<p>linymom, there are other free Israel trips around. For instance, there’s a program called MEOR that IIRC also offers free trips to Israel when students take a one-semester one-meeting-a-week no homework course at their college. At D1’s school, they instead offer a $400 stipend and a trip to NYC. </p>
<p>One of my brothers got to do two Birthright trips back in the day when there were empty spots going–in part because of the intifada, when people were more reluctant to go. </p>
<p>D2 is going on a high school peer trip to Israel this summer. Like with her sister, we the parents joke about making them Birthright-ineligible. ;)</p>
<p>LI, sorry to hear that. I guess it is one reason I should be happy that Dd did not make a trip in high school or anything. Hope you can find another trip!</p>
<p>I am saddened but not surprised. It’s been 30 years since I left my position as a university professor to go to medical school, but I think there was less antisemitism and more free speech back in those days. I consider myself a liberal but there there has developed on our campuses a liberal orthodoxy that is extremely intolerant of dissenting views. This is combined with a pro-Palestinian bias that must make many Jewish students uncomfortable. I know that I was uncomfortable last year when my daughter and I visited a campus where there was a very prominent display on the lawn illustrating the ‘persecution’ of Palestinians, and I’m not Jewish. There are many Israeli government policies that I would criticize, but I don’t think that many of our college campuses today are tolerant of free and fair discourse on this among many issues. The situation is worse in England, where my son is a student. I do freely confess that I have to fight against my own prejudices against Islam, and I am sure that many moslem students also feel a sense of isolation and discrimination. I hope that our colleges will regain a sense of tolerance, encouragement even, of free and fair discourse without rancour. They ought to be places where young people come together rather than find further reasons to distance themselves from one another.</p>
<p>I know that Elon has come up several times in this thread - I’ve just skimmed earlier posts…so forgive me if I’m inviting redundancy. Would like to know more about Elon (rockvillemom?). My daughter and I visited in the fall. I was really impressed. She liked it too, but I just didn’t stick with her the way it has with me. One of the things I was struck by was that they seemed to be saying “we really want you!”. We visited on Homecoming, so we weren’t able to see certain areas of campus (residential, athletic, greek). I just keep hearing great things about this school. But whenever I bring it up, she replies “it was okay–but I didn’t like the surrounding community very much”. This baffles me, because she has said she doesn’t want to go to school near a big city (actually prefers rural). Maybe it’s not “quaint” enough? </p>
<p>Anyway, just wondering what others’ experience with Elon has been.</p>
<p>Hi - Rodney is the parent who has a student at Elon - but I am happy to share some of our thoughts. With both sons - our preference was for mid-sized schools. Not too keen on huge universities and have some concerns re small colleges. We like the 5000-8000 range. With older son - who is a very strong student - lots of options. One of my reasons for starting this thread was to find more mid-sized schools with Jewish life for a “B” student - my younger son. We first came across Elon while doing college search for older son - he used it as his safety school. I really had never heard of it before then. We visited twice as part of his process and were very impressed. It was kind of a natural progression to have Elon at the top of younger son’s list.</p>
<p>In no particular order - we love the campus. One of the most beautiful we have ever seen. Very nice facilities - particularly the gym, dining halls and new dorms. We like their philosophy of encouraging upperclassmen to live on campus rather than off campus - they are constantly building more housing to make this a reality. We are very pleased with Jewish life at Elon - both Hillel and that they are starting a chapter of AEPi. No other college Hillel advisor has been as helpful and responsive as Nancy Luberoff at Elon. We also really like the 4-1-4 structure to the academic calendar and the way this allows students to take one class in January - whether at Elon or abroad. We also like the price tag of under $40,000. With so many private schools pushing past the $50,000 range towards $60,000 - we find Elon’s philosophy on pricing to be refreshing.</p>
<p>We also found Elon to run smoothly - at least the contact we have had so far - and it appears to be a fun/friendly place. S2 already knows a few students who attend Elon and who will be attending and he seems comfortable with the “vibe” of the student body.</p>
<p>I think the only real negative we had was the lack of big-time sports. S2 would love to be a Virginia Tech student for football and basketball games! The area around campus really did not bother him at all. He tended to like the rural campuses more so than urban anyway.</p>
<p>So - that’s my take on Elon. Hopefully next year will prove our analysis to be correct!</p>
<p>D is a junior looking at small/mid-sized LACs. She is ADHD and young/immature, so fit is important. Her GPA is around 3.2, with all college prep but no honors/AP classes. She will take SATs for the first time in March; I expect them to be mid-to-high 500s in math and over 600s in CR and writing. Party schools are out–she is very uncomfortable around drugs and alcohol. She is also strongly considering a gap year. Her interests are theater, vocal music, creative writing, and maybe psychology. Could care less about sports.</p>
<p>She has some time off in February and I’d like to take the time to do some college visits out of our area. Several potential schools are in the Maryland/VA/NC area, but I know little about them from a Jewish perspective. Any insight would be appreciated on any of the following:
Goucher (this one I know has a strong Jewish presence)
McDaniel
Hood
St Mary’s College of Maryland
Guilford
Washington College (Chestertown, MD)
Mary Washington</p>
<p>Also–she attended a local presentation on Elon last week and liked it–putting the distance to NC aside, would she have a shot at it?</p>
<p>nbc-we loved elon as well–for all the reason rockvillemom stated–and we don’t care about sports. All of it–the beautiful campus, 4-1-4, the vibe of the students, the price, the size, the Jewish presence…everything. But, Elon sadly got crossed off the list because while the location is beautiful, it was just TOO remote for my d. Just too much of nothing going on outside of campus. Maybe that is what your d was feeling also. For us, it’s been a real challenge to find schools similar to Elon but with a more lively off campus area.</p>
<p>Vitrac’s comments are exactly the issue S2 is having with Elon. He is still undecided, (accepted to 3 and waiting on a few more schools) and really likes everything else about it but keeps coming back to the location. I think he is fast forwarding and thinking about life on that campus as a junior/senior and the lack of bars, restaurants, etc. is what bothers him. We will visit again in March and see what he thinks then. I think he would be happy there and I love the 4-1-4 schedule and the flexibility it offers. </p>
<p>Vitrac - have you looked at U. Richmond - similar vibe and city of Richmond is only about 6 miles away.</p>
<p>My son looked at quite a few remote campuses. He was willing to attend a school in a rural area, although he was not going to have a car. Well, when on a trip we were very close to Elon so we drove there. Our son refused to look at the school! I was really disappointed, but I did not insist since he did tour quite a few other schools already. To this day, I don’t know if it was the length of time we were in the car, the fact that he felt “done” looking for schools, or if it was the surrounding area, but he just would not look at Elon. My son claims that he did not like the surrounding area. That said, if one likes a school like Juniata, what is wrong with Elon’s surroundings? It does not make any sense to me.</p>
<p>Please feel free to post specific questions about Elon…</p>
<p>D is extremely happy; in terms of the comments of not much going on outside of campus, there is a small area that is currently in development right within walking distance ( A new pizza restaurant just opened on Monday that is apparently organic, natural etc…I’ll report when I hear reviews)…and a few other stores and restaurants within walking distance…</p>
<p>But if a true active college town is what someone is looking for, Elon is not the place for them…</p>
<p>Like Vitrac, when we were looking, it was impossible to duplicate the positive aspects of Elon with a “more lively off-campus area”…but my daughter did not care; there are so many things going on “on-campus” that she is not bored…</p>
<p>Again, it’s all about “fit”…she did not want a campus where kids were always leaving to do things away; she wanted a community; and has been very satisfied…</p>
<p>eastcoast101: I will tell you what I have told my Elon applicants this year; Early action is a crapshoot; extremely competitive, especially from well represented states (Mass, NJ, MD)…Early decision (binding): if Elon is a student’s first choice that is the way to go…and yes, a 3.2 GPA UW should be ok for ED with the SAT’s in the range you describe (assuming their ED pool doesn’t change too much next year)…</p>
<p>dwhite: interesting comment about restaurants/bars: I don’t know if this is any indication, but over the last 2-3 years, there have been at least 3 new restaurants that have popped up within walking distance of campus…a little further away, the kids LOVE Red Bowl Asian, Brixx, Mellow Mushroom…and they do go to Greensboro which is 25 minutes away…</p>
<p>Lots of kids do have cars, mind you, but there is an Elon sponsored bus to take kids to shopping areas as well…</p>
<p>dwhite-Yes, looked at Richmond. Lovely campus but just something lacking in the vibe. Can’t explain it. D thought so too. Since that time, I heard thru the grapevine there was an intense drinking culture that went beyond the usual awful drinking culture of all the schools! I have no evidence of this so I am not promoting it as fact but since d didn’t feel the love anyway, we aren’t pursuing Richmond.</p>
<p>Hi eastcoast, I would strongly suggest adding Muhlenburg to your list. It is very popular here, and it might be a reach (have not looked at stats recently), but it is a wonderful school and has a really good musical theater department. There is also a very strong Jewish community. The school is in the Lehigh Valley. Sorry, I don’t know anything about your other schools.</p>
<p>Thanks, phillyartmom, Muhlenberg is in our sights; it is very popular in our town, especially with Jewish kids, so I did not feel the need to ask about it. May be a reach; not sure. I have a lot of schools in NY/NJ/PA that we are looking at too.</p>
<p>While I’m asking–anyone know anything about Roger Williams in Rhode Island?</p>
<p>eastcoast101, your D sounds very much like my D2, who is in 10th grade. I first heard about Roger Williams from her. Someone from her high school went to Roger Williams and is very much enjoying it, and came back to talk to the current students. D2 said it looked beautiful, at least from the photos. Here’s the thing: D2’s high school is very very strong in working with kids with various LDs, very much including ADHD. So that’s a pretty strong endorsement in my book that the school does work well with kids who need additional support.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my initial web searches haven’t shown me that there’s much of a Jewish community. </p>
<p>rodney, good to hear that this type of stats range is still a good fit, at least as far as ED goes. Though this is somewhat frustrating, since D2 doesn’t want to go visit schools at all right now. She thinks it’s too early, which is kind of true, but I also know that for schools like Elon and Muhlenberg it would be a very good thing to apply ED if she really ended up liking one. But if we force her to go look at them, she’ll hate them…so we have to wait until she is ready. Argh!!! :)</p>
<p>^^I hear ya…we waited to see both Muhlenberg and Elon until Spring of junior year so “she was ready” to decide…we did, however, attend a local info session for Elon the previous January which really “got her hooked”…</p>
<p>It was actually down to Elon and Muhlenberg as #1 and #2 until September of senior year…(although deep down she says she knew Elon would be #1 after visiting)…</p>
<p>socal, i agree. our thread has gone lukewarm for a little, but i bet as more acceptances arrive in march and april and those who need to go for another look, travel, the thread will pick up again.</p>
<p>nbc, my S is going to Elon. We both fell in love the moment we hit campus. We had meetings with many students and faculty there and stayed to attend the Tuesday morning campus coffee. I would say we had more interaction than most campus visits entail. My S felt at home and made many connections. Everyone was very friendly even when we were just walking around Mosely looking at bulletin boards. I agree with rvm, nancy at hillel is amazing and very welcoming. my suggestion is that if you visit again, make contact with nancy and someone from hillel for your daughter to have coffee with. also see if your admissions rep can set you up to lunch with students. as for the surrounding area, it is rural. there is a small mall and outlet center, but the major cities are 30-60 minutes away. there are so many activities taking place on campus and kids are involved, but maybe your daughter is looking for a city and just can’t identify that. certainly think if you believe that elon is a good choice you should visit it again and make sure you have meetings with as many kids as you can. is your D a jr or sr? it might make sense to introduce her to other accepted students if she is a senior. tell us more.</p>
<p>I know McDaniel is good for ADHD type of issues. Modest Jewish life as far as I know. St. Mary’s might be a reach academically - it is considered an “Honors college” - very remote/rural area - minimal Jewish life. Other than Goucher, I don’t think any of these have a particularly vibrant Jewish community.</p>