<p>Mhc: </p>
<p>This has happened before where airline employees did not know what the tefillin boxes were for! You would think that is should be part of their training across the board since it’s harmless! They should be taught what to look for and have some familiarity with it!</p>
<p>Good luck to all the kids and their parents making college decisions! May the decision be an easy one and wishing 4 good years ahead.</p>
<p>anyone know anything about Florida Atlantic in Boca- My d is a good student but is not a good test traker and only has a 20 on act so far- she took sats but we dont have the scores and will take them both agan- My son goes to UBF and loves it- I hear FAU is a beaautiful campus and a lot of Jewsh kids-</p>
<p>I live about 25 minutes from FAU in Boca Raton. The campus is beautiful and has lots of brand new (and very expensive) housing options and new buildings. They are starting their own medical school soon. This school used to have the “commuter school” status/feel but has changed much in the past 5 years and now has the dorm/apartment space to support a residential population. It is up and coming and known to be a descent place to go to school. Boca is home to many Jews (many of whom migrated from the Tristate area). Since FAU has seen such a renaissance, the stats of the incoming students has also rising dramatically. It is no longer a safety school for the local high school slackers. Many of my friends kids decided to stay near home and attend FAU and all are very happy. It is down the block from the Town Center Mall in Boca (amazing high end shopping) and across the street from a huge upscale strip mall with Panera bread, PF Chang’s, Whole Food’s Market…what else could a Jewish college student ask for?</p>
<p>I generally think of Boca as where Jewish bubbies from NY/NJ go to retire and kvetch in the sun - not realizing it was also a university locale!</p>
<p>Some quick facts:</p>
<pre><code>* 28,000 Students
170+ Degree Programs
7 Campuses & Sites
18 NCAA Sports
$112 Million/year in Financial Aid
2,500 Students Live On-campus
</code></pre>
<p>Offers a Jewish Studies program and Hillel:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.fau.edu/jewishstudies/[/url]”>http://www.fau.edu/jewishstudies/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hillelcenter.org/new/fau-pbcc.php[/url]”>http://www.hillelcenter.org/new/fau-pbcc.php</a></p>
<p>The business school and the accounting program in particular seem to be highly regarded - nursing as well. Very diverse student body. Who knew?</p>
<p>Hi all and thanks for the many good wishes. </p>
<p>I do appreciate reading the article posted by PRJ since it is a necessary reminder that anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism does, in fact, exist on many campuses. The incident at UC Irvine just happened to better publicised. </p>
<p>I will show the article to hubby and son and we’ll have a talk (probably lots of talks) about the issue. I think that a proud, well-informed Jewish student whose parents and community help to prepare him for this kind of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish behavior on campus will be equipped to deal with it. We had been alerted to the increasing number of Muslim students at De Paul in Chicago where DS was also accepted, we researched it, and just talking about how DS might respond to anti-Semitic students/faculty was a good exercise. Funny, I had posted here asking about Jewish students at Catholic schools as DS had applied to De Paul and Seattle U (accepted there, too), and a parent posted a link to the article on De Paul. I had naively been worried that there might not be Hillels or that he would be confronted by “old school” anti-Semitism, not Muslim antagonism…</p>
<p>But, he’s not going there. It is now between Purchase College and UCSC. Judging by how giddy he is this afternoon after school, Santa Cruz is winning. Woo hoo. If this comes to pass, my child can come home for Pesach, the high holy days, or even a random weekend now and then! It’s a 5 hour drive, but drive-able nonetheless, unlike NY. He’s visited the UCSC campus twice and has had Shabbat dinner at Hillel once. He can be himself entirely at this school; out, proud, and Jewish.</p>
<p>Calv1n - wishing you and your son all the best. Mazel Tov!</p>
<p>From the FAU website:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>calv1n, if he doesn’t choose Santa Cruz I bet his friends will tell him to get his head examined!</p>
<p>mhc48 We went to threee admit days. While it was difficult - I felt like a travel agent, it was the best thing. My d made her decision confidently. It is much easier to put the work in now. Good luck!</p>
<p>calv1n, I love your attitude and your S’s. and your joy at the possibility of having him closer to home is palpable. mazel tov!</p>
<p>congratulations mhc and Calv1n and anyone else I missed. Hopefully the action against antisemitism will improve things at UCSC before your S gets there. Other than that it seems like a wonderful place. I think on large campus’ there is always some negativeity going on so as long as you feel that your kid has a niche and is able to respond to the issue it still can be a great experience.</p>
<p>On FAU: I have a Jewish friend whose S chose to go there in 2008 as a freshman and in 2009 he transferred out. His reason was that there was nothing to do on the weekends and he spent most weekends hanging with the few friends still on campus playing video games. He and his family visited a couple of times and really tried to get a feeling about if it was a commuter school and decided that a good number of students stayed on campus. In spite of the efforts to check it their S’s finding was that it was, at least at that time a commuter school. There biggest complaint at the time was there wasn’t enough on campus to do to bring the kids who were there together. My suggestion would be to really explore what types of activities are happening on weekends and if possible what the attendance is like and if it seems that your daughter will like enjoy participating in whatever is available. It could be that things have changed since 2008 but better to check it out as best you can.</p>
<p>When I was in Florida last month, my dad was thrilled to tell me about the amazing courses that FAU has for senior citizens. Apparently, all the “bubbies” in South Florida need intellectual stimulation!</p>
<p>My sister went to FAU in the 80’s - spent a semester there after two semesters in Ithaca, NY. I don’t know much about it because all I can think of is how she got to wear flip flops every day to class. (PS - After that, she came home to LI and went to a small private school - finally got her BA, then 2 MAs and a PhD. So FAU was a good stepping stone for her.)</p>
<p>I’m sorry - I know none of this is helpful. </p>
<p>However, I love Boca and have heard about how the school has upgraded, improved, etc. And, you’ll definitely have the Jewish vibe down there.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s non-Jewish friend’s will attend FAU in the fall. She is a “B” student who really wanted a warm weather location. Her sister attended FAU and had a good experience there. My D is looking forward to escaping the cold and visiting her friend next winter. </p>
<p>Cal: UCSC sounds like a great choice for your son, despite the recent anti-semitism. I think this is an issue on many campuses, and unfortunately, our kids will have to deal with it. I understand how you feel about having him closer to home. We’ve been so lucky to have D1 two hours away. She really enjoys coming home for the Holidays, even if it’s just for one night.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That is great news. Congrats.</p>
<p>mhc48: kudos to you guys, too. I’m glad that you guys have such excellent choices!</p>
<p>gailbeth: If you get serious about FAU, an overnight visit is a good idea. I think that it is still very much a commuter campus, although that is probably changing slowly.</p>
<p>and here I was just catching up and going to post that UCSC is the DREAM school for alot of kids…it is absolutely beautiful…</p>
<p>but PRJ, that is unsettling…</p>
<p>and just a rant for a Wed morning: for those lurkers of “B” students who haven’t posted…I have been contacted off-line by a number of Jewish parents whose students have been admitted to Elon…</p>
<p>many of them do not want their kids attending ANY college with less than a 20% Jewish population according to their communications with me…</p>
<p>I am not going to lie to them…so I am stating here and going forth…</p>
<p>If a 5-10% Jewish population is NOT for your kid, don’t bother having them apply to Elon…don’t take up another person’s spot…</p>
<p>It is a wonderful, warm welcoming place…but do the research like everyone else is…</p>
<p>I literally had someone say to me, “I want all my childrens’ friends to be Jewish; I want him to live with other Jewish kids, spend all his time with Jewish kids”…um, Elon is not the school for you…</p>
<p>rant over…</p>
<p>For those of you who do NOT care if there is a significant Jewish presence on campus, know that some schools may be willing to give you diversity money to attract your student. My d was just offered an additional amount of “heritage” money from one of her top choices based on her Jewish heritage. I know that for many of you a larger Jewish presence is important, but in case there are others out there like myself, just wanted to mention it. I can PM you the name if you wish .</p>
<p>Rodney - that’s a shame about students applying to Elon and then deciding it is not “Jewish enough” for them to attend. But - I know some great kids who are waitlisted who would love their spots!</p>
<p>Jumping on this thread for more Elon talk. I’m one of the token non-Jews, but my son is a B student so I feel sort of at home here. 
My son is just got his acceptance from Elon via e-mail yesterday. We both really liked Elon, but so far has not been offered any financial aid and we are one of those families with a fairly high EFC, but that’s not IRL, only in the eyes of the FAFSA people. Realistically, we need a discount for son to attend without loans. One of the things I am surprised with is that their costs for study abroad are an added expense. At other colleges that my son has been accepted to with substantial merit aid (Hartwick and Arcadia), the study abroad costs are the same as staying on campus, minus the flight. At my older kids colleges, they also didn’t pay an additional expense for study abroad. </p>
<p>On the plus side, the college itself seems very well organized and caring and the combination of an LAC with a good CS department is very attractive to my son. His cousin is also thinking of attending, which would be a fun for both of them. </p>
<p>This weekend we’re going to attend a Hartwick college event. choices, choices, choices!</p>
<p>Kathiep, can you explain how that works at Elon with abroad study costing more? Will they not apply any of the financial aid or merit money to study abroad? Or is it that study abroad costs more than classes at Elon? Oddly enough it’s costing us less for my son to study abroad this semester than it would have been had he stayed at Michigan (or maybe not so odd considering the school and tuition). It would have been the same for my D at Colgate.</p>
<p>It’s odd that Elon would generously include the costs of study, room and board for Winter Term in regular tuition and fees but not study abroad. By contrast, at UDel, Winter term tuition, room and board is not included and at over $5k is a pretty expensive alternative.</p>
<p>This may be unecessary, but just for the record, my D (and myself) are not one of those accepted at Elon who wouldn’t go due the growing but still smaller than elsewhere Jewish presence at Elon. The number of Jewish kids is one of the criteria my D will probably use, but not at all the main one.</p>
<p>I think parents need to look at not only the percentage number but that number in relation to school size. There are schools at the top of the RJ annual list which are less than 10% Jewish but the schools are huge. Eight percent feels differently at a 1500, 5,000, 17,000 and 35,000 person school. I saw that first hand at CofC vs Elon vs Texas. Knowing the comfort level is a part of the process. </p>
<p>The issue of applying to schools that aren’t a right fit is a tricky one. I don’t know the answer entirely. it is such a fluid process and there are such big changes from start to finish. I was in the nothing less than 10% group in the beginning. I had to adjust my thinking as we narrowed the possibilities based on all the factors. However, if that is a line in the sand decision than don’t bother to apply (and take another’s spot) to schools that don’t fit the profile.
I think Elon is up front with what they have to offer. Nancy does a great job of telling parents how it is.</p>