<p>"Kursar, a sophomore from Annandale, N.J., took his life early Sunday morning in his dorm room. He left no note or any reason for his family, friends and the 2,200 students in the close-knit Muhlenberg community to understand why a teen who had so much to offer would kill himself.</p>
<p>His death has so touched Muhlenberg that the Allentown college will host a live stream of his funeral Friday so anyone who can’t attend can watch it."</p>
<p>First, I’m not sure about posting this article now, when many are celebrating good news tonight. But I just happened across this item and since Muhlenberg is certainly a college for a Jewish “B” student, I thought it important to bring up this sad event.</p>
<p>Obviously any student suicide is sad and tragic. But I think what has really startled me was that this one took place at Muhlenberg - which is known for being an unusually friendly and caring community.</p>
<p>This young man committed suicide in his dorm room last Sunday, December 5th. My first thought was his death coinciding with finals - but I have never heard of Muhlenberg as that type of high-pressure environment - not like a Cornell or a William & Mary environment. Obviously we may never know his reasons and they may have nothing whatsoever to do with Muhlenberg, but just thought some of you would want to know.</p>
<p>thanks for posting RM even though this is very sad and disheartening; my heart goes out to his friends and family…and how horrible for the kids in his dorm; they are quite small and close knit there…</p>
<p>That is really sad news. So sorry. I can’t even imagine what the family is going through. Yikes. You know, as parents we set the foundation for kids to go to the next phase of their lives, but I guess you can never really tell what things affect them when.</p>
<p>Thanks for letting us know. Really a sad time for that school’s community. Really so very sorry.</p>
<p>What a sad story. Unfortunately, as Emily pointed out, this happens at all types of schools. It’s particulary scary to read about cases like this one, where no one saw it coming. Let’s all hug our kids a little tighter today.</p>
<p>I’ll add my congrats to all of you who have wonderful acceptance news. I wonder if this shows that ED is still the best approach to get into a slightly (or more) reach school.</p>
<p>If anyone out there have not yet felt ready to share a dissappointment, those happen too. Although several kids in my D’s school got into excellent schools like Cornell and Wash U that I know of, and some got into “lesser” schools which were equally exciting for them, there was a lot of buzz about for the first time, no acceptances out of 5 applications to Penn.</p>
<p>Spectrum2, most schools have those storage places near the campus. My son in Arbor who will be leaving in January for his Spring semester in Spain has already rented a space along with another friend who willl also be going away near campus to store their things. I’d offered to go out there and help hiim bring things back, but it’s far more convenient to do it that way, and I suspect it will all be brought to the facility the last minute.</p>
<p>Like so many Jewish women, Anne Suissa pursued her education and career with gusto, earning degrees from Cornell and MIT and going on to manage 27 people at the U.S. Department of Transportation.</p>
<p>Suissa always knew she wanted marriage and family, but by the time she had found her husband and began trying to have a child, she was in her late 30s. Doctors told her the fertility treatments she had begun probably would not succeed.</p>
<p>Today, the Suissas are parents of two children from Guatemala, both of whom they converted to Judaism. Though their lives are full and rewarding, Suissa still wishes someone had encouraged her to start a family earlier.</p>
<p>In Jewish families, it’s “education, education, education,” said Suissa, who lives in the District. “But nobody told me that college might be a good time to meet a nice Jewish boy.” </p>
<p>Very interesting article from today’s Washington Post regarding an increase in international adoptions by Jewish couples who have delayed starting families to pursue educational and career goals. </p>
<p>Although I think many of us value a college with an active Jewish population so that our children can participate in Jewish life and perhaps date other Jews - I can’t say that I expect my boys to meet a future spouse at college. Did any of you meet your spouse at college? What about those of you who have recent college graduates - have any of them married someone they met at college?</p>
<p>my older daughter when asked if she was dating anyone (about a year ago) remarked, “well I’m in no rush; its not like I’m going to get married as young as you guys did”…we were 26…didn’t think we were THAT young…</p>
<p>at her school there are definitely people in committed relationships; no idea if they will stay together…she just hasn’t found anyone that she is interested in…</p>
<p>My child is adopted from Korea and is Jewish. DH and I didn’t get married until we were in our 30’s and I went through years of treatment and $80K until we finally said enough and decided to adopt. More money but sooooooo worth it. However, the expense set us way back and it took many years to dig ourselves out of the financial hole.</p>
<p>Lots of mazal tov to the new Tufts, BU and other great Eastern school acceptances! May your children go from strength to strength! Everyone celebrate your wonderful news!</p>
<p>I was 30 when I got married, after college, law school and working for a while. I had my last kid at 37. My kids seem to want to follow that same path, but I always tell them to start having kids by their early 30s because my friends who waited seemed to have issues with fertility. I don’t know any of my kids’ friends who were engaged right out of college. The median age for Jewish kids around here is about 28.</p>
<p>And I do want to be clear that I think it is wonderful that Jewish families are adopting children from other countries and raising them in the Jewish faith - I just did not realize the extent to which this is happening - which was the point of the article. I also never considered finding a wife as one of the reasons my sons should attend a college with a decent sized Jewish population.</p>
<p>Thank you ALL for your good wishes! We are very proud of our S1 and very psyched for him. It is my S2 who is only a freshman that it more of the “B” student that attracted me to this thread to begin with, but he says to “not come near him” re: colleges for at least another year or two! </p>
<p>I found a “nice Jewish boy” in high school, got married at 23 and had a child at 24. I guess I am a little unusual. I also told my D that college (or graduate school) is a much easier place to meet people in general (not just marriageable boys) than after you are out in the workforce.</p>
<p>Congratulations on all of your acceptances! Tufts, BU, Colombia! You have given me hope for our B student! I never would have considered these. Might have to take another look.</p>
<p>Wash U - has been on our list since the very beginning. We are hoping to visit over the summer. </p>
<p>Regarding Calc and Statistics - Our high school offers AP as well as “A” level - a step above College Prep. We too have stated to think about course load and will probably be taking “A” level Calc, AP Statistics, English, PE, and a science.</p>
<p>We are considering Physics. But I thought that maybe continuing on to Chem 2 or Bio 2 might show rigor. Any thoughts about science tracking? I am worried about the work load and senioritis.</p>
<p>I too am worried about the senior year load and senioritis (not to mention the Fall application’s crunch!!). Next year, my son “wants” to take AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, AP Gov/honor econ (they are each .5 credit semester classes), AP English Literature (a really bad idea IMHO), AP Psychology, AP Human Geography or AP Environ. Sci, and Honors Astronomy. This is killer!!! Having had two girls go through HS, I very well remember that somewhere around early February they both just “had enough” of high school…senioritis is very prevalent. I don’t know if I will be about to convince my son that he should lighten his load next year though. He is very stubborn. </p>
<p>My girls both took honors level Calculus and not AP and it was a good thing for them. They got a good enough base so that college Calculus wasn’t a completely foreign language to them but it wasn’t too difficult for senior year. You have to see what other parents at your school say about AP Stats because it varies from school to school. My son took it last year as a sophomore and although he got A’s, he worked very very hard for them. It really is not “math”, it is more probability and charts/graphs. Some kids have more of an intuitive gift for this class than others. Ask your friends what the rep is at your school for the class. </p>
<p>Physics is very tough for many kids. My son is taking AP Physics B this year. I will let you know if he pulls off an A for the semester in January. He had a solid B last quarter but an A this quarter…it all depends on the midterm results here. </p>
<p>cherryhillmom- it all really depends on you/your son’s college app goals (what level of college he will be going for). If the school is not a tippy top type of school or one that has Early action/rolling admissions, then he really only has to not do poorly (A’s and B’s, even a C) as opposed to doing stellar (A’s) senior year. Most (not top 20 though) colleges know that the kids slack off senior year and don’t care too much. It depends on the schools.</p>
<p>Yes, this struck me when D1 was a senior. She was a top stat kid applying to high stat schools. At Christmas with the in-laws, she already had her ED acceptance to a top school, and was chatting with her cousins, who were at or applying to “regular” schools. My D was taking the most rigorous courseload possible and working to maintain her 4.0. The other kids were saying how senior year was “to have fun” and that they never would have taken so many hard classes or worried so much about grades.</p>
<p>These kids did fine and went to plenty nice schools. But it showed that only if you are aiming for the very top do you have to sweat that “keep it going until you drop” attitude. If you’re not 1st in your class, it really doesn’t matter if you’re 10th or 15th or 30th or whatever (top quarter is nice, and that’s 60 kids in my Ds’ school). It takes a lot of pressure off.</p>
<p>D2 is doing very well right now - even she can’t quite explain why things have fallen into place - but she also does not “need” to get all As this semester. First, she mathematically cannot change her GPA except for a few hundredths. Second, her batch of schools aren’t really going to care if she gets one B, or even 3 Bs. Some of that is because many of her classes are APs, and we figure they could weight them up. Could a few Bs nix her from a borderline acceptance at a reach? Sure. But she can’t really know or change that, and she has many schools that truly won’t care. So she’s finding a balance between “it’s senior year and have fun” and “I want to be as proud as I can of how I did.” </p>
<p>I guess this Christmas if the same conversation comes up, she’ll be sitting in the middle of the table. But I know she is happy. D1 was happy, too - but that’s because achieving as much as possible was what made her happy. Not everyone is like that.</p>
</p>
Might have to take another look.</p>