<p>Stayathomemom: You certainly understand Jewish mothers.</p>
<p>RVM: I understand how you feel about not wanting to stop the process. I’m thrilled that my daughter was set with her top choice so early, but I am a little bit bummed that we don’t need to do any return visits. I love college visits also.</p>
<p>I do think it’s great for the kid to narrow things down, finish testing and get applications done early. They have to write the essays anyway, why not get them done in the fall? I think that 5 schools is fine as long as your son likes them all and has appropriate matches and safeties. My daughter applied to 5 schools in October and had 4 acceptances by mid-December. It’s made the rest of her senior year very relaxed.</p>
<p>Several of us on this thread have younger children, so you can help us! ;)</p>
<p>The 2nd time around will be a totally different experience, but thanks to this thread, I have a great list to start from! (But it will be awhile before we begin in earnest) I’m almost positive we will not do ED the 2nd time around, so will look for schools with rolling and EA, something I definitely learned through cc!</p>
<p>I understand about loving the process. I am a planner. A massive planner. For a while, it was planning our annual family cruise (so I was on Cruise Critic dot com all the time). In the middle of that, I planned a Bar and a Bat Mitzvah. That was a blast. My college roommate and I were in the throes of that together so, even though we had different ideas about the celebration, we had such a good time together planning. Now, it’s the college process, which I love (especially bc I have a whole different focus and different group of schools with DS). I’m sure I will miss that when he begins college, but it will be on to the next thing. I won’t be ready for weddings… I think it’s going to be the project of selling my house and moving somewhere warm. Won’t care about good public schools by then! Always need a project!</p>
<p>LINYMOM - I am the exact same way! I like to research and really delve into a topic. I agree with you - once S2 is off to college in 1.5 years - I will need a new project - not that I will desert cc, lol. Thinking about where to retire - now that sounds like fun!</p>
<p>LINYMOM - yes we are close enough for a real cosmo session Lets talk pm on that…They had a date - next sept - but had not signed any contract - we were going the following week to do that, but when the issue of no rabbi came up we did not. Whats her rush is a good question. Always seems like shes afraid to lose him and since his parents married young they were all for it…as was he. i was definitely controlling in the beginning but backed off so i could get my daughter back.</p>
<p>LINYMOM and CCC - sounds like we are kindred spirits…I suffer from NMS (neurotic mother syndrome ) . I “try” not to let it get in the way but…</p>
<p>Spectrum…omg i am so glad that your son is OK! How scary for all of you! NOT looking forward to my boys driving but I have a couple of years or at least 16mos before i have to worry about that (yet i already am!) my daughter was pretty good from the start but she got into an accident on black ice…spin out…i think it teaches them that they are not invincible but what a way to learn. </p>
<p>MHC - its not the religion thats the problem. Its the wedding with only a priest. (Ok that being said, of course i would rather him be jewish. but if he was someone who had more ambition in life, encouraged her to stay in school, be who she could be - he was never one for school but she was a great student.) I don’t know if she is getting pressure from his family for this or what. But her lack of respect for honoring her faith and her famly’s faith is mindboggling. Whats really funny (or not) is that she seems to have stollen my play book and uped it a notch. I dated/married her italian/polish catholic father to **** off mine THought I really loved him at first…but i finished school and was out on my own, and when I met him, he was gainfully employed - we met at work. HEs a loser, she calls him her sperm donor now - but her polish catholic fiance is very much like him…and of course she will never see that. But hey, neither did I, and i was older. My dad told me if he lost this job he would never get another one. Told him he was nuts…and basically dead on right…he has worked maybe 9mos out of the past 19 years. So I guess we all have to learn it for ourselves…So hard to watch.</p>
<p>Just dropped my son off at JFK for his flight to Spain and 6 mos semester abroad in Seville and Europe. So excited, happy and expectant. Even more so than when we dropped him off for college the first time. Going off on a boy’s adventure to see and live in places he’s heard about all his life. Looking at his face and listening to his eager chatter was one of those times worth the price of admission to being a parent. I even snapped a picture of him at the TSA gate and sent it to my ex-wife.</p>
<p>On the way home, so many different thoughts: of other fathers who see their sons off to the army,… or war,… of spectrum seeing and hugging her/his son after the accident.</p>
<p>Damn, I’m beginning to feel like John Boehner here.</p>
<p>mhc: we dropped our daughter off on Monday at JFK to go to London for the semester; there were both kids and parents crying…so you are not alone!!..it felt like the sleepaway camp bus…</p>
<p>One of her good HS friends is going to Seville too!! don’t know if she left today…</p>
<p>Oh, Spectrum, I am so glad that your son is OK! How scary for everyone!</p>
<p>I’m up for Philly - but it would be great to wait until the weather breaks - when were you all thinking about? I have to request days off way in advance, and can’t always get them.</p>
<p>gerbil, I am glad that this is on hold with a dose of reality about the cost…it is something though how patterns in families repeat themselves. What do her girlfriends think about this, I wonder? Do they see what this guy is like?</p>
<p>Stayathome, you really do understand Jewish mothers!</p>
<p>mhc and rodney, best wishes to your kids as they go for experiences abroad. mhc, which school in Spain will your son attend? Is your son staying with a “senora”? My son went to Icade in Madrid. The great thing was that he made the soccer team there! He never would have made the team at his college here. </p>
<p>justmy2cents and emilybee, thanks for your perspective and for sharing what you did.</p>
<p>NOT to bring up football again, but perhaps there is something that we could LEARN from Steeler Nation. I think that Steeler identity, even in the Steeler Diaspora, may have more l’dor v’dor than Jewish identity. What are we doing right here? OK, I won’t say anything more.</p>
<p>Wow, mhc48 and rodney…my S1 talks about wanting to do a semester abroad, and I think it sounds great and exciting, but I don’t know how I’ll handle it when it’s actually time to let him go. I’m having a hard enough time anticipating him leaving me to go to college in the fall.</p>
<p>chocchipcookie…in Michigan they can start drivers ed at 14yrs 9 months. That means he could be doing it now, but w/ winter weather and midterms this week, there’s no way I was going to have him do that. He’s disappointed that he has to wait until the summer, especially since a lot of his friends took it last summer/this past fall. I am in no hurry :)</p>
<p>The semester abroad thing kind of freaks me out - not sure if I am ready for that. I like that some of the schools S2 is considering have a shorter 3-week trip abroad as an option - maybe doing 2 of those - having 2 different experiences while not being away for an entire semester would be an option. DH and I are not well-traveled. A few short trips to Bermuda/Aruba/St. Thomas - that’s about it. Not that I don’t want my kids to have more experiences than I have had - it just worries me. (What doesn’t worry me? Oy!)</p>
<p>mhc - you really crack me up. I appreciate the poignancy of the moment - but you are funny as you re-tell it.</p>
<p>^^RVM: different strokes for different kids; </p>
<p>I never doubted that my older one could and would spend a semester abroad, but on her terms: she would only do a program where she could be in a dorm or a school-sponsored apartment within the city she was studying in; no home stays for her…and her courses had to qualify for her merit scholarship to apply; kind of limited the options which were fine with us; Syracuse runs their own programs with their own centers with their own professors in only 3 or 4 places…</p>
<p>my younger one has already decided that one of the reasons that Elon was “the place for her” was because of the winter term options; she actually even said last night that she plans on doing three of the winter terms trips (freshman year she thinks everyone does winter term at school) and, possibly, a summer one…she also wants to do the Elon in LA program one summer…I guess she will be a busy one…already committed to do a pre-serve program this summer long before orientation…but has no intention of doing a semester…</p>
<p>agree with assessment of mhc; how poignant!!</p>
<p>@ momjr #5064: S is a jr @ JMU. Loves it. He became very active from the start with Hillel & AEPi, is concentrating more on AEPi now but keeps busy with both groups. I think there may also be a Jewish sorority on campus (may be colony status). Jewish community is small, however, so you have to go looking for the activities, they won’t come and find you. And S says there is some overlap between Hillel & the Jewish greek groups so you do run into many of the same people. The kids seem to have a lot of fun - S is doing more Jewish-related stuff than I did in my college and we had a much larger Jewish population. Local Jewish community is small, the rabbi (who we happen to know from his previous life) splits his time between Harrisonburg & Staunton. Hillel & AEPi also get together with chapters at nearby schools, esp UVA and Tech.</p>
<p>Other folks looking @ schools in Mid-Atlantic w Jewish presence: D is a HS Sr, so we’re at it again. Strongest Jewish communities she saw are at Pitt & UMD. She’s very active in USY, so that is going to be a factor. </p>
<p>PM me if you have more questions about JMU’s Jewish scene; I saw this thread mentioned in an email from CC and I’m not likely to watch it; seems more like a close-knit circle of internet friends and I’m intruding here.</p>
<p>Another benefit of University of Delaware - they offer tons of study abroad opportunities during their long winter break. Pretty sure DD is going to do one next winter. It’s only 3-4 weeks. I can handle that. (Thank you, sleep away camp, for the preparation.)</p>
<p>Trying to catch up on all the posts on this thread - lots of interesting and helpful reading!</p>
<p>For those who either know kids there, or went and visited with their own kids during the search process, can you share your impressions of Clark, Drew, Muhlenberg, Hobart & William Smith, Ithaca and/or Hartwick? These are schools I am considering taking my son to visit, and am trying to gather more info about student life, and also Jewish life, at these colleges. Thanks for any info you can share!</p>
<p>Muhlenberg: very strong Jewish population and active student life; was #2 on my daughter’s list…a little small for her but she would have been very happy; we know alot of kids there who are very happy</p>
<p>Ithaca: definitely visit; my daughter really liked it; it stayed on the list for RD…also know a bunch of kids there who are happy</p>
<p>HWS: very small and remote, but beautiful; not as stong Jewish life as the above, but definitely active…</p>
<p>Herewego2: Welcome! It’s always nice to get a new perspective. Thanks for sharing your son’s experiences at JMU. Several parents on this thread are interested in the school. The Jewish kids I know who attend love the school but haven’t been particularly involved in Jewish life. I didn’t know that they have an AEPi chapter. RVM, that might be a good option for your son. My nephew at another school never thought he’d join a frat, but he loves AEPi. </p>
<p>MHC and Rodney: I’m sure that your kids will have amazing experiences abroad. My D1 studied in Florence last summer. She loved her program and got a chance to travel around Italy on the weekends. </p>
<p>By the way guys, as Herewego2 mentioned, this thread is featured in an email CC sent out. If anyone new is lurking, feel free to join in.</p>
<p>HereWeGo2 - welcome!!! Thank you so much for that insight into JMU - that was really helpful. You are not in any way, shape or form intruding - fresh info and new ideas - we need more of that - not less. One of my son’s closest Jewish friends is very interested in Virginia Tech - so I am thrilled to hear that JMU and Va Tech Hillels do things together - I did not know that - but it makes sense. I am really glad to hear your son likes JMU as it is one of the 5 schools my son will be applying to in the fall.</p>
<p>On another note - what e-mail? Someone please forward it to me or post it here - I have no idea what this is.</p>
<p>My daughter is a juior looking at schools with big football teams and a large jewish population along with diversity- we live in PA and my son is at UCF in orlando and loves it- he joined AEPi- My D is a 3.7 student weighted but her ACT so far is only a 20- she will keep taking it- We thought of Charleston too but there is no football team- What about Georgia or South Carolina? UCF is a great choice too</p>
Lets talk pm on that…They had a date - next sept - but had not signed any contract - we were going the following week to do that, but when the issue of no rabbi came up we did not. Whats her rush is a good question. Always seems like shes afraid to lose him and since his parents married young they were all for it…as was he. i was definitely controlling in the beginning but backed off so i could get my daughter back.</p>