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Old 11-10-2005, 10:32 AM   #19
unbelievablem
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Join Date: May 2005
Location: NY
Posts: 822
The shear percentage of Jewish students tells you very little about the Jewish life on campus.
To find out about Jewish life on campus, you have to ask a lot of questions. We found that for many schools, their Hillel often made Jewish life sound much more vibrant than it was - always ask - "and how many students typically attend that activity?" when you are told about some wonderful programming by a school's Hillel.
The percentage of Jewish students who become actively engaged in Jewish life on-campus will vary among schools - and it may surprise you as to how low it can be.
Each student has to decide what about Jewish life on campus is important to him/her - eg, on-campus services, kosher food, holiday activities, Israel programming, a chance to socialize with other Jewish students, social action programming, etc. And then ask a ton of questions to see if any given school meets those needs.

Oh and as for those stats - I am having trouble believing Yeshiva University supposedly has 31% non-Jews!! -- unless they are including grad programs like Einstein Medical School -- in which case it just goes to show you how misleading those stats can be.
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