<p>rvm shared with us earlier (much earlier) on this thread about how she worked with her DS to prepare for the ACT. With all the practice, he improved from a 27 to a 31 (amazing!). The book she recommended to us is a red book called The Real ACT Prep Guide. It has 3 ACT tests in it and, now that DS really has to focus on just the English and Reading sections, he needs another book with more practice tests (almost done with this one).</p>
<p>I just bought two more Barron’s books - one has 3 more practice tests plus a CD-Rom with 2 more tests on it; the other is called ACT 36: Aiming for the Perfect Score. I don’t love the title because it is pressure-inducing, but it seems to have a lot of good strategies in it for the sections that DS needs to improve on. He’s good at incorporating feedback so I am going to “strongly encourage” him to read it.</p>
<p>As rvm has shared, it’s all about the practice. So we will give it our best shot with the April 14 ACT…</p>
<p>RE: Transportation. DD’s study abroad was supposed to leave from JFK (45 min away) but was switched to PHL (3 hours away). I told her there is no way I am going to PHL for a drop off and I am not available for a pick-up the night she comes home. I know she’s fine with public transportation when she wants to visit someone or go to a concert. So I stood my ground and it worked out fine. Of course she wants to be “babied” a bit sometimes, but it does neither of us any good. For regular school back-and-forth, I do like having options.</p>
<p>Congrats Pamom and I am crossing my fingers for you momofa12! For all of you in the Junior year, I found it to be the most stressful for my dd. Everyone is worried about school, visits, all of their EC’s, etc. This year for dd, was much better, even with having to do applications. Hang in there!</p>
<p>HI - I’m new to this site. Have a daughter who is a HS Junior. I live in the south and am following comments about COC, ELON, and others nearby schools with interest.</p>
<p>Re: post #11835 Alabama: I grew up in Tuscaloosa and live about an hour away. Still have family there. There is a small reform congregation - new Temple just completed last year on campus (UA donated the land and it sits across the street from the Hillel). The administration at UA is committed to attracting Jewish students. Alabama is a great school. Preppy - pretty greek oriented. But I have heard from others on CC that going greek isn’t a must (though locals may disagree!). I have Jewish family/friend contacts there, so feel free to message me if you want more info.</p>
<p>COC/Charleston: Terrific Jewish community. Have heard great things about their Hillel. My daughter was interested for a while - but that has waned a bit. Mostly due to large female:male discrepancy. Also, Charleston can be dangerous (even though it’s mostly charming) - campus backs up to a sketchy part of town (friend of mine who lives there said that). Housing can be tricky and apparently students can end up living off-campus in an unsafe area if they’re not careful - so it’s important to stay on top of that. Someone from a big city who’s accustomed to being situationally aware would probably think it’s nothing. COC has a reputation for being very “beautiful” - people-wise! Girls dress up a lot…in a typical southern fashion. Also, it has a reputation for being very “wealthy” - kids with lots of disposable income, expensive cars, etc. Not trying to put COC down - just passing along the reputation among my fellow southerners. </p>
<p>Furman: I wouldn’t count Furman out. It doesn’t have much of a Jewish population, but I have been told that they are actively working to change that. Friend of mine works there and has been working us pretty hard. Toured last summer and was very impressed. Campus is gorgeous. Academics are outstanding. Student body is conservative but Profs are said to be fairly liberal. I doubt it will be my daughter’s first choice, but I’m encouraging her to apply because I think being Jewish is a hook there now and you just never know how things might shake out application-wise. Greenville, SC is really nice and has a decent Jewish community. It’s also near some of THE most beautiful mountains in the country. Great for kids who enjoy the outdoors.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link, SlitheyTove! My Jewish husband, who was born in the Bronx and has lived his entire life in NYC and Long Island, refuses to believe that there are Jewish students at KU. Or Jews in Kansas at all, for that matter. I forwarded the story to him.</p>
<p>My son is just waiting for a couple of decisions at this point, but I don’t think they will come until after mid-year grades, and mid-year grades are not looking so good. </p>
<p>Has anyone visited or looked into Pace University? My son said at one point that he wanted to apply. I don’t know if I should remind him and ask him if he is still interested, or let sleeping dogs lie. One of my best friends went there (years and years ago) and was never enthusiastic about it, so I don’t have a great impression, but I really don’t know much about it.</p>
<p>My D is also a HS Jr. We’re from NJ, so enjoyed your “Southern Perspective.” Thanks!</p>
<p>I’ve heard that Furman is actively recruiting Jewish students, too, but they don’t have Hillel or Chabad OC - many Christian orgs, a Muslim Student Asso & an Interfaith group though. Interestingly, their largest student org, Heller Service Corps (for volunteer community service), is named after Max Heller, a Jew who escaped from Austria in 1938, learned to speak English through Furman’s pres, and then rose to become a 2-term Greenville mayor & local hero for revitalizing downtown & for his legacy of service. I believe his daughter still sits on Furman’s board. I wonder, then, why there’s not a stronger Jewish student presence/population OC. Also, Furman’s on many “Inside College” lists such as, colleges for the clothes horse, colleges right for African Americans, colleges for ultimate frisbee & right-wing campuses - [Search</a> | InsideCollege.com](<a href=“The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress”>The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress) And, yes, Furman’s campus is beautiful and their academics are top notch.</p>
<p>The bottom line for me, as a parent, is safety & fit…will D feel comfortable and included or ostracized and different among the students & faculty? If she were a strong leader, self-confident, and an ardent Jew, perhaps Furman would be a consideration…might be a good fit for a kid with those qualities who’d like to blaze the trail to a Jewish Student Organization at Furman.</p>
<p>Hi nbc1993 - welcome to our thread. Interesting comments on Furman. I have never visited - never considered visiting after the comments I heard from other Jewish families who had made the trip and were made to feel very uncomfortable and out of place. A typical comment would be that they asked the tour guide if there was a Hillel or any other Jewish group on campus and received a blank look like they were from another planet! But - perhaps change is in the air! Might work for a Jewish teen with pioneer spirit! I would just be concerned re fitting in/comfort level/dating prospects and so on.</p>
<p>Yes - there is a sizable Jewish population at West Virginia - as you say - who knew? A good example of why I started this thread - it is a great choice for a “B” student who wants a larger university that does have a decent Jewish population. I know I have posted a few articles previously - but here are a few:</p>
<p>More than half of the typical freshman class at WVU are out-of-state students. The most recent info I had was that 54% of last year’s class were not West Virginians. WVU tends to get a fair number of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland kids who are seeking the big school, flagship experience but whose grades and/or test scores might make Penn State, Rutgers or Maryland-College Park a significant reach.</p>
<p>Good points rockvillemom. I’ve wondered the same things. Most of our schools of interest do have a strong(er) Jewish presence - and many are in the Northeast. It is true that southern gentiles often don’t know what Hillel is (especially those of more evangelical backgrounds). I’m not surprised that students at Furman would react that way. But I do think that is changing - I guess the question is whether it’s changing quickly enough. My children are accustomed to being the “only Jews” in town - so that probably does give them a different perspective when it comes to considering colleges. Living in a small southern town (our congregation is 2 hours away), can be challenging at times when you’re Jewish! My older daughter is so used to it that she doesn’t feel the need to go somewhere where there’s a large Jewish population - ANY Jews would be a big difference to her. My younger daughter says “must have strong Hillel!”. </p>
<p>The University of Georgia is a great school for Jews, and Athens is a fabulous college town. Not too far from Atlanta (but far enough). I know it’s gotten more selective in recent years - but if I were hunting for a great University down South, I would definitely check it out.</p>
<p>A funny side note: have a niece who attended Brandeis and transferred because it was (according to her) “too Jewish”. We were all like “what did you expect?”. She said Friday nights were really boring. Hilarious.</p>
<p>kathiep- the distance to JMU is more of an issue for my D than for me; she wants to stay closer to home for a variety of reasons, but mostly i think bec she is leaving a boyfriend behind here.</p>
<p>I have taken a good look at the transportation options from JMU to philly and they are few. The bus ride home service that you mentioned only operates on holidays, and even then it goes to Allentown, rather than Philly, which is a 1 hour drive away from us. That leaves either bringing your own car, or catching a ride with someone going home for the weekend.</p>
<p>My oldest D is at Pitt so my younger D has experienced how long that 5 hour car ride is and how infrequently she would be able to come home. But even Pitt has direct options by bus, train and plane, while for JMU to Philly there is only car.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the info. Very interesting. We live in NOVA, so not very far from Rockville.</p>
<p>A related side note - I went to grad school at Penn State. (Granted this was a million years ago.) But many of the undergraduates (from small towns like Hazleton, Lock Haven, Bellefonte, etc.) told me I was the first Jewish person they ever met in their life. Growing up in NYC, it was a very odd experience.</p>
<p>nbc1963 - Welcome to the group, I am think it will be a harder adjustment being a non-preppy, non-sports fan Northerner then a Jewish student, but I think the school is large enoug that he could find a place. We will visit at some point and that should tell us a lot.</p>
<p>SlitheyTove - I forwarded the article to my In-laws, they are slowly warming to the idea of him going South, but as New Yorkers they still think of Maryland as somewhat South.</p>
<p>Well - being Jewish is probably more common at Bama than not loving football ;). College football IS a religion down here (wait until you see Bryant Denny Stadium - it is definitely a cathedral. Holds about 90K people). But there are many other positive aspects to life at Bama as well, and if he doesn’t like sports then he’ll have much more time for studying!</p>
<p>But seriously, being from the Northeast isn’t such a big deal at Alabama - and neither is being Jewish. Southerners like people who are genuine and friendly.</p>
<p>This is the first time I’ve been on this thread in a while. ShawD returned my call tonight, saying that she had been at a Hillel function, and was planning to attending a Sunday evening class run by AISH – if she stays at the school (but she’s thinking about transferring). </p>
<p>Over the vacation, she told us that she would only date Jewish guys (her brother has a non-Jewish GF at the moment) and they had to be really good-looking so she was turning down dates. This is nothing that we’ve suggested to her (both of ShawWife and I went out with non-Jews before we met each other) though we’d be pleased if both kids married Jews.</p>
<p>Funny story: We were in the immigration line at the airport coming back from Mexico and a young man pushed his way up to her and said something like, “I was on the flight with you and vowed that if I ever saw you again, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t come up to talk with you. You have the most vibrant eyes. … Can I have your number.” ShawD said he was so embarrassed and awkward that she gave him her number. ShawWife said why? ShawD said, “Mom, he’s name is Tatum and he’s from the South.” [that is, not Jewish] “I’m not going to date him.” She was not non-plussed by this and implied it wasn’t so unusual.</p>
<p>She also asked if ShawWife would mind if she kept kosher (I was brought up in a kosher home and explicitly chose not to keep kosher, a view shared by ShawWife). ShawWife said that would be fine with her, we’d respect her choices about how she wants to live her life. And, if ShawD moves back to our area, she’d like us to move to a more mainstream shul than the one we’ve been members of until a couple of years ago when the rabbi did some things we find pretty unattractive and perhaps unethical. We’re waiting for him to leave to rejoin.</p>
<p>It’s not clear what the upsurge in religious attachment is driven by, but we have seen it some of the things she’s said over the semester.</p>
<p>LINYMom, I may have written this before, but we followed a strategy outlined by a poster here named xiggi of taking all the real practice tests, reviewing the results, and hiring a tutor for the areas which were weak and also explaining the scoring. You might find his posts about the xiggi method, which seemed intelligent and did seem to work. Both kids did well and neither was naturally inclined – one is arguably brilliant but seriously dyslexic and he smoked the test while the other is quite bright but bad at multiple choice tests (ADHD and anxious about taking that kind of high stakes test) and she did pretty well.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your good thoughts - didn’t get a chance to update yesterday. She was accepted to JMU EA. Now comes the tough choices - JMU or CofC. She is withdrawing all others.</p>