Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1)

Parents Forum
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<p>There are many insightful posters on this thread, but when I read Emmybet’s I think I am about the level of my son’s texts from college, with “aight” (which I assume to be “all right”–gotta save those 3 button pushes!) being the height of eloquence.</p>

<p>I think what she says, along with the excellent essay I think RM posted by the girl at Grinnell about how that school has been such a good fit for her despite its miniscule Jewish population, without reducing her Jewish identity, are important to remember. </p>

<p>Kids have very good radar for where they think they will make friends–Vitrac’s daughter judging by clothes may be far more accurate a barometer for her than Jewish percentage. Of course, if they did not ever make snap, irreversible judgments of schools we have researched for hours and spent more hours driving or flying to, we would all be happier…</p>

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<p>@emmybet: what a great post. My S just recently ruled out a college that on paper is a good fit, but he would be “the Jewish kid,” and that’s one hurdle we hope to eliminate with his choices. we live in a community where the jews are small in number, but “mighty” as they would say at hillel. nonetheless, it has always been difficult to explain certain things about our lifestyle (i.e. food) and I hope that wherever he lands, he will not have to elaborate on the nuances of kashrut.
on another note, we have submitted essays to teachers, gotten feedback and made revisions, have everything in place to push “submit,” and I am TERRIFIED. I’ve always been a worrier, but this is at whole different level. Trying not communicate this to S, who is chill as a cucumber, while still making sure that we’ve crossed every t and dotted every i.</p>

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<p>Vitrac: C of Charleston sounds lovely. Can you please tell me if the presentation discussed merit aid? Is it possible to get merit aid? Also, how do you get to C of Charleston if you are not driving? Is it near the airport? Amtrak? also, I am curious-which schools is your D interested in? Thanks so much.</p>

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<p>EmmyBet, thank you for the wonderful post. I think, though, that your daughter’s identity is enhanced by being in a supportive Jewish environment. The community makes a tremendous difference, which is why we are on this thread!
I’ve been thinking about the conversation about “wonks” and whether kids read the newspaper. I think that one of the most important things that we can do as parents to prepare our kids for college and life beyond, is to stimulate their intellectual curiosity. And this includes keeping abreast of current affairs! I truly believe that this is extremely important, and that there is a “hook” into discussing current affairs with every kid. And, I think that discussing these on a daily basis is even more important than ACT or SAT prep in getting our students ready to be surrounded by smart, intellectual and stimulating students and faculty. The “hook” may be the subject area that interests our students (business, for some on this thread, or science, or the arts, or anything), or it may be the meaning or larger policy issues behind the community service that they are doing, or it may be Israel, or medical marijuana, or teen behavior, or education, but there IS a way to reach our students, and even get them to read articles about issues. Our students ARE and WILL be affected by policy and legislative decisions and we must get this across to them.
As Jews, we cannot succomb to the anti-intellectualism that is sweeping our country right now. We need to produce a generation of thoughtful people who can truly contribute to our democracy.</p>

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<p>Levirm-Bravo!</p>

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<p>Mdcissp- We flew from NY and took a cab from the airport. It was about 25 minutes, I think. I don’t know about Amtrak. I’m sorry, I just don’t remember the presentation. My d did not get merit aid. At the time (a year ago) I was speaking to Sarah Roshfeld who was absolutely wonderful. So helpful and accommodating. Her e mail address is <a href=“mailto:RoshfeldS@cofc.edu”>RoshfeldS@cofc.edu</a> My d was also considering Pitt, Tulane, Northeastern, Univ of Florida, Univ of Washington and others. She ended up at Tulane with money and is very happy. It ended up being the perfect fit, if there is such a thing.</p>

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<p>I agree that being at a school with enough of an active Jewish population (trying to be very broad here) was helpful in giving my D options and a peer group when she wanted it. But I do believe that she would have followed her faith “journey” no matter where she was. Perhaps this Jewish learning class might have happened in her first year out of school, something she “finally” could do when she had time, if it hadn’t come up now. I would suggest that just as we shouldn’t fear that a less Jewish atmosphere will diminish their identity, it is also not a given that having Jews around will bolster it: those are two sides of the same coin. Peer influence happens, but if we denigrate its negatives, that calls the positives into question as well. I feel these kids will pull from what is inside of them, wherever they are.</p>

<p>With my D2, she is pretty much guaranteed a decent amount of Jewish peers and opportunities wherever she goes on her list - some smaller, some larger, but all a huge step up from our rural midwest HS. She identifies as Jewish, in many ways more openly than D1, but less in faith practice than in ethnicity. </p>

<p>One day when we were walking down the street in Manhattan, I asked her, “Do you feel here that you finally are in a place where Jewish people are all around you?” and she turned to me and said, “Why? What are you talking about?” She doesn’t notice or care about these things; she knows who she is and doesn’t worry about it. Occasionally she meets another Jewish kid around here and gets a kick out of it, but otherwise she just carries it with her like her hair color or being a vegetarian. It’s a given, and doesn’t depend on anyone or anything around her. She finds what she needs. </p>

<p>I will be interested what it will be like for her in college, and how she’ll react.</p>

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<p>Emmy- lovely story about your D’s journey. She sounds like a great kid!</p>

<p>Levirm- I agree!</p>

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<p>speaking of “wonks”, did anyone see the 2 big articles in Sunday’s newspaper by the associated press? All about marketing/branding by colleges and how American U cultivated this “wonk” personna…article also talked about some colleges where the branding works and some where it doesn’t…I’m not computer savy enough to list a link, but Maybe you can find it on line…</p>

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<p>Emmybet, I loved your posts…I hope one day one of my sons meets girls like your daughters! And levirm, I really appreciated your post as well.</p>

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<p>chocchip - here’s the part about AU</p>

<p>When American University in Washington approved a strategic plan in 2008, branding was part of it. Not well known outside the Beltway or some academic circles, the school was hoping to boost recruiting, get alumni more involved and build a stronger research reputation, among other things, said Teresa Flannery, executive director of university communications and marketing.</p>

<p>The team at American came up with the catch phrase “American Wonk” to communicate what it identified as its distinguishing traits, including politically and socially wired students and location in the nation’s capital.</p>

<p>Being a wonk — “know spelled backward” — no longer means just being an insider working behind closed doors, but has broadened to mean someone who is smart, focused, and passionate, said Flannery, citing the school’s research of the term.</p>

<p>Students arriving back on campus this fall snatched up free T-shirts with 18 versions of the wonk motif, including Green Wonk and Global Wonk. Others used felt pens to write in their own wonky labels on the shirts — like their residence hall floors.</p>

<p>But not everyone was charmed. Complaints under an online article last month in the campus paper said “wonk” called to mind a goose being hit over the head with a shovel or a sexual act.</p>

<p>Flannery said the university expected a range of reactions. She said most have been positive, and American has worked to explain the campaign before taking it off campus, including involving students and holding campus luncheons.</p>

<p>The recession has taken a bite out of many schools’ marketing budgets, officials say. But many are pressing forward all the same, believing it’s a worth the investment as the number of traditional-age students entering college is forecast to decline sharply in the next 10 years and eroding state support and endowments elevate the importance of private giving.</p>

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<p>I agree with Levirm about the importance of helping kids be interested in current events, but I think Emmybet needs no advice on helping her children maintain their Jewish identity–they both seem like mensches to me!</p>

<p>Re the “wonk” branding campaign, imagine how much lower tuition would be if colleges did not spend so much money on branding campaigns, big time sports and trying to raise their USNWR rankings!</p>

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<p>wondered if you know anything about SUNY Potsdam It has more academics in m D’s areas of interest, but I can’t find out much about the Jewish population. I use the Hillel site often but it is, as someone mentioned, often out of date. Also, for those of you familiar with Towson–I had my eye on it and then saw that a very low % live on campus. I think it will be important for D not to be at commuter/suitcase school. Appreciate any info re this.</p>

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<p>My D has a good friend (Jewish) at Potsdam. His parents have told me there is not much of a Jewish population there (he went because of the excellent music program).</p>

<p>When we visited Towson, there was no official tour or info session that day (a friend’s daughter who is a student there showed us around). Although the campus was nice - as was the surrounding area - it struck me that so many students had cars and parking was a big deal. I’m not big on college kids having cars on campus, so that was a negative for me (not for D - she applied).</p>

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<p>confuzdmom - re potsdam – the 2009 freshman survey showed 2.7% identifying themselves as Jewish. <a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/offices/ie/surveys/upload/CIRP-2009-Freshmen-Survey.pdf[/url]”>http://www.potsdam.edu/offices/ie/surveys/upload/CIRP-2009-Freshmen-Survey.pdf&lt;/a&gt; see page 15. historical data shows pretty much the same trend of very low percentages of freshman identifying as Jewish – <a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/offices/ie/surveys/upload/CIRP-trends.pdf[/url]”>http://www.potsdam.edu/offices/ie/surveys/upload/CIRP-trends.pdf&lt;/a&gt; (see page 27 for 1989 - 2006 data). </p>

<p>i could find nothing at the potsdam website about any Jewish student group – the list of clubs includes a Newman club and a Pagan club, but i couldn’t see a Jewish club. [Clubs</a> & Organizations - SUNY Potsdam](<a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/clubs/index.cfm]Clubs”>http://www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/clubs/index.cfm)</p>

<p>Here is info about campus ministry – [Campus</a> Ministry - Student Life - SUNY Potsdam](<a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/ministry.cfm]Campus”>http://www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/ministry.cfm) – maybe you can contact them for info about Jewish life on campus.</p>

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<p>According to their website, about 4500 students live on campus - out of about 16,000 undergrads - so yes - relatively low %. But, when we visited this summer - we saw quite a lot of new housing being built - so it will be interesting to see the number living on campus next year. I believe it is becoming more residential and less commuter each year - but like most universities - there will always be a sizable population that prefer to live off campus. When I consider that S2 is looking at a few schools with total populations of 2400 or so - the 4500 on-campus at Towson actually seems to be quite a nice size. Frankly, with Towson, my biggest concern is the academic quality. We actually thought the campus itself was pretty nice.</p>

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<p>RM, does Towson have an honors program? Lately I have heard a lot about the school, all of it good. Sometimes schools really improve over what they used to be, and it just takes a while for the public perception to catch up.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the compliments, but please know my kids are nowhere near “super-Jews.” I think D2 wasn’t even aware it was Yom Kippur on Saturday … and I was out of town … we’re really very secular most of the time.</p>

<p>We’ve visited several schools that clearly have a lot of commuter students. I agree it goes against many people’s image of what college “should” be like. And my D would rather not go to a school that shuts down on weekends or feels like a day program. </p>

<p>But on the other hand several schools she really likes happen to have a lot of commuters, so she’s having to think about how she’d deal with that. We asked a lot of students there how it felt to them. I think the most important thing is that there be a “critical mass” of kids who DO live on campus and are invested in residential life. Obviously if the total population is big enough, as with Towson, the actual number living on campus is twice the size of lots of entire colleges, so it’s easy to believe that it feels like people are there even when the commuters go home.</p>

<p>Plus most people find their own group of people to be with at college, and at least for my D, the people in her dept tend to be busy at school 7 days a week, whether they sleep there or not - and most of them do, because like her they come from out of town specifically for that program. So at this point she’s confident she can feel good about any of the schools, even the ones with full parking lots.</p>

<p>We’ll see how this factor plays in when she’s looking at acceptances. She may have 1) a college that might be smaller and more remote than she prefers; 2) a great program at a school full of commuters; and 3) a state flagship that’s way bigger than she’d like. That’ll be an interesting decision. A few schools on her list have the right size, right program, right style, right location - but they tend to be the more selective, unfortunately, and she may end up having to pick the disadvantage that bothers her the least.</p>

<p>Not an uncommon situation, I’m sure.</p>

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<p>Just have to put the finishing touches on the sukkah…this may be the last year that we build a sukkah, as it is our youngest child’s last year at home, and I just don’t see building one without the kids here :frowning: Of course, if grandchildren come along someday and we are lucky enough to have them in town, we will build one again!
I’m spending a lot of time thinking about the last time for this and that these days…
Happy Sukkot, everyone!</p>

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<p>My son is now interested in applying to Binghamton. He found out that Binghamton has a major in Financial Engineering. Also, noticed that Binghamton has a major in Financial Economics. We like the wider choice of potential majors at Binghamton (Financial Engineering, Financial Economics, Accounting and Actuary Science) which, if accepted and decides to attend, gives more freedom to change majors and find the best academic fit at one university. Also, people on this forum (thanks!) point out that the Jewish community is large with an active Chabad.</p>

<p>If anyone knows about these majors of Financial Engineering and Financial Economics at Binghamton, or any other similar school on the B plus discussion thread, please share this info. with us.</p>

<p>Thanks again so much for everyone’s help.</p>