Colleges for the Jewish "B" student - Page 1010

chocchipcookie · 11-16-2012, 03:23 PM

Hey everyone:

I haven't posted for awhile. (Been hanging out in the cafe!

) My college soph is scheduled to go on BR at the beginning of Jan. I'm quite concerned. Yikes, I feel so bad for these Israeli's in harm's way. I cannot believe the newspaper articles that say that this began with Israel's asassination of a Hamas leader............hello?? It began because some bozos in Gaza started firing rockets into Israel! Please! WHY are the g-damned newspapers so biased?

Thanks for asking RVM. Yes, very concerned.

On another note, congrats to Vitrac and Liny on their children getting into Tulane! And all the other parent's to their children on their repective schools as well. Waiting for the big news from Liny re: UMiami/Florida!!! Hurry up already!

boysx3 · 11-16-2012, 03:35 PM

Pushydad, if your daughter goes to AU--and I hope she does, my son loves it there--she will need to develop time management skills and good study skills, pronto. There is a lot of support in those areas if she needs the help, but she needs to be the one to take advantage of what is available.

The opportunities available are amazing, but it can be competitive to get your choice of opportunities, so it is important to do well. Many of the students on campus are ambitious and driven....not in a cut-throat, beat the other guy kind of way, but in the manner of each person really pushing himself and doing what needs to be done to be in the position of being chosen for some of the opportunities. it's D.C., and it's in the air there.

The good thing is that the achievement ethos is contagious....it's unlikely your daughter will persist in "slacker" ways (for want of a better term--I don't mean it as a pejorative) when everyone around her is doing what they need to get done.

The hardest thing will be for her to learn that everyone on campus is on their own schedule/timetable. Unlike high school, not everyone has their Bio test on Tuesday with the English paper due Friday. So she will need to learn to work when she needs to work, without paying attention to others who don't have pressing assignments at the same time.

This was the hardest thing for my sons to learn. The kids hanging out in the floor lounge watching TV and then going out for pizza tonight might be relaxing because the previous week was brutal, while last week your daughter might not have had much due, but this week and next are pressure-filled. They had to learn to keep up with their own workload, and to work ahead when possible, so that if a fun opportunity came up, they could choose to have fun. And they had to learn that it was a choice, and that they could/had to say no to fun sometimes.

Vitrac · 11-16-2012, 03:36 PM

Thanks Choc! Welcome back! Good luck with BR. You will just have to wait and see.
We are awaiting Miami also. But nice to have 2 in the back pocket!

boysx3 · 11-16-2012, 03:37 PM

By the way, good luck to your D on her ED application. Please let me know if she would ever like a personal campus tour or to sit in on some classes....my son would be glad to host her.

boysx3 · 11-16-2012, 03:41 PM

CCC,
I am so in agreement with you!

I'm not sure how the media seems to think that the non-stop rockets from Gaza are just something to be put up with, and are indiscriminately targeted at whomever they might hit, while it is considered such a horror that the Israelis carefully target terrorists and locations of terror attacks. Can you even begin to imagine the flak the Israelis would get if they just let some of their own rockets just happen to randomly hit a Gaza apartment building?

And now Hamas is targeting Jerusalem?

momjr · 11-16-2012, 05:33 PM

I was also shocked last night at the Nightly News' biased reporting on the Israel-Gaza situation. The situation is very scary. I agree that it's too early to decide about December/January birthright trips. Let's hope for a quick, peaceful resolution.

jozuko · 11-16-2012, 06:11 PM

hi chocchip...my son is also scheduled to go on BR in January (11/7-11/17). I am very worried as well, especially since I am the one who pushed him to apply now (he is 21, graduating a semester early in December and starting his job on January 21st, so this is the perfect time to go). I think that I am going to handle this with some healthy denial. I am not going to think about it until January 1, at which time we will have to make a decision. I have also been told that they will not run the trip if they think it is not safe, but I don't know who decides that. I do know that they adjust the itinerary based on what is going on at the moment, but I don't know if that makes me feel any better. So, for now, join me in my state of denial...it's lovely here!

jozuko · 11-16-2012, 06:12 PM

correction: 1/7-1/17

LINYMOM · 11-16-2012, 06:25 PM

choc: Thanks for thinking of us. Yes we are anxiously waiting for the Miami decision. We just learned of another award at school for DS; you can be sure I will be sharing the official letter with several admissions folks when we get it! Miami will be first!

I'm spending the weekend in Charleston with DH, just a weekend away, sightseeing (he is working on his laptop now so I am free to be on CC!). I hope to be able to check out the C of C campus since I've heard so much about it. DH is fine with that, as long as no info session or tour is involved! LOL! I learned today about the history of religious tolerance here. Hope to be able to visit one of the oldest Reform synagogues in the country here tomorrow or Sunday.

Joining all of you in the concern for Israel. I hope the situation gets resolved quickly for the sake of the Israelis and the world. Also thinking of all of you and your D/S who have a BR trip coming up.

college4three · 11-16-2012, 10:31 PM

My D is scheduled for December BR. I'm worried but hoping (for every reason) for the best. We haven't heard anything from her trip advisor.

I had to stop watching the news coverage of the current situation. There is so much revisionist history being flaunted as fact. These aren't kids throwing stones. They are terrorists lobbing missiles at population centers. Israel is supposed to just stand down?

college4three · 11-16-2012, 10:34 PM

Also, great news about Tulane. Fingers crossed for Miami.

1012mom · 11-17-2012, 06:00 AM

Hello lurker here. My DD (nice Jewish girl) is a first-year who has many dear friends at school who are heavily activist with SJP or pro-Israel groups, and some whose families are living in at-risk areas on both sides of the current conflict. She is trying to be supportive on all sides from the common point of view that nothing will ultimately get solved with bombs, but struggling with her own view on the politics in the situation. Wondering if anyone else's kids have both Palestinian and Israeli friends and are also struggling.

Pennylane2011 · 11-17-2012, 08:42 AM

1012Mom. Some people assume that we would be insensitive to the suffering on the Palestinian side. This is not true, but a heavily biased media creates this impression. There is no way to simply describe the many cultural issues involved in the current conflict. It is much more complicated than a college student is aware of, and I am also aware of the biased information they encounter at school.We also have to consider that the college student's ability to grasp a whole world picture is limited by their age. They are young, intelligent, and idealistic, and have a lot to learn (don't we all). Your D may feel very conflicted by the views she encounters at school.
People are people, we are all one human race, and we hurt in the same way. Your daughter does not have to feel conflicted if she feels genuine sympathy for any one in pain. She can care deeply about both her Israeli and Palestinian friends. Perhaps they can be emotionally supportive of each other at this level, keep their personal views, and not participate in conflicted political debates with each other at the moment. These won't be solved, but compassion does not need a solution.

LuvMomN8ur · 11-17-2012, 09:02 AM

Pennylane - well said and agreed.

Linymom - please report back about CofC.

spectrum2 · 11-17-2012, 02:57 PM

"If Palestine were to lay down their guns, there would be no war. If Israel were to lay down their guns, there would be no Israel." B. Netanyahu

My S2 posted this simple phrase on his FB yesterday after he picked it up from social media. What resulted was to me and to him amazing. A discussion where kids from his HS, from Israel and other parts of the world and his campus are participating and all of it, so far, very respectful. (The international flavor thanks to years of URJ camping). Some commentary is in support, some against and some pursuading others with negative opinions. I also saw some real appreciation from Israeli kids. I am mentioning this because I thought that it might be a message some of your kids might want to include in their media. These are really difficult times.

BTW my S also heard from American friends over there from here, so far so good for them.