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

Parents Forum
3161

<p>Thank you for the good thoughts on S2’s grades - I am proud of him. Today, however, my heart is heavy and my Jewish Mom worrying quotient is way up - did you read about the Notre Dame student who was killed - he was filming football practice and the tower he was in was blown over in the wind. S1 does the exact same job at his university! He recently asked me to send him gloves/hat because it is cold and windy in the tower! Oy! Not happy.</p>

<p>“(South Bend, IN) – A University of Notre Dame student was killed yesterday when the tower he was standing on to film the Fighting Irish practice football collapsed in heavy winds.
The college said 20-year-old Declan Sullivan was working for the athletics department when the hydraulic scissor lift he was standing on toppled over.
The junior was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was later died.
Ironically, it seems the Illinois-native may have had an eery premonition of the tragedy.
A little over an hour before the accident, Sullivan sent this ominous tweet: “Gusts of wind up to 60 mph. Well today will be fun at work. I guess I’ve lived long enough.” The incident is under investigation and the school is planning an on-campus memorial mass for Sullivan later today.”</p>

3162

<p>Hi all, I’m new here - Is this the thread for bright but not genius Jewish kids? I have been reading some other threads on CC and it freaked me out! Where are the “normal” kids? </p>

<p>My boychild got his SAT scores this morning, he went up in Math as he was hoping - from a 540 to a 620 but down in Reading from a 640 to a 580 and the writing from 630 to 570. Sigh. </p>

<p>Anyway, it is what it is. He did take the ACT again last Saturday and is hoping to go up from a 26. </p>

<p>He has been in all honors classes since his soph. yr. but no AP’s although this year he is taking Physics at the community college (his school - a small private Catholic prep school has a arrangement with the CC) He has a 94 GPA (I have no idea what that converts to on 4.0 scale.)</p>

<p>He has pretty good EC’s - 1st chair trombone in symphonic band and jazz band, XC and Track, Masterminds and Mock Trial and he has a part time job. </p>

<p>He is applying to - from order from Reach to Safety:</p>

<p>Bates (no chance but doesn’t hurt to apply)</p>

<p>SUNY Binghamton (highly unlikely)</p>

<p>St. Lawrence - target</p>

<p>Hobart - target</p>

<p>Allegheny - target</p>

<p>Ithaca - target</p>

<p>SUNY New Paltz </p>

<p>U of New Hampshire - safety</p>

<p>Hartwick - no way he doesn’t get in and would also gets tons of money.</p>

<p>Besides being male (which I understand helps getting into LACs) he is also Asian (we adopted him from Korea) and the LAC’s from what I understand are actively trying to become more diverse. </p>

<p>He likes all the schools on his list but doesn’t have one he is dying to get into so no ED. </p>

<p>I’m trying to do my best to not stress my kid out but I think I need someone to help me not stress out and this thread’s parents seem to have kids like mine (from what I’ve read) so I hope you don’t mind if I join in the conversation.</p>

3163

<p>welcome emily…mind? absolutely not; we’d love to have you (although it looks like your son is higher than a “B” student)…great list!! </p>

<p>RM: heard about the Notre Dame story this morning…so sad…and apparently the young man had just “tweeted” sarcastically that he had to go up there in that wind…</p>

3164

<p>To the Mom with questions about Miami of Ohio. My own experience is obviously quite dated. I used to live in Cleveland and MU had a strong representation of Ohio locals. When I attended, the Jewish community was fairly strong. My sister and brother-in-law also went there. Personally, I found the campus too homogeneous for my own tastes. Very important Greek presence with most kids coming from a suburban experience (like my own.) The campus is very pretty with an overall aesthetic similar to UVa and Elon, meaning, red brick buildings with white pillars and lots of green space. I understand that they are starting to build a new university center, but it may not be finished for a few years. I liked the faculty and the coursework was not overwhelming. My current next door neighbor’s son is a sophomore majoring in business and likes it. He says that there is not a strong Jewish frat scene any longer (my Brother-in-law was a Sammie) and he rushed a non-Jewish frat and rarely visits Hillel. Two of my son’s friends who are girls are seriously looking at it. It has a good reputation within Ohio and the mid-west and likes to call itself a “Midwest Ivy,” but I certainly would not categorize it as such. Frankly, my happiest year there was when I studied abroad, so I may not the best person to ask and many things may have changed since I attended. I should also note that when I went to college it was the middle 70s and I was a bit of a political radical, which was absolutely NOT the scene then at Miami. When my sister went there before me, the mood was quite different (the difference between pre-Vietnam and post-Vietnam.)</p>

3165

<p>Welcome Emily! I think you have an excellent list and are right about LACs. I would be tempted in your position to look at some more PA LACs if you have not already–no slight to the fine NY options and Alleghenny, but a diverse, accomplished young man such as your son could get some very nice merit offers there, too</p>

3166

<p>Slow day at work, so 2 back-to-back posts. I noticed lots of posts about the SAT. In my experience with my two older children, our family has a negative allergic reaction to the SAT. All three of my children did much better on the ACT, and now that almost every college accepts either test, I recommend that you see which one you child excels at. We also noted that you should take it early and take it often. Each of my children’s scores went up each time they took the test. Most of the schools on the Common App take a Superscore, so there is no reason not to take it as often as possible, but be careful. Make sure you do not have the scores automatically sent to schools. While this saves you money, you may want to pick and choose the test you send. Also, one other little known fact is that some high schools automatically put the SAT/ACT scores on the student’s transcript UNLESS you check a box on the form that states you do not want the scores sent, which you will have to do yourself a $10 a pop per school. </p>

<p>As to prep classes. We have done Kaplan and another private test prep course. Which was the best? None of them. My kids achieved the best results doing the following…ready…for a month before the test send your kid to a quiet room (preferably not their own bedroom) buy one of the books from the College Board with 10 actual ACT/SAT tests and have the kid take a test in a different area for 30 minutes each night. With all their extracurriculars and homework we set the time to 10:00 PM. He would set a timer for 30 minutes and when it blew, then he was done. Next day we found out what mistakes he made and at the end of the week we looked over the problem areas. </p>

<p>We discovered that speed is essential to doing well on these tests and the more tests you take the more familiar you get with the type of question and format. By keeping it to 1/2 hour it was not a huge commitment and we likened it to doing tennis drills or piano scales…to do well in most things you need muscle memory and your brain needs practice just like your other muscles!</p>

3167

<p>Thanks for the welcome!</p>

<p>I tried to get boychild to look at more PA schools. The Dickinson Alum rep is a parent at his school and would do his interview and I suggested Muhlenberg to him also. At one point he announced out of nowhere he didn’t want to go to school anywhere in PA and now he has, what I think, almost too many schools on his list so I hate to even suggest applying to anymore. Plus, all the schools he has looked at are relatively the same and his eyes are rolling back in his head listening to the same spiel at each school. </p>

<p>I don’t know about him getting much merit money, tbh, except at Hartwick. I think the schools on his list tend to give merit money to Ivy caliber and those kids who can get into schools like Bowdoin, Williams, Tufts,etc., but go down a notch or two for the money.</p>

3168

<p>Boychild did much better on the ACT math than the SAT math the first time and better on the reading & writing on the SAT than the ACT. He is a slow reader and that hurts on the ACT. Hoping his reading etc on the ACT goes up this time and his math doesn’t go down. </p>

<p>He isn’t taking either again and now it’s just a matter of which scores to submit or not to submit any.</p>

3169

<p>emilybee, Bates is SAT-optional. Your S should interview: Bates clearly states that those who do not interview will be at a disadvantage. Regarding Jewish life, Bates has a group of kids who do get together to do things, but they do not have a rabbi, and the Jewish life is dependent on who keeps the activities going.</p>

3170

<p>He interviewed already with Bates with an alum and we went to visit a few weeks ago. I have a good friend whose daughter is there and is Jewish and loves it. My son isn’t religious at all (we are Reform and really do only the food holidays) and hubby is Catholic, but lapsed.</p>

3171

<p>@emilybee: if you can, suggest Sussquehanna. it is really nice and I think your son fits the profile. also, SAT optional.</p>

3172

<p>Seconding Susquehanna - so impressed with this school that I really had never heard of before a few on this thread suggested it - S2 wil l be applying in the fall. Beautiful campus - great programs - and a level of personal attention and friendliness that I have NEVER seen before.</p>

3173

<p>Okay, mdcissp, this thread has helped a lot rounding out our choices so I’ll jump in too. It’s a long (expensive) list:</p>

<p>SUNY Albany & Buffalo & New Paltz & Oneonta
Ithaca
JMU
Elon
C of C
Miami Ohio
IU
UDel</p>

<p>and for the heck of it: </p>

<p>Wisconsin
UMD
Tulane</p>

<p>All except Ithaca and UDel (because they don’t offer it,) non binding Early Acceptance</p>

3174

<p>Reading back thru the day’s posts, “Yascher Koach” to your son, rockvillemom.</p>

3175

<p>Thanks for the suggestion re Susquehanna but I really don’t think I can suggest another school. We’ve been trying very hard to make the process his and really want to keep it that way. Not that we haven’t discussed a wide variety of schools and taken him to looked at quite a lot, too,but, tbh, he is done looking and he says he will be happy at any of the schools on his list - except Hartwick. He would be very disappointed if that was his only acceptance.</p>

3176

<p>MHC, gosh that’s a lot of schools.</p>

3177

<p>emilybee, Oneonta seems like an almost ideal small college town, is your son also applying to SUNY Oneonta?</p>

<p>Yes, we are casting a wide net… for a lot of reasons. Which incline me to want her have choices of different sorts of schools. Unfortunately she doesn’t like small LAC type schools (Cof C and Elon were about the smallest she’d go). That left a number of otherwise good matches and choices out of the mix.</p>

3178

<p>mhc: we match on 4…</p>

3179

<p>rodney, after 3178 posts, I’ll bet we all have a lot of matches. Let’s hope there are as many for our kids.</p>

3180

<p>Mhc, no, he’s not applying to Oneonta but we are driving over to see Hartwick on Monday so maybe will do a look see. </p>

<p>He did think about applying to C of C because he is an excellent sailor but decided he didn’t want to go south at all. So Hobart and UNH are his two sailing schools.</p>