<p>Hi, don’t get me wrong about the “A” student stuff. I’m happy to have anyone and everyone here to share information and support. The thing I have any concern over on a thread like this is not when “A” students chime in, but when the discussion turns too much to “A” schools. Then it becomes same-old, same-old CC … hey, maybe that’s why the “A” student threads faded?</p>
<p>Anyway, we’ll keep talking and having fun here. And the wide spectrum of definitions is what makes it interesting - about Jewishness, about students’ needs, about anything. Honestly, we can’t always agree on what a “B” student is! And for the record, I have had an A student with great scores and also a B/B+/A- student (depending on the year, and how you calculate it), who had mediocre tests scores for years and then suddenly had a great one. So I’ve been around a few turns myself.</p>
<p>Interestingly, she got very turned onto Brandeis herself (she applied once she got the better test score, and while she’s been in Boston dozens of times hasn’t visited yet). I don’t think she’ll be turned off when she finally gets there during spring break - I’m familiar with the campus and I think she’ll like it. She loved Bard and I think Brandeis has a very similar blend of kooky new buildings and kooky old buildings. Plus Brandeis is less isolated, which she is OK with at Bard but only because she likes it so much generally (and there’s that very tempting train ride to NYC). It will be interesting if she actually manages to get into both of them and has to decide. </p>
<p>I don’t think Bard has ever come up on this thread, regarding Jewish life. That’s not a hugely important factor for this kid - she very much identifies with being Jewish, but is vegetarian (not kosher like her sister), and really doesn’t mind being in a minority, maybe even likes it. I think, too, that being virtually alone as a Jew growing up we figure anywhere in NY/NJ/MA etc. is bound to be an improvement, so we aren’t as focused on the details as people with other needs.</p>
you just described my D’12 exactly. I put Bard on her list (a list in which she has little interest at the moment), but it doesn’t meet her #1 criterion: warm weather :(</p>
<p>I hope you all won’t find this presumptuous, but I too feel like you guys are my ‘peeps’ (and I’m not Jewish though my H is). H and I attended Judaism classes before we got married, but ultimately I felt too tied to my own family heritage to convert. The class was very worthwhile, however, and over the years our family has loved sharing in Jewish religious and cultural traditions. Both of our daughters consider themselves Jewish, though of course under Jewish law they aren’t.</p>
<p>D2 goes to Bard. Great school, especially if you can write a lot.</p>
<p>D’s perception of the Jewish community is that it’s populated mostly by nonjews. Meaning, it’s trying so hard to be inclusive that the more observant students (and there are a few of them, including my D) are turned off by it. The rabbi is very nice. It does tend toward the liberal end of things, not surprisingly. (My info may be a little dated, since she was away from campus for the fall semester and just returned this weekend.)</p>
<p>D got a card in the mail today acknowledging receipt of her application. “Dear Prospective Bardian …” She laughed. She gets such a kick out of that school, and would really like to go there if her auditioned programs don’t work out (it’s fantastic for theatre).</p>
<p>Most of the Jews are non-Jews. That’s going to crack me up for a while.</p>
<p>I logged onto CC this morning before 6 am. I got a message that the boards were down for service. I almost suffered serious symptoms of withdrawal. LOL!</p>
<p>How could this thread be on the second page?
Have we mentioned Farleigh Dickinson in NJ? Does anyone know anything about it? I think that there are two campuses, one having a lot of commuters and the other having a lot of residential students. I know that a poster from CA is looking for a school near NYC; would this fit the bill?</p>
<p>Levirm. I know Fairleigh Dickinson. Many years ago my sister went there. it was called fairly ridiculous. I am hoping my b student can do a little better. She wants a rah rah school with a greek life. I do not think this school will do it for her. Thanks for the suggestion. Don’t mean to sound unappreciative. When you have a B student, it can be hard to live with the current realities of choice. My sights are set a little higher. I am sure I will have to adjust them. I would rather see her at Arizona, Boulder or Kansas if we can’t do better. </p>
<p>“How could this thread be on the second page?”</p>
<p>haha; busy day…</p>
<p>saw Race to Nowhere this morning with my work peeps…kind of like preaching to the choir in this case but very well done and very interesting…it’s a great watch for the parents of a “B” student; made me realize that my daughter “got it” earlier than I did that she wasn’t going to “make it” on the treadmill…</p>
<p>socaldad, I know little about Farleigh Dickinson, but it’s possible that a great deal has changed since your sister was a student there. Once upon a time USC was a second-rate school for well-off kids who couldn’t get into UC* and Pomona College was a nice option for strong B+ students, with merit money to entice A students–and we all know how those schools now roll If they don’t have rah-rah and greek life then it may be a nonstarter, but your D may decide that she likes proximity to Manhattan more than rah-rah. </p>
<p>peonies, your D’s are most def considered Jewish within the reform movement! And you can call us your peeps, but you can also call us your mishpocha (family) :D</p>
<p>*Some of us might say during football season that this is still true of USC. ;)</p>
<p>This is my favorite thread on CC. I was thinking about how we found our “peeps” here - a place that feels familiar and welcoming. It’s the same thing we’re looking for our kids to find at college.</p>
<p>socal, I know that you are more focused on the rah-rah and you have introduced a great list. I think that there was another CA poster who was asking about Pace, Hoftsra, Drew, Purchase, and so forth and that was the poster who I thought might want to check out Farleigh Dickinson. I don’t remember who it is - it was many pages back! I honestly don’t know anything about F-D but just thought I’d ask people here.</p>
<p>I know there are other threads discussing the pros and cons of ED - but for those reading this thread - if you have a junior - are you considering ED for next year? What are your thoughts on this? Why might your child go in that direction - or why not? I bring this up because we are considering this for S2. Some of the smaller schools that we have discussed - Elon and Muhlenberg come quickly to mind - American also - give significant bumps in admissions rates for applying ED.</p>
<p>momjr - I read your line about a “place that feels familiar and welcoming” and the theme song from Cheers popped into my head - “Where everybody know your name” - which is kind of funny since we only know screen names. But I like the sentiment!</p>
<p>On ED, its just about economics. We aren’t facing it with our junior now because he is pretty confident that his number one choice is a state school. With S1 it was a clear decison. The question we asked ourselves was, could we afford to send S1 to his first choice school regardless of what we got in FA. Our answer was that we could not. He therefore didn’t apply ED. This may have cost him admission but we would do it again. BTW it was a huge surprise to us (probably shouldn’t have been) that based on FAFSA our EFC was higher than tuition costs. We had some of those special circumstances that we were able to work though with S’s current school but it would have been a really difficult position to be in if he had applied ED, esp since the school was not one that guaranteed to meet need.</p>
<p>The bottom line is if you aren’t relying on FA or if you have reason to be confident that school’s FA system will meet your minimum need to make attending the school doable then ED seems like a good idea. If there are doubts, I wouldn’t apply ED. You can get out of ED for financial reasons but it seems like the risk of holding up other applications would be more stress than I would want to deal with.</p>
<p>I would suggest calling the FA office of the possible ED school at the end of this school year. Tell them your S loves the school, wants to apply ED and can you both figure out the COA. If you can live with that figure, then apply ED!</p>
<p>That’s what we did. We called and spoke to the Director of FA, told them my S wanted to go there and apply ED and we came up with a possible FA number and my H and I said it was manageable enough to give my S permission to go for it and apply ED!</p>
<p>The only downside is that you don’t have other FA packages to compare that too. There are definitely pros & cons of both ED & RD…you just have to weigh as a family which way to go.</p>
<p>chocchip - I am thinking along those lines. S1’s senior year and S2’s freshman year are the same year - which means our EFC will be lower and a better chance for FA - at least for that one overlap year. I like the admissions boost for ED - I think S2 needs it. He looks very borderline in the EA pool - but the ED acceptance rate is very high. The school is supposedly need blind - but I think I need reassurance from the FA folks that applying for FA really, truly has no impact on the admissions decision. If S2 was still interested in exploring/visiting more schools - I would put ED on the back burner - but he has been pretty confident of his first choice pick for a while. But I’m just curious who else is considering ED and their reasoning.</p>
<p>I think the ED conversation is particularly relevant for our “B” students as there are schools we have discussed that might be very reachy for a “B” student applying EA or RD - but apply ED - and suddenly they have a decent shot.</p>
