Recently, the Princeton Review ranked Brandeis as having the fourth least happy student body. It is up for debate whether this is at all accurate or instead a meaningless result of Brandeis students' excessive complaining. While it is true that there is a significant unhappy population at the University, a ranking such as Princeton Review's is arbitrary and perhaps contributes to the perceived discontent. A few unhappy people can make a lot of noise, but when people are content they tend to keep quiet.
Rankings in general are an extremely popular way of conveying nothing. Perspective students read an assortment of lists, rankings, and commentary on choice schools. After absorbing negative feedback from what is believed to be a credible source, entering students inevitably acquire preconceived notions about the school. Students enter the University with a known stigma of student dissatisfaction, assuming they will be in a minority if they express otherwise. Fueling the perceived unhappiness of Brandeis students is the overwhelming amount of complaining that occurs on the campus. "Kvetching" has become a method of relating to fellow students and unfortunately is a widespread phenomenon. Due to the unusual amount of negative talk at Brandeis, students that did not already have pessimistic feelings towards the school may begin to change their minds and join in with the complaining of others.

Brandeis students need to make the best of things and not rely on rankings, opinions of peers, and general stereotypes to make decisions about their current situation. While it is acceptable and even commendable to express discontent constructively, a line needs to be drawn between acting and complaining for its own sake.

There are plenty of opportunities at Brandeis to make your experience a rewarding one, but you must assume an active role.