Brandeis has a wonderful accessibility office on campus and about 10% of our student body uses them in one way or another.

Anthony Su: Perfect. And then, going back to applications – you know, the new question on the app is about COVID-19. This person was just asking what additional context or additional information do you think a student should provide for that section, if any?

Jessica Schulman: I would suggest only using that new COVID section if the impact from COVID on you has been extraordinary. If your classes got moved online and that was the extent of it, I wouldn't tell us that. I would save it for instances when a family member lost a job, was seriously ill, or, unfortunately, passed away, or something like that. Save that area for bigger issues that have come from COVID.

            If you do feel like you need to tell us something after you submit your application you are welcome to email us. We typically add whatever you want to your application. But I would reserve that for instances of great hardship.

Anthony Su: Great. Those were all the questions for today, so, Jessica, really appreciate it. And thank you everyone who submitted those. We were able to get some new context and learn some things today, so it’s great that everyone could join us.

Elton Lin: Thank you so much for joining us.

            We do have some webinars coming up that we will announce by email soon. But again, thank you, Jessica, so much, and good luck for this coming season! I know it's going be a little crazier, but you're doing really great work. Thank you for giving us an inside look into the process.

            If you want to contact Jessica, her link is there. And remember that key word: demonstrating interest! You're going to get an email every 4-7 hours. 

Jessica Schulman: I'm a little nervous! It's my own fault. Thanks, guys. 

Elton Lin: All right, thanks. Take care.

Anthony Su: Really appreciate it. Thank you everyone.

Jessica Schulman: Thank you! Bye.