Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1)

Parents Forum
7401

<p>mhc - mazel tov on Delaware - it sounds like the perfect choice!</p>

<p>vitrac - one comment on Elon - I think access to a car will affect how someone feels about things to do off campus. My older son is at Wake Forest - which is just 40 minutes or so away from Elon - and he has many friends with cars and will have a car this year. They often leave campus to go to concerts/sporting events at the Greensboro Coliseum, to away football or basketball games at other NC universities and to play golf. Having this mobility makes a big difference - and these are all things that Elon students would be able to do as well. So - I agree that there is not much one can to immediately off campus - but with a car - more options to explore.</p>

<p>Samtalya - we saw the AEPi signs promoting their event when we were at CofC - and yes - those were very crowded tours. Glad your son is so happy with Elon.</p>

<p>vitrac - we certainly have the same taste in schools! We have not seen Richmond yet and I am hesitating to go because I feel S2 is not likely to be admitted and I am concerned about the workload and difficulty. It seems more like an “A” student school that a “B+” student school. When S2 was saying his GC wanted him to add a reach - Richmond was my suggestion - but I’m not sure it is worth the trip. How did you view it from a workload standpoint - say compared to Elon and JMU?</p>

<p>socaldad - I believe you when you say you are exhausted! That was an ambitious trip. Thanks for posting and get some rest!</p>

7402

<p>BTW, Happy Easter to those who celebrate and join us on this thread.</p>

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<p>For parents of juniors - are you done visiting for now? Do you have more visits planned? What about the fall?</p>

<p>I guess we could be done. Clearly, I don’t want to be. I would be very happy to do some day trips in the fall - see Towson for real, maybe a JMU Open House or a Susquehanna Action Day. I think it would be useful for S2 to see these schools again and learn more about majors and other programs - don’t really need to tour a second time. I will change it up though - have him bring a friend and let the boys explore on their own. </p>

<p>What is everyone else planning? (Maybe you are just recovering from this round of visits and not thinking ahead just yet - but I live in planning ahead mode).</p>

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<p>RVM- Re: Richmond-Having not taken the official tour, I can’t comment on the workload situation. Sorry! If you do visit, the hotel we stayed in The Jefferson, was wonderful. Also toured the State Capitol Building and that was fabulous too. </p>

<p>Regarding Elon, when D2 pictures her life off campus, it is to shop, eat and perhaps drink/dance. At least for now, she has no interest in sports (participating or viewing). A car won’t help with that (and I am not eager to buy one). I am happy to cross schools off the list, even if I like them. But in my next life, I’m going to Elon.</p>

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<p>RVM, you crack me up. Today I am just concentrating on getting laundry done!! S is studying for enviro AP test which is next week. i think our visits are done unless something drastically changes over the summer.</p>

<p>Elon is a little isolated, but as RVM said lots of the students go off to Greensboro for concerts etc. Many go over to Chapel Hill and Charlotte is close enough too. I have to say after visiting NC for the first time, there is lots of opportunities for jobs and places to live after college. Loved that it is easy for frosh to have cars and will let S take his. Great mongolian restaurant in Burlington that kids can use their meal cards. still if you are looking for city type shopping near by, then you have 30 minutes to go. The local mall (owned by my sister’s husbands family!!) has a Dillards and Belks. kids we met said that there was so much to do on campus that they just pop over to burlington or CH on the weekends. the school has shuttle buses to other areas too. Vitrac wish we met on our visit, i imagine, you arrived when we left!!</p>

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<p>Linymom</p>

<p>Have you considered Dartmouth? Engineering school, low student population around 5000 and the Hillel has been great- way more kids than I thought there would be. S1 loves the place.Only negative obviously is the weather/cold.</p>

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<p>LINYMOM: A friend’s D is at College of Charleston, very involved with Hillel, and loves it. It does have more female than males - maybe that’s a good thing for your S? Also, they have an Honors College if that fits your S.
Here’s the info on Hillel: <a href=“http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Campus.aspx?AgencyId=17306[/url]”>http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Campus.aspx?AgencyId=17306&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7408

<p>I’m trying to catch up on all the news after a wonderful trip to Jamaica. We had four sunny days at a beautiful resort. It was very nice to have this time with my daugter before she graduates.</p>

<p>Welcome to Franfur and Dream. </p>

<p>I’m glad that all the college visits went well. Socaldad, I’m so glad that your daughter found several schools that look like good fits. I really enjoyed hearing all the detailed reports. It’s interesting to see what appeals to each family.</p>

<p>MHC: Congrats on Delaware! It’s a great choice.</p>

<p>Vitrac: My D1 was infatuated with UNC-CH when we visited. My neice attends and is very happy there. You might want to look at UMDCP for a similar, less selective option.</p>

<p>LINYMOM: I’m glad to hear that your son liked JHU. I gradutated in '81. It’s a great school on a beautiful campus. </p>

<p>RVM: It’s interesting that Elon is back at the top of your son’s list. Sometimes visiting a variety of schools just confirms your first instinct.</p>

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<p>rockvillemom, I know you’ve said your family likes golf. If Virginia Tech remains on the list, a visit back in the fall might be fun to check out the golf courses-the on campus course and the nearby Pete Dye course that is the home of the VT golf team. The good thing about VT is that you really can get by without a car. The town is right there by the campus and the bus service is good. I thought the University of Richmond was beautiful but it does seem isolated. It is really a contained campus unlike campuses like VT,UVa, UMD,JMU.etc.</p>

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<p>MHC - Congrats on Delaware</p>

<p>We just got back from our first colleges visits for DS-1, soph interested in Engineering, will probably be B plus, A minus kid with high test scores. Lots of robotics and math EC. He seems to like schools in cold areas.</p>

<p>SUNY - Binghamton - DS liked school, described the campus as “utilitarian” which he thought was a plus. No students on campus though due to break. He said “I could be happy here and the price is right”. Even as Out of State it is affordable. DH and I could also see him there, lots of student diversity, free tutors and new engineering building being openning next year as well as new dorm.</p>

<p>RIT - Didn’t like the feel of campus, students didn’t seem happy and admissions wouldn’t give admission rates for engineering students. Didn’t help that student magazine had cover story on last years SGA President resigning due to an incident with another student and was know running for SGA VP. The mix of ice and snow during the tour didn’t help, dorms are set far a part from classes and there was very little diversity of campus. I really thought he would love this school, I thought it would have the right “geeky” (in a good way) feel - I was wrong, will try again next fall with RPI or WPI.</p>

<p>University of Rochester - I think this was his favorite. Great campus, very few required courses. The energy just felt right, now if we could find that for $20,000 less. I want to go back to school here, beautiful library, great info session. You can stay 5th year tuition free and study something you didn’t have time for during your first four years (good for engineer students with interests outside of science.) I think he could get in, but won’t get much aid - so any schools about the same size, with engineering, campus in small city but set aside and Jewish population that cost less. </p>

<p>Syracuse - Liked the engineering department and the school, but it was too rah rah for DS. Dad as a life long OrangeMan fan was not happy. One of our 6 year twins was sold on going. Dad went on this tour, I took the other 3 to science musuem, we used the Hillel parking lot as a meeting spot. The Hillel building looked very nice, right across the street from Frats, playing very loud rap music. The school (from what I saw) seemed very nice, the city seemed like it had seen nicer days. </p>

<p>DS leaved for Saint Louis this Wednesday for First Robotics, they are taking a 16 plus hour bus ride, I can’t imagine with the airport closed (hopeful it will re-open soon) how the teams from Isreal and other far away places are getting there. After seeing the pictures, it’s a miracle there weren’t more injuries or deaths.</p>

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<p>I feel the exhaustion of all of you who have been on week-long college visits!</p>

<p>I appreciate all the suggestions for DS. Thank you!</p>

<p>While I could never get him to look at Dartmouth (he doesn’t even want to go north to Boston), Tulane is definitely a possibility (although not a safety - probably in the same category as Lehigh and Miami). I will check out College of Charleston and Georgia Tech (are there Jews there?). Will give me something else to research.</p>

<p>I think we all deserve to relax now for a while. Let the kids focus on AP exams, finals, regents (in NY), subject tests (note to self to register for June test for DS) and any other standardized testing. DS also coming to the end of the tennis season - conferences, playoffs, etc. I think he’s done with thinking about colleges for a while!</p>

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<p>Sounds like everyone deserves a much needed rest! Good jobs moms & dads! Pat yourselves on the back to a much needed break after navigating airports, etc. all week! And the weather delays! </p>

<p>Mom24boys: I know what you mean about St. Louis…S1 had a friend taking another look at WashU this coming Mon. Trip was cancelled.</p>

<p>Mom24boys and UMich: my S2 begins Vex Robotics tomorrow, yay! I will be following your college tours as my S2 will be a B/B+ engineering student. We had looked at Rochester for S1 and we all fell in love with that school! It may be too difficult for S2, however it seemed like a nice, quiet campus (for those that like that) and many more Jews than first thought.</p>

<p>Momjr: Welcome back from Jamaica!</p>

<p>Jeez, Elon is definitely benefitting from this thread! :)</p>

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<p>@LINYMOM: I tried the ShopRite…it’s awesome! They had so many K for P products.
Re: colleges that may give merit for your son…
American (urban, but not really), JMU, Pitt (urban, but not really).</p>

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<p>Vitrac and Samtalya - re shopping near Elon - you did note the brand new Tanger outlets, right? </p>

<p>momjr - I know - the whole Elon journey has been a little odd. We had dinner with my parents and sister last night and of course they asked him about his college preferences - and he said Elon is his first choice. I am just keeping my mouth shut. I would LOVE to ask a few questions - but I am guessing that he just was in a bad mood when we were there in April - but that it did not change how he felt about the school itself and that after seeing VT - which was what he thought he might want - he realized how much he liked Elon better. </p>

<p>sevmom - thanks for mentioning golf at VT. I had made a comment on the VT thread about the weather and golf being better in NC and was immediately corrected that VT’s weather is not very different from NC (I’m still a little skeptical there) and about the campus golf course. There was a lot to like about VT - but living off campus as a sophomore makes me very uncomfortable and S2 felt it was too big. For example, one of the intro business classes that every business major will take freshman year has 500 students! Now - they do break into smaller sections for a weekly “recitation” - but that is a hugely different experience from the class sizes at Elon, CofC or Susquehanna and I think it shocked S2 into reevaluating just how important big time football is in the scheme of things.</p>

<p>chochip - it’s a long story - but Elon is actually aware of this thread.</p>

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<p>LINYMOM - according to their Hillel website - GT has 625 Jewish students - both grad and undergrad,</p>

<p>[Hillel</a> at Georgia Tech - Campus Center for Jewish Life](<a href=“http://www.gthillel.org/]Hillel”>http://www.gthillel.org/)</p>

<p>There is also a Jewish Student Union</p>

<p><a href=“http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/jsu/jewlife.html[/url]”>http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/jsu/jewlife.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This Hillel annual report is a year old - but may still be of interest:</p>

<p><a href=“http://issuu.com/hillel/docs/gt_2009-10_annual_report[/url]”>http://issuu.com/hillel/docs/gt_2009-10_annual_report&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>@LINYMOM:</p>

<p>Northeastern, Franklin and Marshall, UConn, Clark.</p>

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<p>rockvillemom, I did see your post on the VT forum. I also would have guessed that there would be more snow,colder weather at VT than Elon but the posts about that did make me curious about it. It’s good that your son visited VT since that was a school he had asked about . I know son at VT has had both large and small classes. Son at UVa had large introductory courses in things like Physics so I think that is pretty common at bigger schools. The classes do seem to get smaller once the introductory classes are out of the way. I am not at all trying to push VT for your son as it seems he has made up his own mind that he really likes Elon better. I was curious though about your comment about concerns about living off campus as a sophomore at VT. My son does live off campus as a sophomore but could have remained on campus if he had wanted to. It’s great that your son seems to be figuring out what he prefers and is able to talk about it with you. The visits seemed to have been very successful for you.</p>

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<p>rvm, yes noted the outlets, but S could care less. i am interested in going to some of the other nc cities on our next visit.</p>

<p>not only does elon know about cc thread in terms of hillel, but i sat with the president at the seder and he is aware of the thread also. so is c of c. seems we get around!!</p>

<p>rvm, very very happy for you. i have to wear a muzzle when dealing with D, so i know how you feel!</p>

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<p>Just spent a bit of time catching up on this thread.</p>

<p>Congrats to MHC I am sure that your D will be very happy at Delaware.</p>

<p>SOCALDAD - glad your D found schools that she knows she will get into and really likes. </p>

<p>Update on our trip.</p>

<p>Quick recap - D loved Miami (Ohio). Partly do to a personalized tour by a professor in her department.</p>

<p>Next up was Illinois - D did not like it at all. We found the campus to be unattractive. D had a personal tour of the department, didn’t like it. Neither the person who gave the tour, or what we saw of the department. She already decided she wasn’t applying, we skipped the info session and tour and headed for St. Louis.</p>

<p>Wash U - WOW! Can’t really say much, but WOW! D is an A- student and this would be a reach. Again, WOW! Everything from info session, campus, tour of department, just WOW!</p>

<p>Indiana University - She liked the campus a lot, nice department. </p>

<p>I know that there was a discussion on communication with our teens. Getting reactions was a little like pulling teeth! I want to discuss, analyze, compare, discuss again. D gives opinion, says a few words and is done. </p>

<p>Other than the above, I did get that she prefers both Miami and Indiana to Delaware and will probably take it off the list. I believe she liked the department facilities better at both Miami and Indiana and I could see that. I think she also believes Delaware is too close to home. Or should I say…to close to mom!</p>

<p>She LOVED Wash U, but that is a reach. I do have to say she is realistic. She would go there if accepted, but she did say she could be very happy at either Miami or Indiana.</p>

<p>Next up for schools to check out are University of Michigan and Tulane.</p>

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<p>mdmom - sounds like a great trip. Interesting to note that girls can be limited in their college visit discussions - I was assuming that was more of a boy trait. Would you consider ED at Wash U to enhance her chances? </p>

<p>sevmom - my concern with housing at VT is that they seem to have dorms mostly for freshmen - although you have a chance at getting a dorm room as a sophomore if you want it - or the option of living off campus in an apartment. Unless we missed something - I did not see what I consider “middle ground” - which is on campus suite-style housing for upperclassmen. My older son at Wake has had a single within a suite this year and will again have this set-up next year. While he technically lives on campus - it feels more like an apartment than a dorm. But - it is on campus - so it includes cleaning of the bathroom, kitchen and common areas. We also do not have to deal with a landlord and since it is on campus housing - the cost is included in the calculation of his FA package. Elon and SU have similar housing options and I personally prefer this to living off campus in an apartment. </p>

<p>I do wish that VT offered early action as JMU does. I would be fine with him applying EA and seeing what happens and visiting again. My feeling is that since all of the other schools on S2’s list are either rolling or offer EA - he will have most decisions in hand before VT’s January deadline even arrives. So at this point - I doubt he will even apply. But you never know - he may change his mind. Again.</p>