<p>I continue to pop-in and wanted to congratulate everyone on their good news as well as encourage those who have had some disappointing news. “Bloom where you are planted” is a wonderful way of looking at the future for our kids.
On another note, does anyone have kids who are headed to USY Seaboard Region Pre-Convention or USY’s International Convention in Philadelphia? It’s a small world so thought I would check.
Happy Chanukah to those who celebrate!</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, If you did ED to Elon then you won’t be considering JMU anymore? Remember you and I chatted on that thread as well.</p>
<p>names1 - yes - my son withdrew his other applications - to JMU, Univ. of South Carolina and Susquehanna. Interestingly enough - he did get an acceptance from USC last week - despite his email withdrawing his application.</p>
<p>We did really like JMU - I think that was pretty much his second choice. But we preferred the smaller size of Elon and the housing at JMU concerned me - with most kids living off campus after freshman year. Elon is constantly building new housing - with a stated goal of steadily increasing their percentage of students who live on campus. We also found that Jewish life was more vibrant at Elon - although you never know what your child will do once they are away at college and whether or not they will participate. I will say that we were very impressed with much that JMU has to offer. Their retention and graduation rates are stellar for a large public university. And S2 liked the guy to girl ratio! He rated JMU high in the categories of sports and food as well.</p>
<p>But - hopefully he made the right choice and will be happy at Elon!</p>
<p>shoppermar, the preconvention is in my town. we are walking distance to temple so lots of kids staying in our neighborhood. my neighbor is hosting 9 girls, so if anyone is staying at a home in walking distance with 8 other girls, then you will know u r on my street!! </p>
<p>we are going to punta cana tomorrow so we are not hosting. hope anyone attending has a great time.</p>
<p>Best wishes to everyone for a relaxing holiday weekend! </p>
<p>names1, minor correction re Elon. With all the admissions decisions on here, it’s hard to keep everyone straight. My D didn’t apply, so no Elon admissions decision (deferral or otherwise) for her.</p>
<p>for those Elon deferrals, my D said they accepted those that had 4.2 and higher. That’s a pretty high bar for many kids to reach.</p>
<p>This is a quote from the Admissions Dean at Elon on the EA round:</p>
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<p>They also had a large increase in EA apps - from 5400 to 6330.</p>
<p>Do note that they use a “recalculated” GPA - they add 1 point for each honors class and 2 points for each AP. So - a B in an AP class is worth 5 points rather than 3 when calculating GPA.</p>
<p>I do think that Elon is getting to be a tougher admit and am glad S2 did ED.</p>
<p>^Just as a crazy aside I keep meaning to post that “Elon” appears as an answer in the NYTimes crossword puzzle perhaps once a month or even more often. Those four-letter vowel-consonent-vowel-consonent words must be catnip to the puzzle creators. It is possible that it was by doing the puzzle that I first heard of the school many, many years ago.</p>
<p>Mutti - in what context? As the college name?</p>
<p>Oh, yes, always. “Small southern college”, “North Carolina college”; that sort of thing.</p>
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<p>Yes! That is how I first heard of Elon too.</p>
<p>Great marketing for Elon!</p>
<p>Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.</p>
<p>Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.</p>
<p>Happy movie going and Chinese food to the rest…</p>
<p>We’ll be doing the movies and Chinese food also. Enjoy the day, everyone.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend…no Chinese here (gluten free), but having a late family Chanukah dinner at a local Kosher deli…</p>
<p>Report back in the movies everyone; we haven’t seen much but interested in opinions!</p>
<p>S1 surprised us by coming home for the weekend! I did not expect to see him until mid-January as he has some planned travel the next 2 weeks. Very nice surprise - S2 was the only one in on it.</p>
<p>What a great surprise, RVM! Enjoy the family time.</p>
<p>Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Chanukah! For those waiting for decisions, I hope the new year brings only good news! To all those that have received great news since I last visited, congratulations! </p>
<p>I am trying to take a small break from all things college!</p>
<p>Congrats on all the admissions everyone!!</p>
<p>We just returned from our traditional Dim-Sum brunch. Its DH’s birthday today, and that is always his request. The only thing worse than having a birthday on xmas is being Jewish and havong a birthday today. Limited number of things to do. Will be checking the movie schedule…</p>
<p>Anyone else with a birthday today? Ooh, I have a funny family story to retell: a family friend came through Ellis Island in the early 20th c, and as often happened, didn’t know the Julian calendar answer to the immigration officer’s question, “When is your birthday?” Instead, this man answered, in Yiddish, “de ochte lichte” (the 8th light) as he had always been told in Russia he’d been born “around the end of Chanukah.” </p>
<p>The immigration officer asked his assistant for translation. Then, realizing that Chanukah had something to do with Christmas, wrote the man’s birthday down as Dec. 25.</p>
<p>In the following year, with his young family settled into public schools and himself working at a factory, he went off to work as usual on the morning of Dec. 25. To his surprise, the factory was locked so he walked home. To his greater surprise, his children were not in school but in pajamas at home. He declared, “What a great country! They made my birthday a national holiday!”</p>