Jewish and/or Arabic or Hebrew-focused summer programs

noorochka · March 2015

Hey there--

I am a Russian Jewish girl, who was accepted at Tikvah at Yale and waitlisted at the Bronfman Fellowship in Israel (which was heartbreaking) and accepted at Brandeis Genesis (and will now apply for the Global Teen Fellowship as part of that). Honestly, Genesis is not a first choice for me. Are there any other great Jewish summer programs out there? (Excluding Nesiya and Szarvas, neither of which interest me. I'm looking for an intense academic experience, which neither of those really seem to offer.)

Alternatively, as someone who loves languages and the somewhat taboo for the average Jewish girl (i.e. learning Arabic and going to Jordan), are there any other programs I can still apply to?

On another note, how can I get over the Bronfman rejection? I was pretty crushed.

Thanks for all the help in advance.

Leora

Snowee · March 2015

This doesn't necessarily have an "intense academic experience," however it is a great experience for introducing yourself to Arabic and Jordanian culture: http://www.nsliforyouth.org/

It's a foreign exchange student program funded by the U.S. Dept. of State, meaning that for either a summer or a year you would live in the country with a host family in order to learn the language.

noorochka · March 2015

That sounds like a great idea, but applications are only open for the summer before I go to college, no?

ClassicRockerDad · March 2015

What about going to the Middlebury Monterry Language Academy to study Arabic.

uesmomof2 · March 2015

It is only 10 days long but it is free and the professors and visiting writers are great: he Great Jewish Book program at the National Yiddish Book Center.

noorochka · March 2015

I did that program last year

Foodlover001 · March 2015

I'm not sure if this is similar to the Bronfman Fellowship, but it has what you're looking for.

wait, you have to be 18 for this. It's still worth looking at.

http://www.birthrightisrael.com/letsgo/Documents/globalmainreg.html

momof2eagles · May 2015

not for this summer but next summer see below. i think you would be a shoe-in because of your interest in languages. by the way my son applied to bronfman and tikvah and got rejected at bronfman and wt. listed at tikvah (they told him since he was wt listed at tikvah he probably would get in next summer). very disappointed but he did get into interesting free competitive programs including a 10 day Math camp at Williams(top LAC in country) and also free program at NOtre dame.where they fly him in(they were looking for diversity and i guess being jewish is diverse at ND). Wish he got into Jewish programs though. He is also going to a program called Boys State a free program sponsored by the american legion. I believe Girls state is sponsored by am. auxillary

http://www.nsliforyouth.org/eligibility/

momof2eagles · May 2015

Bronfman's loss for not taking you. I do think it was telling that Bronfman didnt require 11th grade grades or standardized testing unlike other free comp. programs including tikvah. If you look at their past cohorts they seem to always have a bunch of teens from NY where bronfman is located so i am guessing there might be connections with some kids picked and bronfman. they also seemed to want a diverse cohort including geographic, religious, having a parent born in a different country, etc. so if you look at their past cohorts besides kids from NY they seem to pick kids from different states(and different countries-one teen was living in Japan) as well as trying to get equal mix of reform,conservative,and orthodox. I am sure all their cohorts are amazing kids but that doesnt mean equally amazing kids didnt get into their program because they somehow were not diverse enough, or had to many kids in the same state, etc.

as far as "getting over rejection" i think its hard but its good to see before the college application process. Outstanding kids will get some rejections that make no sense and than you will see many kids get into elite colleges because of diversity, legacy, recruitable athletes, etc with far less stats than other kids. Fair-No but its just life.

momof2eagles · May 2015

another program sounds cool at univ. of pa. free but housing is not. i think they do this program startalk at multiple universities though so chk it out. i do think you would be a shoe-in for the NSLI program because of your language see the link i posted earlier. you can do this the summer before you go to college

https://www.southasiacenter.upenn.edu/startalk/startalk-2015-program

momof2eagles · May 2015

okay last post. see link above. apparently there is a limited amt of free housing scholarships. looks amazing and at Univ. of Pa

momof2eagles · May 2015

tikvah sounds amazing. will def. message you in a yr from now to see if my son who was wt listed should reapply. graduating seniors def. had an advantage so the fact you got this junior yr means you are amazing.

madamecrabster · May 2015

My son was also a finalist a few years back. He ended up going on a different program to Israel for the summer instead. He did have a great time, even if it did not have that academic focus. He made friends that seem to be the lasting kind. This past January they went on a birthright trip together.

http://www.summer-classics.com This link has a few different summer language programs you might be interested in. You better hurry as summer is fast approaching.

uesmomof2 · May 2015

I don't know about this year's fellows but several of last year's fellows were very connected to major figures in the Jewish community -- one was the son of a well known columnist of one of the major Jewish newspapers in the U.S., another was the daughter or son of a well known NYC rabbi. They may have been very qualified in their own right but it seemed a little like they might have had "hooks" as they say in the world of Ivy League admissions.

momof2eagles · May 2015

Yes Bronfman admission is much like College admission things like diversity, connections, etc play a part. Like I said before I am sure Bronfman cohorts are all amazing but I am sure there are many amazing Bronfman "rejects" who are just as amazing. I am glad for my son he had the experience of rejections prior to college application year I am a fan of recommending putting a "big fishnet out there" to "catch some fish" maybe not all but some. So recommended to him to apply to many precollege free competitive programs and not count on Bronfman. Lucky for me he did and now into two amazing free comp programs including notre dame leadership(yes they wanted jewish kids) and also Williams math camp one of the best liberal arts college in the country.

noorochka · May 2015

Thank you for the lovely response. It was so painful, but I've recovered

noorochka · May 2015

Agreed.

noorochka · May 2015

Please do message me, I'll be glad to tell you all about it! And thank you

momof2eagles · June 2015

Just in case anyone else on CC looking up bronfman sees this and might be disappointed about not getting selected or wants to understand selection process. cut and paste from a bronfman fellow on another CC forum

-I'm a Bronfman Fellow
-I'm an underrepresented minority (my mother is Argentine Jewish and thus "Hispanic", my father is African-American)

i won't post about bronfman again but selection has a lot to do with diversity. amazing candidates get turned down because of lack of diversity. i am sure their diverse fellows are amazing as well.

4bmama · March 2017

Remember anything about the interview for the fellowship? What kind of questions do they ask?

Jewish and/or Arabic or Hebrew-focused summer programs

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