<p>chocchipcookie,
You mentioned your cousin transferred from Elon–my apologies if you shared her (his?) reasons for transferring earlier in the thread but why did she transfer?</p>
<p>Both of my daughters have friends who were in the Freshmen Connection program. Most of them got apartments with other FC kids in high rise apartments just off campus. For kids who really want to attend UMCP, this seems to work out pretty well. It can be difficult to get involved in ECs first semester because their classses are late afternoon and evening. Like RVM, I would worry that about my daughter feeling like a second class citizen if she were in this program. However, most of the kids who do this program do not regret it. </p>
<p>I have never been able to find admission stats for the Freshmen Connection program. At our HS, it seems like the A/A- students with about 1230+ M/V SATs get in for fall. The B/B+ students with lower SATs get offered Freshmen connection. I don’t think that UMD includes the Freshmen Connection stats in the acceptance stats they publish.</p>
<p>RVM: It does sound like Towson would be a better fit for your son.</p>
<p>Goodmorning Collage1:</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know the reason she transferred away from Elon. This is my H’s cousin’s D. I am speculating that it is because her boyfriend attended UMCP. Or maybe it was too small of a school for her, or too rural…I know that she was there only one semester and transferred for the second semester to UMCP where she is now currently a sophomore and VERY happy.</p>
<p>I will see her mom at a family BM this coming weekend, so I will try to ask for specifics.</p>
<p>Interestingly, my friend whose D is doing well in UMDCP’s Freshman Connection said her D explained that she’s never been so well-rested! With all afternoon classes, she actually gets her sleep! She was motivated to attend because of a particular department she is interested in. The living arrangements worked out well for her too. My D had the same perspective as RVM: it made her feel like a second class citizen. In fact, last week, a postcard arrived from UMDCP telling D that she could attend winter orientation and register for the spring semester(Freshman Connection comes with deferred admittance for spring semester). D laughed and said I could throw the postcard in the garbage!</p>
<p>Re Rutgers, my son attended a sports camp there which ended his intention of going to a flagship. He found getting around a big campus by bus not to his taste. Rutgers has a unusually spread out campus, with much of the city of New Brunswick in between some of the Rutgers locations.</p>
<p>Obviously, thousands of kids love Rutgers and all the flagships–for this generation, even more than ours, college outside the Ivies is seen as being on ESPN, going to huge wild frat parties and mega sized campus events.</p>
<p>Rutgers has its flaws. I feel about Rutgers I’m afraid like Rockville feels about UMDCP.</p>
<p>This freshman connection at UMDCP - do you apply for this program, or if you are not accepted as a Fall admit do you get bumped to Freshman Connection. Can you ensure admittance if you apply only to Freshman Connection?</p>
<p>cherryhill - I do not believe anyone applies directly to Freshman Connection - it’s their version of spring admit - it’s just the result you get in your acceptance letter. I do not believe that applying directly to Freshman Connection as an acceptance booster is an option.</p>
<p>Students who get a spring admit to Maryland have the option to do Freshman Connection - or not. They could also attend community college in the fall or find a job. Freshman Connection is just an optional fall program for students who get spring admission so that they can take some classes and stay on track to graduate in 4 years.</p>
<p>Rutgers was not a good fit for our sons. Even with the cut backs, S2’s friends are enjoying it so far. I have no idea as to what their majors are, or how they are doing as far as grades. I think most of them are into football and sports in general.</p>
<p>When you apply to UMDCP, you either get:</p>
<ul>
<li>accepted for fall</li>
<li>deferred to spring with freshman connection for fall semester</li>
<li>deferred to spring with freshman connection for fall semester and waitlist for fall semester</li>
<li>rejected</li>
</ul>
<p>If you get deferred to spring, you do not have to accept until 10/15 so you can actually try a college that you got accepted to if you want. </p>
<p>If you get deferred to spring and get freshman connection, you do not automatically get waitlisted for fall.</p>
<p>If you apply by priority deadline (Nov 1), you can log in on Jan 31 to find out your decision. FYI - These were the dates last year.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of info on the UMD board re: Freshman Connection if you want to know more.</p>
<p>[Westboro</a> Baptist Church Plans to Protest Hillel | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/11/29/westboro-church-baptist-harvard/]Westboro”>Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Protest Hillel | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>I know Harvard is not a typical topic on our “B” student thread - but this headline caught my eye and I thought it was relevant since it involves a Hillel.</p>
<p>"Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas-based religious organization which hosts anti-homosexual protests across the country, is scheduled to return to Harvard to protest outside Harvard Hillel Friday morning.</p>
<p>Board members of Harvard Hillel and undergraduates across campus are planning a Surprise Absurdity Protest to counter the Westboro Baptist Churchs anti-semitic message.</p>
<p>The church, known for its slogan God hates fags, protested in Cambridge twice last yearonce at Harvard Law School and once at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.</p>
<p>The churchs protest is part of a series of events scheduled in Massachusetts, including demonstrations outside of the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, Brandeis Universitys Hillel, and Framingham High School, which is putting on a production of the Laramie Project.</p>
<p>Harvards counter-protest organizers said that the Surprise Absurdity Protest is meant to highlight the ridiculous nature of the Westboro Baptist Churchs message.</p>
<p>We dont want to acknowledge their protest as serious, Hillels Vice President for Community Relations Lilli R. Margolin 11 said. We think its absurd.</p>
<p>Margolin is working with other student groups to make the counter-protest a whimsical event that includes live music, food, and signs with sayings such as God hates figs and The sky is too blue.</p>
<p>The Westboro Baptist Church has long targeted gays and holds protests outside U.S. soldiers funerals, claiming that their deaths were justified due to Americas role as a ■■■ enabler. The group has recently turned its attention to Jews, whom it blames for killing Jesus on its website."</p>
<p>My only consolation is that this group is so ridiculous - I don’t think anyone takes them too seriously - so hopefully this will amount to nothing.</p>
<p>Went to Towson to look at the fitness center and look at the surrounding area. Saw a very nice mall with Macy’s and restaurants near the campus. </p>
<p>I am trying to focus on highest priorities because no school is perfect. As I wrote before, I am highly impressed with the head of the Towson undergrad B-school. He is energetic, knowledgable, and really looking after the Towson B-school students. I like the variety of B- school majors and that it is not too difficult to gain acceptance. Also like the close proximity to home. </p>
<p>Towson is very clean but has a 1950’s feel. They are starting to remodel the university, but it does not have the sleek, modern, or classic UMCP feel. I don’t even know if this is important as I just want my son to graduate with a major leading to an independent job.</p>
<p>UMCP-Unless your kid is 100% passionate about one of the strong majors at UMCP such as Smith Business, Kim Engineering, Computer Science, and ??, and is very social, very easy going personality, very flexible, highly desirous of being in a large Jewish community (a good thing, but some kids flourish in a smaller or medium size Jewish community with more attention), I would think very carefully about UMCP.</p>
<p>UMCP has its strengths, but my kids don’t want this school because it is just too big for them.</p>
<p>rockvillemom: I know this group well, being from Kansas. They demonstrate repeatedly all over Kansas City. I was so proud of a local high school that formed a counter-protest with hundreds of kids and parents when Fred Phelps (the minister) and his family protested the election of a gay student as Student Council president. They are a family of about 5, with a few friends, that travel in mini-vans mostly to protest at the funerals of soldiers and gay events. I think they would simply disappear, since the group is so tiny, if the media would just stop filming them every time they show up. Last week, they were protesting at the funeral of a 23 year old who died in Afghanistan and the whole town showed up along the funeral route and encircled the Phelps group so the family would not see them as they drove past. Around here they are a perpetual nuisance and now all it takes is a large crowd to keep them hidden. They once demonstrated in front of our synagogue, but they are required to stay across the street and we are positioned behind a strip mall so no one knew why they were there. It requires us to hire additional security which becomes expensive. The more important question is how are they being funded, because for a group of less than 10 people they sure get around the country.</p>
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<p>I know nothing about Harvard - isn’t their Hillel on private property? The address is 52 Mount Auburn Street - so maybe that is a city street in Cambridge? I’m wondering how close this group can get. I agree with your questions about who is funding them and that maybe it would be better if everyone just ignored them. I have heard of them in conjunction with funeral protests - and am horrified by what they do in this regard. I have never heard of them protesting outside a Hillel before - that shocked me.</p>
<p>and this thread interests me, particularly as I read about so much anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses these days- many of which have anti-Israel programs and classes that are funded by the Saudi’s and other Muslim nations. How can one find out which colleges and universities are known for this?</p>
<p>Hi - we have to be careful not to get too political on this thread - or the moderators will take issue. Of the various colleges we have discussed - I do not recall any one school that has been singled out for being anti-Israel - although those factions certainly exist on some campuses. One of the things I do is to Google phrases such as “antisemitism on college campuses” periodically and see what I find.</p>
<p>sorry- didn’t mean to be political or derogatory. Thank you for the google suggestion.</p>
<p>OK- so this is completely anecdotal. I don’t even personally know this person and for everyone of these stories I am sure there are 100 stories that would contradict it, so take this with a grain of salt (have I prepped this enough so I don’t receive all the stories telling me how wrong I am). My good friend’s nephew comes from a very jewish area in New York and he was so excited last year to be accepted by Elon. He started this year and is already putting in transfer applications. According to my friend, the school did an amazing job of marketing itself to the jewish population (as they are doing here on the west coast especially at the jewish day schools). However, the majority of the kids not only are not jewish but they also had not ever met a jewish person. He did not feel that the population of students was accepting of jewish students, and this made dorm life/student life uncomfortable for him- he feels odd there. It wasn’t the administration at the school that was the issue, it was the openness of the student body. So, take that for what it is worth, and maybe check it out. The school seems to want the diversity of jewish students but it is in the south and there may be some issues until they are able to achieve the diversity they are looking for.</p>
<p>Wow - I don’t know. Anyone familiar with Elon care to comment? I have it at the top of my son’s list - so I thought the school was very Jewish-friendly. Obviously - different people have different experiences in this regard.</p>
<p>“The more important question is how are they being funded, because for a group of less than 10 people they sure get around the country.” </p>
<p>Very good point MoltoBene. Churches are exempt from filing 990’s (non profit returns) which would disclose the sources of income. If they have incorporated themselves as a 501 c 3, as a church, they would also be exempt from lobbying, and the types of political activity that they are engaging in. I just did a quick search and couldn’t find a 990 on record. 990’s are required to be made available to anyone who asks to see it and there are organizations that collect them. According to Wikipedia (I know, not always accurate), their travel budget is over $200,000 per year. Is someone getting a tax deduction to fund this? It looks to me like they are reaping the benefits of calling themselves a church, but not adhering to the rules. Wonder what would happen if the IRS started investigating for tax fraud or tax evasion. That’s how Al Capone was brought down!</p>
<p>OK, now I have a college question! D came home from school with some college info that was handed out in one of her classes. A rep from the school spoke to the class. D said sounds interesting and came home with all of the pretty brochures. I had looked up the school before, and just looked them up again. Large Jewish population, nice size school, easy to get to, she would probably qualify for a large scholarship (if not a full scholarship)…but according to our Naviance, her GPA and SAT scores put her above anyone who has even applied to the school, much less gone there. Do we even bother with this school? I am conflicted because it meets every criteria we have set, other than the fact that academically she would far exceed the other applicants. I don’t want to name the school, because it is not my intention to offend anyone. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>P.S. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. Now onto Chanukah!</p>
<p>mdmomfromli, I would look to see if your DD can be challenged at this school. If she won’t be challenged, I would not send her there. If she can get a good education at a safety school that is offering a large scholarship, then I would send my DD there if she wanted to attend.</p>