CollegeSearching

Looking for an unusual combination in a school:

- smaller, Liberal Arts school

- politically, socially liberal

- active Jewish life on campus/in community

- services held regularly, kosher food available (at least sometimes - willing to be a vegetarian if kosher food not available.)

Seems like a tough combination to find. Any suggestions??

college2332

i'd look at brandeis. and maybe emory and washu.

sulsk

you basically just described Brandeis in a nutshell.

Cami215

You are in the same position as my son. How small is small, and roughly what are your stats?

In addition to the ones listed above, definitely have a look at Tufts (unless it is too big).

marny1

Hi- you may want to check out the Hillel website- hillel.org as they have a Guide for college students linking you to the hillel websites on the different campuses. You may want to also ask this question on the parents board, as this was a concern to some of the parents (including me). You may also want to seek out Cami on the parents board (I think it is her) as she too was also looking at schools that had the things you were looking for. I would think the colleges mentioned by college2332 meet your requirements. Good luck.

I see Cami already found you. You were quicker to respond to him than I was Cami-

Drew00

Yeshiva? (10 characters)

dukeclassof09

Duke has an active Jewish population. There are kosher dinners on weeknights and also special free Shabbat dinners and services every Friday night. During Jewish holdiays, there are always frequent services and traditional meals. There are also special committees that you can serve on, if you want to be very involved in Jewish life.

unbelievablem

the hillel website can be a good starting point -- but you have to be very careful to followup and look at the info on the campus' individual website and then most important, contact the campus hillel and ask the questions that matter to you.

for example, we found one school that was listed at the hillel site as offering kosher food through a "kosher kitchen." when we got to the campus, we learned there was no kosher food available - but there was a "kosher kitchen" in the hillel house and students could cook their own meals. this same school was listed as having services, but when we got there we learned they had been discontinued due to lack of interest. (this particular school's listing ahs since been updated, but this is just an example of why you need to be careful about relying on the hillel site's info)

be sure to ask not only whether there is kosher dining facility and services, but how many students participate in each. in wanting a smaller school, you are presenting yourself with more of a challenge - you can't just look at the number or percentage of Jewish students - the issue is whether that translates into the type of Jewish community you are looking for.

brandeis has already been mentioned - you should definitely look into that. other smallish schools i would suggest you look at - Clark U in Worcester, MA - no kosher meal plan (though kosher food available during passover), but Friday night services and fairly active Hillel. Goucher College in Towson, Maryland - has a kosher dining facility - not sure about the politics there. U of Rochester may also be worth looking at, again not sure of the politics there

midatlmom

I would also look at Oberlin, Wesleyan, Skidmore, Barnard (if you're female), Yale and Princeton.

Cami215

We spent a lot of time digging into this. In addition to the schools listed, take a look at Union College, Wesleyan U., American U, and possibly Vassar. (You might want to do more research on the latter.)

Muhlenburg C. has a lot of Jewish students and kosher food. They even close for yom kippur and have a special institute for holocaust studies. However, there are no services on campus. Kids walk to nearby synagogues

Brown is excellent in terms of its Hillel, but tough to get into.