Colleges for the Jewish "B" student

[rodney]

maryversity: I will add to the above; in large public universities, they often use the transcript GPA for admission; that is, if your child attends a school where they do not weight grades and there is no grade inflation, the large publics mentioned above are a tough admit for the average to above average student with grades in the "B" range, regardless of rigor...with corresponding SAT/ACTs

For private schools, the process is much more holistic....honors and AP's are given weight; rigor of HS is given weight...EC's etc are important, as well as essays and demonstrated interest....you get my point....

This thread welcomes all of the combinations......

We have had people post that this is not really a "B" student thread.....if one reads from the beginning they will see that we have discussed this in detail over the past two years....and the definition has expanded with time.....

hope this helps...

[Pennylane2011]

I am relatively new to this thread, and I would explain it as an evolving thread for parents of students looking for schools with a Jewish population that are a good holistic match for their student. The reasons for this are many: grades/scores, finances, major, location, and more. I think there is a large range of students here- some whose academic records are in the acceptance range for highly competitive schools and some who are looking outside this list. I think one consistency among everyone is that this is a non-judgemental board. Regardless of your student's stats, you can post here and others will sincerely try to help. Our common goal is the belief in the value and potential of all our students beyond the numbers- and to have them in a school where they will thrive.

[socaldad42]

Well said Penny.....

[spectrum2]

RVM: How are you doing. I just saw a clip of Rockville MD on CNN with lots of trees downed.

I hope the rest of you in the mid Atlantic are doing fine and still have power.

[rockvillemom]

Our home is fine and the power is back on - thank you so much for asking - but lots of trees down - many without power, etc. It was startling to see Rockville featured on CNN this morning!

In college news - S2 is eagerly awaiting his Elon housing and roommate assignment and class schedule - which should be arriving soon. Fingers crossed for good results.

[spectrum2]

Glad to hear that you are fine. Our housing news is supposed to be posted after 5:00 on Tuesday. Fingers crossed here as well.

[phillyartmom]

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Moving the thread up!

[LINYMOM]

Funny story of the day: I printed out DS' three ACT scores this morning, I don't know why (well, I know why, I was frustrated with my work and was looking for a distraction). What I hadn't noticed before was that his English score, which was 25 in Dec and up to a 28 in April actually went up to a 30 in June! Quick! Grab the calculator! What's the super-score now?!?! Turns out he's at 32.25, which is a 32 (still). Really happy for that, but for a second I was hoping.....

So I picked up DS from tennis today and I tell him this surprise - that he went up in English again and now he's only a .25 away from a 33! He glanced over at me (he was driving) and said: MOM, I AM NOT TAKING IT AGAIN (capitalized for emphasis, he wasn't yelling). I assured him that I wasn't considering that at all, not even a question. Just took the opportunity to praise him for how great he did (despite his crazy mother - I didn't say that part though).

Oh, and I learned today that Tulane does not super-score the ACT, but they do look at all test scores you submit. (Kind of confusing, but someone over on the Tulane forum got this answer from admissions.). Rodney, do you know anything about this in your professional experience?

[jym626]

LINYMOM,
Happy to help with any Tulane questions I can, since DS just graduated (Chem E). Did you see that the Computer science major is returning as well? YAY! Also, I'd recommend posting questions on Tulane Jeff's Blog Tulane University Admission Blog - Jeff He is the associate director of admissions and a 2005 grad.

[spectrum2]

Yippee, S2 is in the engineering dorm at TAMU. This was his first choice. He's excited about it. RVM is your S's dorm assignment up yet? This information appeared on the website earlier than expected, yay!

[rockvillemom]

Yes - and he is in a new suite style dorm - his first pick. So far, so good.

[aigiqinf]

I just briefly wanted to mention Oxford College of Emory University, if it hadn't been covered earlier.

Oxford is Emory's original campus is one of 9 constituent academic divisions of Emory University, located in a small town 35 miles away from the Atlanta campus (read: few distractions). Students attend for two years before automatically continuing to the Emory College of Arts and Sciences in Atlanta, with selective continuation to the Business and Nursing schools.

The school is very rigorous, but there's a lot of personal attention and the classes are fairly small. There are a lot of opportunities for leadership and personal growth; I've really enjoyed my time here.

The average unweighted GPA for last year's incoming class was a 3.55, noting that unweighted GPAs are recalculated as (A: 90-100, B: 80-90, C: 70-79, D 60-69, F: <60). In 2011, 28% of accepted students had an unweighted GPA of 3.0-3.49. 2012 data has not been released yet.

For more stats: http://www.oxford.emory.edu/admissio...ionProfile.pdf

I'm sure that it goes without saying that Jewish people aren't exactly an underrepresented group at Emory.

[rockvillemom]

College Dropouts | The Jewish Week

USCJ message is clear: we are no longer able to support our college students.

Koach lasted three years longer than its Reform companion Kesher, which the URJ closed down after a similar stretch of inadequate funding and underwhelming impact.

It is as if the Reform and Conservative movements have dropped out of college, telling their friends they need to go take care of their elderly grandparents and can’t afford to keep paying tuition. College just isn’t worth the investment.

The failure of Reform and Conservative Judaism to adequately support their collegiate adherents is a major disappointment for those of us who grew up ready to put our heart and soul into sustaining those movements.

Don't know about the accuracy of this claim - but found it interesting:

Going to college is the single most common factor for American Jews — 85 percent of all college-age Jews in the U.S. are in college. Every year, 100,000 Jews begin their freshman year,

[Pennylane2011]

Seems to me the predominant group on campus is Hillel- and then also the Chabads. I have not seen much of Koach and Kesher. Funds are tight everywhere. Young Judaea just formally separated from Hadassah.
I think, really, it's up to us parents to donate as we can to our kids' campus Hillels and or Chabads.

[spectrum2]

Do any of you know when AP scores are supposed to be in? My S expected that they would be in today's mail but the weren't.