<p>Does SUNY Stonybrook fit Rockville mom’s description for a college with Jewish activities for a B-B plus student? What is the surrounding area like? What is the difference between SUNY Stonybrook and SUNY Binghamton?</p>
<p>Is there any school similar to Towson (has Business school, walking distance to a nice town, etc.), does not cost $50,000 a year, that is good for a B plus student with some Jewish activities? My son is going to apply to Towson, but it sounds like Towson has become more competitive to get into for in state students. We need a couple of safeties in addition to applying to Towson. Many of the schools mentioned in this thread are very small (too small in size and Jewish population for us) or large OOS universities (U. of Alabama, etc.).</p>
<p>Also–many thanks to the kind parents who sent me PMs about the SUNY schools. I really appreciate the info.</p>
<p>yabeyabe: 5 to Susquehanna? wow…how did your son react to that one?..</p>
<p>I think Towson is easier to get into than Stonybrook or Binghamton, so if you are worried about Towson being too competitive, I think the other two are probably reaches. Stonybrook has more students that Binghamton (I think). It is located in suburban Long Island far from the City, but once you are on the LIRR, it’s a fairly easy (though long) trip in. Stonybrook tends to be more tech oriented. Binghamton is more liberal arts. I definitely can’t see Binghamton as a safety for a B+ student, but OOS it is a very reasonable reach. Stonybrook will probably be more of a match, not safety either.</p>
<p>jym626 - Hi - sorry for not making that more clear. mdmomfromli and I have already established that our kids go to the same large public hs. Our school newspaper came out yesterday with the annual matriculation list - so it was an article in the school paper - but really just a listing of kids and their colleges. I thought it was interesting in that the percentage staying in-sate was higher than ever by far and that It was also so dominated by large universities.</p>
<p>mdcissp - for my son - I have Delaware and James Madison in the same category as Towson. They both offer undergraduate business majors, are well below $50,000 and are around 15,000 students - not the 25,000 you would find at UMDCP or some of the other large universities. Other posters have given good info on the Jewish population at Delaware and I believe James Madison has around 800 Jewish students.</p>
<p>We did not find the area around Binghamton anything like the area around Towson. D loved the Towson area; did not like the Bing area at all. She liked the Towson campus much better also. Being from suburban Long Island, Binghamton felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. However, Binghamton has a much more academic profile. Depends what you are looking for.</p>
<p>SUNY Stony Brook is, to me, in a nicer area than Binghamton, maybe because it doesn’t seem in the middle of nowhere (and I know the area better). I don’t know what’s in walking distance from the school as I am in my car when I’m out that way (doctors, etc.). Also, check into the number of kids who stay there on the weekend. I know a lot of kids who go there from LI (including my neighbor) come home on the weekend. (Although I think a lot of local kids go home from Towson on the weekend - lots of cars on campus.) Not familiar with admissions at Stony Brook as it was way too close to home for D to even consider.</p>
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<p>On Towson - average accepted wgpa is 3.6; average accepted SAT is 1134; and average accepted ACT is 24. Looking at the graph - students with at least a 3.5wgpa and an 1100 SAT are getting in pretty readily. JMU and Delaware are slightly higher stat-wise. JMU has an accepted average wgpa of 3.86; SAT of 1154 and ACT of 25. Delaware is even higher at 4.11 for wgpa; 1218 for SAT and 27 for ACT. The problem is that kids who are applying to Towson and want others at that level or even safer would probably also apply to Salisbury and Frostburg - but I don’t think you will find much Jewish life at either school.</p>
<p>Towson: according to D’s naviance, no one with a weighted average above a 3.0 and an SAT above 1100 (on a 1600 scale) has been rejected. That’s a safety.</p>
<p>JMU: 3.5 and 1100 seems to be the cutoff</p>
<p>Delaware: 3.5 and 1180.</p>
<p>The averages are much higher, bu looking at the graphs you can see a pretty obvious divide. Also, these are weighted averages, so the actual averages are significanly lower in many cases.</p>
<p>Thought this book was pretty good.</p>
<p>“America’s Best Colleges for B Students” by Tamra Orr. I got it from the library- pretty much after I was done with my college search. But what I did like about this book was that it had colleges in rural, urban, large and small enrollments etc. So I thought it had an interesting mix of schools.</p>
<p>I would just caution anyone reading this thread to realize that a B student at one school could be an A student somewhere else. At our HS, an unweighted 3.5 is the top 10%!</p>
<p>“mdmomfromli - you took the words right out of my mouth! Was just looking at the same article - same impressions. I don’t ever recall seeing such a large percentage staying in-state - I can only guess the economy is really having a big effect. Other than that - I’d say the matriculation list is dominated by large universities - most of those going out of state are heading to Michigan, Wisconsin, Delaware, Indiana, South Carolina, etc. I don’t see a lot heading to small/medium LACs - although there were 3 heading to Elon.”</p>
<p>rockvillemom - my D is friendly with some seniors and one told her that the only school she applied to was UMDCP, her parents said she couldn’t apply anywhere else for financial reasons. Also a friend of my daughters said that she knows a senior who got full tuition at UMDCP and also got admitted into top tier schools. She is going to UMDCP. D has heard that finances have played a huge part in where the seniors are going. </p>
<p>Can you tell me what the percentage of kids are Jewish at Elon? I can’t remember from the earlier posts.</p>
<p>A few kids were going to my D’s top choice school (on paper, she hasn’t seen it yet!), so that made her happy.</p>
<p>My D told me about the kid going into the IDF and the other one going to school in Israel, for some reason she was very excited about that!</p>
<p>Late this summer D will be going to Syracuse for a pre college program and between the drive there and back, we are planning on looking at Dickinson, Binghamton and Cornell. I’ll post my impressions of the 4 schools after we see them.</p>
<p>Right now we have a very long list of schools and over the next year anytime we do a road trip, if there are any schools along the way we will stop and look at them.</p>
<p>mdmomfromli - at Elon - about 250 Jewish students out of just under 5000 undergrads - so about 5%. I understand that the rate is increasing - the freshman class is closer to 7-8% Jewish, for example. My son and I know the boy going into the Israeli defense force - he has dual Israeli/US citizenship. Hoping it goes well for him - really puts things into perspective.</p>
<p>SDonCC - yes - I agree completely - what constitutes a B student may vary from one hs to the next. Also a student with a low B average will have a different list from a B+ student. I basically view a “B” students as ones who will not be applying to Ivy League schools, and top tier schools such as Duke, Vanderbilt etc. So many threads on CC focus on parents/students aiming for top 20/top 30 schools. So, maybe an alternate title for this thread is “Colleges for the Jewish student who is NOT aiming for Top 20/Top 30”.</p>
<p>What is a B student? Is it by weighted or unweighted average? Can a student from a top magnet high school with a grade deflated 3.5 and 2300 SAT scores really be considered a B+ student? Is she in the same league as a 3.3 weighted kid from a public school with a 1750 SAT?</p>
<p>I’d rather this thread was inclusive. Obviously, if your kid is applying to Ivys and has Duke as a safety, this thread will have little to offer. However, if your kid is reaching for a top 30 rated school (and there are 60 of those, you know ;)), I think this thread makes sense because (as another poster mentioned) this thread is mostly for compiling a good list and that will include appropriate safeties where kids may be happy to end up.</p>
<p>QM - I agree - that’s why I left the thread title so broad in the beginning - B student means different things to different people and that’s just fine. And reach schools for my B student might be match schools for your B students and so forth. Just trying to stay away from the uber-competitive stuff which will not be relevant for most of us.</p>
<p>[News:</a> Why More Colleges Want Jewish Students - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/29/jewish]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/29/jewish)</p>
<p>This is from Fall 2008 - so a little out-of-date - but a very interesting article if you have not already seen it. It discusses why some colleges are pursuing Jewish students.</p>
<p>Mdcissp–How about Pitt? its urban setting puts a lot within walking distance. Food school; reasonable $; early notifications; open to OOS B kids. For other reasonable $ school with walking distance towns, how about Bloomsburg; Lycoming; Elizabethtown; Salisbury; UMass?</p>
<p>In looking at whether OOS flagships growing in popularity is a sign of the economy, remember some OOS are very costly–from VT in the high 40’s to many in the 30’s.</p>
<p>Rodney, my son’s reaction to having the 4 classmates at Susquehanna was positive. He knew about a dozen had applied (although the GCs do not have it on the radar screen in their infinite wisdom, feedback from recent grads has been good). They are a typical SU mix–a boy who wants to be a teacher; an offbeat girl who was attracted by the very popular creative writing program; a boy who hopes to play football; a popular girl who also swims.</p>
<p>Rockville Mom and others: Do you know how to get to U. of Delaware via Amtrak or bus?
Someone on this thread mentioned that U. of Delaware is on the train line. I want to be sure my son can come home without having to buy him a car. Also, do you know if there is any merit aid for Delaware or is that a lost cause being OOS? James Madison U.-my son was really interested, especially since it was written up in the Princeton Review as having one of the top food places, but I am having trouble considering it because I think you have to buy your kid a car, and I heard there is a lot of drinking at James Madison. My son is not the party type. Sounds like it would not be a social fit at James Madison, or am I mistaken? Anyone visited these schools? Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Do you know if Pitt gives any merit aid?</p>
<p>I don’t know if Pitt gives merit, but there is a separate Pitt board and if you do a Pitt search on CC, there is a poster who works there–I think that person may have posted on this thread or the other B thread</p>
<p>You might also find the JMU and UDel boards good for your other Q’s</p>
<p>“at Elon - about 250 Jewish students out of just under 5000 undergrads - so about 5%. I understand that the rate is increasing - the freshman class is closer to 7-8% Jewish, for example.”</p>
<p>I think that this is a school that we will keep on our radar. I would like to see the % closer to 10%, but it sounds like it may be there sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>mdcissp - A friends D was offered merit aid at Pitt, this was a few years ago. But an OOS student.</p>