<p>South Carolina - has never been on either son’s list for reasons described above - my impression is that it is very “red-neck” southern and not a place where a Jewish student would feel comfortable. And I apologize in advance if that comment offends anyone - but that is my understanding of the “vibe” of this school.</p>
<p>momjr - I would LOVE to hear more about Salisbury - I would really like to have this school as an in-state safety for S2 - but I have to know that Jewish kids are at least comfortable on campus and that it is not like what we have just been discussing with South Carolina.</p>
<p>We will be visiting American this fall and I will make a point to ask about forced triples - I am not impressed by that - it tells me the school has issues with enrollment mgmt - and why should my kid suffer as a result.</p>
<p>This year Parents Weekend is scheduled over the Yom Kippur holiday (something which we have been assured will not be repeated). In light of this and in order to facilitate the participation Jewish students and their families in this year’s Parents Weekend, the Jewish Studies Program has worked with the USC Division of Student Affairs and with the Jewish community of Columbia to provide accommodations for High Holiday worship here in Columbia.</p>
<pre><code>* The President’s Welcome (drop-in) Reception has been moved to earlier in the afternoon (4:30-6:00), so as to allow students and their families to attend, and still have time to prepare for Kol Nidrei Services at 6:30.
Parents Weekend participants who wish to attend local synagogues for Yom Kippur services will have tickets secured for them by USC Office of Parents Programs, and will be afforded transportation to the services should they desire it (see below).
The Jewish Studies Program, in cooperation with USC Hillel and the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, will host an open house lecture and reception early Friday afternoon (see below)."
</code></pre>
<p>I also found some articles describing issues with the Board of the university - apparently there are no black members of the Board - despite South Carolina having about a 28% black population.</p>
<p>South Carolina: you are right that this speaks for itself. I feel sorry for those who will scarf down a pre-fasting dinner between a reception, which may be a Southern punch and cookies affair ending at 6 PM, and Kol Nidre at 6:30, and then will miss the Parents’ Weekend events in order to observe Yom Kippur!
I have shared this website for an interfaith calendar with the administration of our diverse, urban school district:
[Calendar</a> Holy Days World Religions](<a href=“http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/]Calendar”>http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/)
It lists holidays for major religions, along with work/no work days. It indicates holidays that begin at sundown (all Jewish holidays, of course, and some others.)
Feel free to share it with your school districts! It has made a huge difference in scheduling for our district.
This should be consulted by colleges before they plan events. If events must conflict, they should arrange for accomodations for observant families ahead of time.
But I think that this should be a reminder to all of us to pay careful attention to culture as our kids choose colleges. In my opinion, culture trumps weather!</p>
<p>While I can in no way defend USC’s decision to hold its Parents Weekend that weekend, I can tell you that we know many, many Jewish students from our community who attend/attended USC and are very happy. Many are 2nd and even 3rd generation USC. I would not describe USC as “red-neck” at all, though. It is preppy, it’s frat-and-football oriented. It’s conservative. It is “southern” meaning friendly, easy going and polite (as in yes m’am, no sir).</p>
<p>It has wonderful, well funded international business school. Two of my s’s friends have been in China for a year, as undergrads. </p>
<p>The fact that someone’s daughter went to USC and converted to Christanity is balanced by the story of a couple who were recently married at our Temple. Both USC grads, the bride converted to Judaism, so the door swings both way. </p>
<p>Living as a Jew in the South has its challenges. USC probably wouldn’t be a first choice if being around a lot of Jewish students is a priority. Actually, only Emory has a significant Jewish population, as far as I know. My guess is that being from “the north” would present some challenges unrelated to religion, though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. about U. So. Carolina. It is not for my son. </p>
<p>Anyone out there with more info. about the Business schools and Jewish life at Towson and Salisbury? I think they are the best options in Maryland for the B plus student.</p>
<p>Rockville Mom is being smart to encourage her son to start early on preparing for the SAT and ACT. Hopefully, with top scores, her son will get excellent merit aid. From the tone of this thread, it sounds like the B plus student needs top test scores to get merit aid.</p>
<p>Regarding confronting racial discrimination: I hope that Jewish students are standing up against it when they see it, no matter who it is directed against!</p>
<p>stillnadine - thanks for educating us on USC - I certainly defer to you in this regard. I am not giving up on the state of South Carolina - still planning to visit Charleston this spring and tour College of Charleston.</p>
<p>mdcissp - I’m not holding my breath for 'top scores". His enthusiasm for studying/practicing for the ACT has really dwindled. I’m pushing for one more week - and then we will agree to be done - and whatever happens on the 11th - we’ll take it from there.</p>
<p>The college where I work once scheduled the “diversity lecture” with a famous outside speaker for Yom Kippur. I don’t believe they were antisemitic, just clueless… After sending them an email noting the conflict and expressing my hopes that their sensitivity would improve in future, I was pleased to discover that the lecture was rescheduled, and I will say that they have improved since. So maybe USC will learn from this mistake, also. (I have no connection with USC.)</p>
<p>Rockville Mom: Your son’s scores will go up by virtue of another year of high school. It sounds like your son is off to a great start and will do very well on the SAT and ACT. </p>
<p>I wish I had another school for my son to apply to that interested him. I just can’t justify the $50,000 a year price tag for the private universities.</p>
<p>My son said he does not want to attend the local community college. He just wants to apply to UT Dallas, Salisbury and Towson. I hope we are not making a mistake not applying to other schools (ex. Pittsburgh, Binghamton, UMBC), but he is just not interested.</p>
<p>mdcissp: I know that you are preferring schools closer to home but while S is filling out the Apply Texas ap. he might want to also want to apply to Texas Tech. and you could visit if it comes down to a decision. I really haven’t researched it but they do have a b-school and a Hillel and the kids I know who go there really like it. </p>
<p>Levirm: I’m sorry, there are some schools that I read that give merit scholarships largely based on test scores but I could only guess at which schools they are and I don’t want to post inaccurate info about specific schools. I’ll post the info whenever I uncover it again. Its a really busy week for me, I’m moving and S1 is getting reading to leave for college so I’m not sure when I’ll start reading again but when I find the info I’ll let you know.</p>
<p>MDCISSP: Your son’s list seems a bit small, but I know that you have searched for other options. You should be okay as long as his stats are okay for Towson. I recommend that he apply as early to Towson as early as possible. They estimate that it takes about six weeks for a decision. That will allow time for additional applications later this fall fall if he things don’t work out.</p>
<p>My son stayed with guys at American who chose to remain in their forced triple (and then had two accepted students sleep on the floor!). They liked the money savings and didn’t feel they needed more space than they had. In fact my son and the other prospie both thought they’d even request a triple!</p>
<p>Agree with Momjr that my son’s list of 3 schools is very small. We just can’t find another school because I don’t want to pay for expensive private schools, and he wants both actuary science and accounting to be among the majors possible.</p>
<p>Texas Tech–don’t know how to get to Lubbock, TX, especially since we are not buying S2 a car. Thanks for the suggestion as it looks like a fine school.</p>
<p>I wish I could find another school similar to Towson as a back up safety choice. We eliminated Hofstra.</p>
<p>This thread did a great job eliminating schools and saving me a lot of time and money visiting schools which won’t work.</p>
<p>Not sure if we are making a mistake to eliminate these schools. I think Rockville Mom visited U. Delaware twice and was not enthusiastic about it. I trust her opinion. Should we re-consider Delaware?</p>
<p>Binghamton meets my son’s criteria. He seems to want the campus to be walking distance of a reasonably nice area with some interesting shops or restaurants, i.e. sounds like Binghamton is in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>I honestly think the biggest factor leaning away from these schools is that my son is concerned about being in an area where there is a greater probability of jobs-DC or Dallas suits him. He does not like NY.</p>
<p>If anyone thinks we are making a mistake to eliminate these schools, please let me know.
I think Towson is our best choice if he is accepted–has the majors he wants, there is a Hillel, proximity to Amtrak to come home. Salisbury is a reasonable safety. My son likes UT Dallas, but it is a bit of a reach and not sure about him going so far from home.</p>
<p>My D doesn’t start at UDel till the end of this month, and I can tell you more then. However, I do know that the school is very close to Philly - commuter rail is very close to campus - I think it’s a 30-45 min train ride (less than $10) – as opposed to Binghamton, which is in the middle of nowhere (which we also visited). We will be spending a day in Philly with S after we drop D off so I can tell you exactly how easy it is to get there by car. We are impressed so far with UD Hillel and the Amtrak station is very close to the main part of campus (close to the stadium). Definitely a better school academically than Towson (which D also liked - it was a safety for her).</p>