Okay, I’m going to share some schools here, some of which aren’t going to fit the criteria, but that I looked into and don’t want others to perhaps waste their time in thinking of the same schools (or if your D decides to compromise on some of the criteria, these might work).
The list was compiled with proximity to outdoor climbing opportunities as the first filter (primarily using this website) and then cross-referencing with the Hillel website. The percentage of students participating in sororities was obtained using this aggregator. I’ve sorted this list by my rough sense of which might be the best fit based on what has been shared so far.
U. of Oregon: About 20k undergrads with about 2k Jewish undergrads/10.3% (per Hillel). 17% participate in sororities and there are outdoor climbing opportunities available.
U. of Arizona: About 39k undergrads with about 3500 Jewish undergrads/9% per Hillel. 8% participate in sororities. Lots of outdoor climbing opportunities.
Stanford: About 8k undergrads with 600 Jewish undergrads/7.7% (per Hillel). 23% participate in sororities. This would only be within reach if Stanford is remaining test optional this year.
UC - Berkeley: About 32k undergrads, 2500 Jewish undergrads/7.7% (per Hillel) and great access to some of the best outdoor climbing in the U.S. But it may be quite challenging to change majors if she’s interested in something popular. 4% participate in sororities.
SUNY New Paltz: About 6100 undergrads with 900 Jewish undergrads/15% (per Hillel). Like Vassar/Marist mentioned upthread, this school is in close proximity to The Gunks. 5% participate in sororities. But the weather is New York weather.
UC - Davis: About 32k undergrads with 2500 Jewish undergrads/8% (per Hillel). Participation in sororities not reported. Near many outdoor climbing opportunities, but it may be difficult to switch majors here if she’s interested in something popular.
West Virginia: About 19k undergrads with about 800 Jewish undergrads/3.8% (per Hillel). Lots of outdoors opportunities and New River Gorge is accessible for climbing. 6% participate in sororities.
Western Washington: About 14k undergrads with 500 Jewish undergrads/3.7% (per HIllel). Lots of outdoor climbing options here.
Ohio U.: About 18k undergrads with about 400 Jewish undergrads/2.2% of undergrads (per Hillel). New River Gorge and Red River Gorge are very doable weekend trips for climbing. 7% participate in sororoties.
U. of Kentucky: About 23k undergrads with about 250 Jewish undergrads/1.1% (per Hillel). Red River Gorge is accessible for outdoor climbing pursuits. 31% participate in sororities.
U. of New Mexico: About 16k undergrads with about 250 Jewish undergrads, 4.1% (per Hillel). Lots of outdoor climbing opportunities.
Cal State - Chico: About 13k undergrads, 315 Jewish students/2.2% (per Hillel). Near a number of outdoor rock climbing opportunities.
U. of Nevada - Reno: About 17k undergrads and in good proximity to great outdoor climbing opportunities. Relatively mild climate, but Hillel indicates there are only about 150 Jewish students or 0.9% of the undergraduate population (Hillel page for UNR). Sorority participation rate not reported.
Cal Poly - Humboldt: About 5500 undergrads, about 150 Jewish undergrads/2.3% (per Hillel). Near a number of outdoor rock climbing opportunities.
UC - Merced: About 8300 undergrads with an unknown Jewish undergrad population (not listed on Hillel’s page). Near many outdoor climbing opportunities and as a side benefit, this is the only UC that participates in WUE.
Santa Clara: About 6100 undergrads with 100 Jewish undergrads/1.8% (per Hillel). Lots of climbing opportunities but no Greek life.
U. of Wyoming: About 8500 undergrads and Hillel reports 0 Jewish undergrads. Great location for outdoor rock climbing.
Given that students are mostly in class fall through spring, I’d look for places where outdoor climbing isn’t primarily a summer activity. High desert is fine when it’s cold (eg Smith Rock, many parts of southern Utah), also SoCal, AZ, NM etc., but rainy coastal Washington less so (unless alpine ice and snow is your thing).
Even in milder places like the Bay Area there is some climbing but the bigger climbing crags are a drive away. So another factor may be choosing a college where taking a car is a viable option. I don’t know if you’d consider that drive to be feasible for east coast schools or even Kentucky/Ohio/West Virginia. D climbs there now, it’s not doable from Louisville, Cincinnati etc without access to a car. And she’d pick Utah over that area in a heartbeat.
Santa Clara does have both men’s and women’s Greek. But they are not housed on campus, and are a smaller percentage of students than at many other schools. BUT if you want to go Greek at SCU, it’s there.
That’s great - but honestly her list really needs to be based on her interests. And budget. Your kids are at two pricey schools - assuming no aid - do you want a third or is there a limit?
Because she won’t retake the 31, which is excellent by the way, but it will limit her at some top schools - (even the TO ones).
The APs won’t overcome that.
But budget, climbing, Jewish life, Greek Life - as talented as she is academically (and she is), she’s a dime a dozen at many schools - including most state flagships.
But they all provide excellent education and many great Honors colleges - but hopefully she can find the fit and there are plenty of schools (noted above) that have all four - and some she’ll have a great chance at admissions and others will be reachy, but hey, if she likes them…you roll the dice and see what happens.
UF very high Jewish population, one of the highest, maybe the actual highest, but not likely to get in with the numbers. Would be a reach, but worth a shot.
I assume when OP says they want outdoor climbing, they mean on actual cliffs. The next filter is how many hours driving to get to a mountain is feasible/desirable. My experience was that up to 2 hours each way is ideal, and allows for day trips, while 4-5 hours is just about doable but only for full weekend trips. I climbed in college which was 3 hours from some famous climbs and it made for a long day.
So suggestions of Florida, Tulane etc seem well wide of the mark, and being within 100-150 miles of good climbing (with access to a car) should be considered.
She is going to love San Diego State!! It’s a very active campus; they have a top basketball/football program and so that keeps people on campus on the weekends.
When I was there, a lot of students joined clubs because they went all over California including Joshua tree, Yosemite (to climb El Capitan), etc. The clubs are very active.
It’s $42,000 a year for non residents.
Her issue will be getting in. The State of California has to prioritize and reserve seats for resident students.
What about UNC Chapel Hill as a reach school? I believe they are still test optional. It certainly checks the boxes in terms of sports and greek life. It looks like they do very well with competitive climbing and send several climbers to the national championship every year. It is a smaller Jewish population (5 percent ), but there is a hillel and a Jewish cultural sorority, Sigma Rho Lambda.
Are you kidding? Wasn’t it one of the epicenters for all of the nonsense that went on a few months ago. I think that is the place where the fraternity kids had to defend the American flag.
No. I’m not kidding. There have been anti Israel protests and encampments at most elite schools this year, including at many schools already recommended on this thread. OP has a kid at UC Berkeley, I doubt Chapel Hill is any worse than that.
So just because “other schools” have had “protests” and “encampments” that makes it okay. By the way, many of these “elite” schools will never fully recover from that nonsense. It should never have happened where Jewish students feared for their safety.
Frankly, I know people have different opinions, but given current political climate I wouldn’t send my Jewish kids to CA for free…
DD’s Jewish friend is hiding her identity in UCSD. She said environment is very antisemitic.
I did not say any of that is ok. Just that you seem to be singling out Chapel Hill over numerous other schools on this thread that have had similar issues. I apologize if my comment came across as dismissive. I am a Jewish parent and that certainly was not my intent. The sad reality is we are dealing with varying degrees of antisemitism on campuses across the country. With any school, I think it’s important to do your own research - which should include speaking to current Jewish leaders on campus and Jewish students to find out what it is really going on.
My D graduated from UNC a few years ago and never experienced antisemitism. She went to Hillel a few times during her 4 years and her non-Jewish friends joined her. There were no issues at all when she was there and we always found the school to be welcoming. She had a few Jewish friends and at least 1 Jewish professor.
She is back in school at another flagship…and similar issues were going on there in recent months that prompted several emails from the president of the school.
While both my daughter and I agree that it was (and is) horrible, she and I were satisfied with how the school dealt with it.
This is happening at many schools across the country, unfortunately.
That was a few years ago when nonsense like what went on would not have been permitted. In my opinion, many of these “elite” schools have gone off the rails. There were anti-Israel protests on UNC’s campus less than a week after October 7.
