<p>Counting down, your answer makes sense, although I think leaving it blank would be a better way for them to indicate no response to the survey.</p>
<p>I believe kids will also enjoy Pitt for its big time football and basketball and Pittsburgh is an underrated college city with pro sports, too.</p>
<p>One thing that impressed me about the Pitt Hillel is that it serves both Carnegie Mellon and Pitt. That makes for a really big number of students. CMU students get a similar advantage, but that’s not a B-student school.</p>
<p>Re questions of states with weaker public systems: I really think the presence of strong privates discourages the funding for very strong publics. I have always contended that this is why the SUNY schools are so ugly.</p>
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At this point I am beginning to wonder what your agenda is. You made the same statement in post #311, which has been responded to. I would even say your latest post makes less sense to me, because you will not find more than an extremely tiny percentage of schools where there is no drinking culture at all. There will virtually always be a drinking crowd, even if it is a minority. We got your point in post #311 and the ones shortly following, no need to say the same rather (IMO) ill-informed opinion again. You seem to think Tulane is somehow different than Duke, WUSTL, Chicago, Emory, whatever school you want to name with respect to this subject. I can quite assure you it is not. If you have something against Tulane, that’s fine. It would just be better if you told us all what that really is rather than posting such misleading statements. I mean really “There appears to be drinking going on at Tulane”??? Implying it is different than thousands of other schools. Please.</p>
<p>My d will be attending Tulane in the Fall. The decision came down to Pitt and Tulane. We really liked both schools and both cities. She got some scholarship money at Tulane which brought the cost down to nearly out of state Pitt tuition. She is not a big partyer and also not a big Hilleler (though I’m hoping for some participation in the latter). The weirdest thing happened on our Pitt visit to seal the deal for Tulane. She had made plans with some Jewish kids (friends of friends) for the Saturday night of Accepted Freshman weekend. Her hosts got so drunk and loud and obnoxious, the whole experience turned her off. Does that kind of thing happen at Tulane? You bet! But it didn’t happen to her when we visited. She came away convinced that New Orleans had more to offer a person who isn’t that into partying. Time will tell. Pray for me, fellow Jews! Btw, while she is a hard worker and an “A” student, her SATs were not stellar. It is certainly a school to check out.</p>
<p>I had students who came back the Katrina Semester and studied at the college I teach at. They all loved Tulane. So does a friend’s son.</p>
<p>I think there is a great chance of having a wonderful time there.</p>
<p>And to be fair, have heard wonderful things aobut Pitt, too.</p>
<p>re: Mary Washington-- we visited Fredericksburg last month, and it is is a lovely, friendly town, with the college beautifully situated in its midst. We met a young woman who had graduated recently and she couldn’t have been more poised and intelligent. It doesn’t have D’s major so it was moot for us-- but worth a visit for many, I’d think.</p>
<p>Maybe Case Western Reserve in Cleveland ? When I visited years ago with a high school friend who was Jewish, I learned the term “Hillel”… not sure if it is still there.</p>
<p>Wow, just looking at the response to this thread is an indication about how Jewish parents are craving an opportunity to discuss their unique issues. Unlike many of you we are from an area where throughout their education there have never been more than 2 other Jewish students in the whole school and more often than not my kids have been the only ones. </p>
<p>I also am the parent of a soph and mainly for economic reasons I am expecting that my kiddo will go to a state school so if there is info about privates that includes scholarship opportunities or strong FA for these kids (B,B+, A- students) I’d love to hear about it.</p>
<p>My older S attends an LAC with a nice Hillel program. He has not been absorbed in it but on the high holy days and Pesach he enjoyed having a place to go. Better than that he has the opportunity to participate in the Birthright Israel trip this summer. He would not have even been aware of this program if there were not an active Hillel. So even if kids go in another direction it is nice to know that the Hillel niche is there for them on campus. </p>
<p>I know too much has already been said about drinking I have to say S’s school is pretty liberal about alcohol on campus, its one of those with a work hard play hard ethic. I did talk to S about drinking but I thoroughly expected this to be a part of his life. I also expected that he would partake in a moderate way and so far I believe I was right. Among the things I learned in college I learned about alcohol. I didn’t abuse it but the opportunity was there. It is out in the world and I don’t expect to shield my kids from it in college. As with so many things that kids have freedom with for the first time in college a parent has hope they have covered things well enough in the time they had with their kids at home. </p>
<p>More than anything finding the right fit for a student is critical. If the campus provides opportunities to capture a students interests beyond the classroom kids will seek them out and not have to rely on drinking as the only thing to do in their free time.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom: Thanks for the thread!</p>
<p>mythmom- not to overly defend SUNY’s, but campuses like New Paltz Cortland, and Oneonta ugly?? I don’t think so. They are located in rural upstate farming areas. I was surprised at how pleasant and well maintained the SUNY’s looked to me.</p>
<p>My own d, who I never thought would attend a SUNY as she hated the idea of a dreary, cold upstate town made the decision to attend SUNY. She did not see any benefit to attend other OOS public’s when she compared them to the SUNY schools. And trust me- we looked all over the NE/ mid-Atlantic region at OOS publics’s geared towards the
B student.
she chose SUNY Cortland over such schools as Towson, George Mason, Temple, VCU, Old Dominion, Temple, West Chester in Pa and I’m sure a few other public U’s.
IMO the SUNY college campuses were comparable if not nicer than many of the other public U’s.
Not to lead this discussion astray, but there are many OOS parents reading this, and I just wanted to pass along, that not all NY’s feel the same way as you do re: SUNY campuses.
if you mentioned cold weather, small town environment without much going on- I could agree with you on those points.</p>
<p>SUNY Binghamton, the flagship, is very open to B+/B OOS kids. 181818, there is a separate parents threads on schools which are good with merit aid–and yes, it is absolutely available to B+ kids at schools.</p>
<p>marny1: Your post just goes to show that even Jewish B students have a variety to choose from - whether they want city, rural, large, small, public, private. The Jewish aspect is just one of the elements of “fit.” My D would have fit in perfectly with the Jewish student body at SUNY Albany, where she had a great meeting with the Director of Admissions, but there were a lot of other aspects of the school that just did not feel right to her.</p>
<p>Parents (and HS students) reading this should get the message that there are a lot choices for this type of student. It was great that rockvillemom brought up this issue - it obviously touched a chord with many of us.</p>
<p>Is there anyone following this thread who can tell us more about SUNY Binghampton? This school has been recommended as having a wonderful Hillel with a large Jewish community, many excellent programs, etc. Main negative I heard is the weather gets very cold in the winter. If anyone here has visited this school, has a child or friend attending, please provide more info. as SUNY Binghampton is on my son’s to apply list.</p>
<p>A good friend’s son will start in the Fall, very happily. PM me now or after he starts for questions. I am sure it has a large Jewish community, very good NY reputation --and bad winters.</p>
<p>I lived in nearby Endicott for 8 years and even took some grad classes at SUNY Binghamton. Yes, the weather can be dismal (but about the same as Kingston/Poughkeepsie where I grew up). The campus is fairly large, but nice. I’ve known several graduates, and they thought they got a good education there. It’s known for being an excellent value, even for OOS students.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, a little tangent here as I ask a question. Several pages ago but this morning (such an active thread!), you wrote that many use Tulane as a safety during the EA round so the stats of accepted students are misleadingly high. Does this mean the student for whom it is not a safety but a low match or a reach should consider not applying EA? Actually, as I write this, I seem to recall Tulane has rolling admissions…is there a ‘better’ time for the B student to apply to Tulane in terms of early in the process or later? D2 has Tulane on her list but we haven’t discussed it too much. Not sure if she’ll end up applying or not but your comment made me wonder about the timing for an applicant that fits this thread.</p>
<p>collage1 - hopefully rockvillemom won’t mind if I throw in my nickel’s worth here. Technically Tulane does not have rolling admissions, but in practice it almost works out that way, especially for EA. They have generally responded to EA apps within a few weeks after they come in, especially if it is a clear admit. For those more borderline, they may hold off until they see more apps or they may just defer to the RD pool. For RD, they sometimes tell students early, but they make no promises other than to reply by April 1 in order to see how the apps and probable acceptances are shaping up. Bottom line, if you are relatively sure your D2’s stats are low match for Tulane, I would go the EA route. I saw where you posted her GPA as 3.45 (I assume UW) but I didn’t see her SAT scores anywhere yet. Assuming they are 1850+, I would go for it. That would put her around the 25% percentile, but that is still in range. if her scores are higher, so much the better.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom is correct that Tulane has chosen to market in such a way that thousands of students who are destined for the Ivies and other higher ranked schools such as Duke, Vandy, Chicago, WUSTL, etc. use Tulane as a “safety”. Tulane knows they will not get the vast majority of these students to matriculate, but some percentage (5%? 10%?), when they see the great merit scholarship Tulane offers and look into the school more, do in fact decide to attend. There have been numerous anecdotes along these lines on the Tulane thread and elsewhere. My point is that Tulane knows they are only going to get a small percentage of these students, so a student more like your D2, good but not having stats in that stratosphere, is not disadvantaged applying EA. Tulane has a pretty good history now of what to expect and how to put the class together. I think they were a little surprised this year by the 1680 or so students that deposited. This is probably 100-150 over what they expected. But it also is the strongest class academically ever, so I don’t think they are complaining.</p>
<p>Have your D apply EA. I really don’t think she has anything to lose.</p>
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<p>Binghamton has an awesome reputation for academics. A lot of top students from NY go there and many in D’s class from HS and temple are going there (she also has a friend from OOS who is going there in the fall), turning down privates and other top OOS. It is such an excellent value. Nearly everyone who goes there loves it. For a rural campus, it is nice. The dorm we saw on our tour was the nicest we saw anywhere (I think they took us to their newest dorm). Oh, and laundry is free! The student body is about one-third Jewish (from all I’ve read). For the coming school year, since RH and YK are the same week as Labor Day, the dorms are closed for the week (same as SUNY Albany).</p>
<p>As previously pointed out, it is quite in the middle of nowhere and very snowy - which may or may not work for your S/D. We drove through the mountains to get there (we visited Oneonta first, had to stop for deer and did not get cell phone service on the way), but came home through Scranton, PA.</p>
<p>It is very hard to get in to if you are IS; more accessible to OOS (and their OOS tuition is also a great deal, even compared to OOS at other schools). They also send out acceptance letters to OOS way before they send to IS (didn’t go over well with all the NYers on the Bing board this year!).</p>
<p>For reference, my D - who got in to American, UConn, UDel (where she is going) and spring admit for University of Maryland - got waitlisted at Binghamton. She didn’t choose to stay on but, in following the waitlist threads here, not sure they are even going to their waitlist yet.</p>
<p>Quick response to Vitrac about Hillel at Tulane. My s is not very religious or observant, and used to make flippant comments that you couldnt walk down the campus 10 feet without tripping over a Jew, so even if your dau isn’t active in Hillel she will be interacting with other Jewish kids (Tulane’s population has been almost 30% Jewish). That said, when I was in NOLA for a conference and took my s and his friends out to dinner a few nights, he was running late with one friend he brought on Friday evening because she was in charge of serving the matzo ball soup at Hillel that night!</p>
<p>SUNY-Bing alumni here; holliesue (another active poster on CC) lives nearby…all above posts are accurate; we were just there recently…the only huge difference we noticed (Husband and I) was that the school seemed much busier and more populated than when we attended…weirdly, though, we were not shown a dorm (which didn’t really matter since we know kids there)…everyone is happy…can’t beat the cost…</p>
<p>one thing I would add; Binghamton is not in the snowiest “belt” of New York State…it does not get “lake effect” snows the way Rochester, Syracuse, etc get…when we were students there, it didn’t get much more snow than downstate NY over the course of the winter…it is colder, but, honestly, if you are in upstate NY or anywhere else in that area it will be cold…what gets you about the weather in Binghamton is the gray sky; it’s in a valley and for some reason, it’s very cloudy very often…</p>
<p>as an aside: the smallest lecture hall we were shown had more seats than my daughter’s entire graduating class in her high school…not a fit for her, but may be for others…</p>