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paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 04:45 PM

I'm crazy about the great kids at SUNY-BUffalo Hillel. Given the way New York runs, you might try any SUNY for data from that hillel site (and verify with local correspondence, a great suggestion). SUNY's are decentralized, with many small ones (Fredonia, Oneonta..) around the state, some mid-sized (New Paltz, Binghamton, Purchase) and the huge ones (Buffalo, Albany).

That makes NY different from most states, where there's one major state campus, such as UMBC (U of Md. Baltimore County) or UMass at Amherst.

We're hearing back reports from our congregants' kids that indicate it's helpful if the student population of Jewish kids exceeds l0%. We had a college evening last Thanksgiving, so interesting, in which 3 kids who had been active at temple youth group compared their freshman experiences; one from Brandeis, one from SUNY-Oneonta or Fredonia (can't quite be sure, but the idea is a smaller SUNY than Binghamton), and one from SUNY-BUffalo.

The college freshman from the smaller SUNY said she wished there were more students to choose from, but she found that she was proud to represent and describe (frequently!) Jewish life to many curious students. She felt a bit of pressure to know things she didn't know, at times. She added, "it's always the same l0 Jewish kids."

The SUNY-Buffalo kid basically said, "Hillel rocks," just so much fun.

The Brandeis kid (that's a private uni, however) said she was having a deep and wonderful experience sampling many different kinds of Jewish living, but she felt unprepared in her knowledge base at times relative to Conservative and ORthodox background kids.

My advice to kids is that if they've been very involved while in h.s., they might find under l0% Jewish not enough people; between l0-20% acceptable, and over 20% plentiful.

I think it's really smart to consider this as a criterion, if it's been important to your D thus far.

10-27-2007, 04:45 PM	#5
paying3tuitions Super Moderator Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: suburb of buffalo Gender: Not Saying Threads: 60 Posts: 2,911	I'm crazy about the great kids at SUNY-BUffalo Hillel. Given the way New York runs, you might try any SUNY for data from that hillel site (and verify with local correspondence, a great suggestion). SUNY's are decentralized, with many small ones (Fredonia, Oneonta..) around the state, some mid-sized (New Paltz, Binghamton, Purchase) and the huge ones (Buffalo, Albany). That makes NY different from most states, where there's one major state campus, such as UMBC (U of Md. Baltimore County) or UMass at Amherst. We're hearing back reports from our congregants' kids that indicate it's helpful if the student population of Jewish kids exceeds l0%. We had a college evening last Thanksgiving, so interesting, in which 3 kids who had been active at temple youth group compared their freshman experiences; one from Brandeis, one from SUNY-Oneonta or Fredonia (can't quite be sure, but the idea is a smaller SUNY than Binghamton), and one from SUNY-BUffalo. The college freshman from the smaller SUNY said she wished there were more students to choose from, but she found that she was proud to represent and describe (frequently!) Jewish life to many curious students. She felt a bit of pressure to know things she didn't know, at times. She added, "it's always the same l0 Jewish kids." The SUNY-Buffalo kid basically said, "Hillel rocks," just so much fun. The Brandeis kid (that's a private uni, however) said she was having a deep and wonderful experience sampling many different kinds of Jewish living, but she felt unprepared in her knowledge base at times relative to Conservative and ORthodox background kids. My advice to kids is that if they've been very involved while in h.s., they might find under l0% Jewish not enough people; between l0-20% acceptable, and over 20% plentiful. I think it's really smart to consider this as a criterion, if it's been important to your D thus far. Last edited by paying3tuitions : 10-27-2007 at 04:53 PM.