<p>Jewish students at Endicott College have organized to bring a Hillel on campus this September. It’s in Beverly, MA north of Boston; about 2000 undergrads and slightly more grad students, with a variety of programs. I met a student who is involved in building Jewish life there - very impressive - and he seems very happy with Endicott.</p>
<p>Good point, Mdmom.</p>
<p>Boysx3, I’m very impressed by your restraint. I hope that boy has a safety school.</p>
<p>My DD concurs with Vitrac’s DD - ACT science section extremely difficult. My DD also responded, as did LINYMOM’s DS, the ACT went “OK”…English - “easy”. Math, Reading & Writing - “medium”. DD studied 2 whole nights before ACT!..be still my heart.</p>
<p>ST— you bet. I will be watching this potential trainwreck…</p>
<p>also, just a thought about Koach being de-funded by the Conservative movement. Ten years ago, B’nai B’rith cut BBYO…and today BBYO is stronger than ever. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for B’nai B’rith. I think that in previous generations, some members “graduated” from BBYO to B’nai B’rith and that just is not happening today. Students definitely graduate from BBYO to continued Jewish involvement, though.</p>
<p>But one important difference is that BBYO is non-denominational and is an entity with its own mission today. Koach is the future of the Conservative movement itself. By failing to feed its young, the Conservative movement is likely to wither just as B’nai B’rith has.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if this has anything to do with the Bernie Madoff scandal. I say that because there were a lot of Jewish Philanthropies & Organizations that lost tons of money at that time…I do agree that it’s not a lot of money to fund and it would be great to see it continue…</p>
<p>There is also a Meor organization that could be privately funded, haven’t read up too much on it, but it doesn’t sound like it’s tied into any Reform, Conservative or Orthodox movement…I think it’s open to any Jewish kid on campuses for leadership purposes and to learn more in general…</p>
<p>Boysx3: Hope that doesn’t happen…wasn’t B’nai B’rith the men’s answer to Hadassah & Sisterhood? We have an active men’s group at our synagogue, but they really have no formal name associated with themselves…</p>
<p>Boysx3 - That mom is in for a rude awakening. We have a friend who thought her D was better than everyone else. Only applied to top schools and the safeties were schools that the D didn’t want to go to. When the results were in she was denied or wait listed at all but her safeties. She is now going to go to a school she said she never wanted to go to. I feel bad for the D because her mother really steered the college application ship and results didn’t match up to what mom told her would happen.</p>
<p>CCC, I also suspect that the Madoff scandal has had a serious effect on the funding. But to me it seems so shortsighted to be doing something that could truly be so harmful in the long term…it’s tantamount to cutting off the lifeblood of Conservative Judaism. A lot of those students are going to get involved elsewhere…including Jewishly …and never come back.</p>
<p>mdmom…if this mom doesn’t smell the coffee, her son may not get in ANYWHERE…I think she imagines he will just apply to the Ivies and then take his pick from his mailbox full of acceptances! I was almost choking when she was debating whether he would rather go to Yale or Princeton, as if already had the choice to make. </p>
<p>I don’t think she gets that ALL of the applicants to Yale and Princeton (and other top schools) are all as qualified, if not more so, than her son. I think she thinks that the reason 95% of the applicants don’t get in is because they aren’t qualified…and that of course her son is qualified. I don’t think she understands that her son…obviously a strong student… is a run of the mill strong student and that every school in the nation has students just like him…strong in their local context. And that lots of students just like her son are the competition, not the kids lower on the pecking order. And that it’s basically a lottery among all those applicants.</p>
<p>I am hoping he applies to some safeties, and that the GC at the high school will give the boy and his mom a reality check. Unless the mom is equally obnoxious to the GC…and I can just visualize the GC passive-aggressively going along with the mom if the kid is even half as arrogant or entitled in his interactions.</p>
<p>Interesting discussion… had a similar experience where I was asked about S’s plans, and I mentioned a long list (we still need to narrow it down). So I said “What about you?” her D is also a rising Senior. And she said, “Brown”. That’s it. No other schools. So I asked her if she’s only considering one school, and she said, “Yes”. I think when she saw my shocked expression, she said “Well maybe she’ll apply to a safety.” Her D is a good student (not a 4.0). Plays one varsity sport since Freshman year. No other spectacular ECs. I was shocked at her expectation, but I didn’t think it was my place to say anything as mom sounded quite confident!</p>
<p>[Save</a> KOACH: Conservative Judaism on Campus | Making Conservative Judaism Strong for Generations to Come](<a href=“http://savekoach.org/]Save”>http://savekoach.org/)</p>
<p>Hopefully this effort will make a difference.</p>
<p>The daughter of a friend of mine was very active in KOACH at Stonybrook and sent me the petition. I hope it makes a difference.</p>
<p>Boysx3,
I have often run into the type of parent you are describing, and when I do I casually reply
" Wow it must be wonderful to have such a smart daughter/son. My D/S is an average kid and I am so proud of them." Shuts down the rhetoric almost immediately. I also have said " We are so excited to send the last child to a SUNY school (NY state school) and pay in state tuition without loans." This comment also works well, though sometimes these parents do comment with" well my child got a package which makes tuition almost like a state school." Of course they never do tell me how much loans are included in their wonderful package. Gotta love it.</p>
<p>Long before I even had kids, I disliked the idea of displaying academic achievements socially. Sure, it may have its place in academia or the job market, but I only saw it as divisive. Someone will feel hurt, and the other, who may feel superior- will only do so temporarily until out done by the next person.</p>
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<p>I looked into Meor at one point, at the suggestion of someone on this thread I’m sure (pages and pages ago) as an organization for my DD to get involved in and “earn” a free trip to Israel since she is not eligible for Birthright (already went on peer trip to Israel through NFTY). They are on several campuses but nearly as many as Hillel. They are not at Delaware (but they are at Maryland). There was no way for her to get involved if they weren’t on her campus.</p>
<p>Here’s the list from their website. Not too many B student schools, that’s for sure. (But Brown is on the list, for that mom who is sure that’s where her kid is going!).</p>
<p>Binghamton University
Boston University
Brandeis
Brown University
Bryn Mawr College
Cornell University
Drexel University
Emory University
George Washington University
Georgetown University
Georgia Tech
Harvard University
Haverford College
MIT
New York University
Northwestern University
Rutgers University
Stanford University
Swarthmore College
Temple University
Tufts University
UC Berkeley
University of Georgia
University of Maryland
University of Pennsylvania
Yale University</p>
<p>Heard a bad story about a Jewish student at a small college who was ostracized for pro-Israel stance & transferred out…</p>
<p>Can you share what college and how it was handled by the administration? Any more details?</p>
<p>Lisztserve, This is distressing to hear, at a time when on campus pro-Israel, pro-peace movements are so needed to counter the OC anti-Israel, boycott-Israel (annihilate Israel) movements. Please elaborate, if you can…how strong is the Jewish population on the student’s campus? is there a Hillel/KOACH/Chabad/student Jewish org OC? did student have any support? any Scholars for Peace in the Middle East faculty OC? did student follow any Jewish org’s method, such as Hillel Action Plan or Israel Peace Week or Stand With Us? how did student demonstrate his/her pro-Israel stance? how was student ostracized?</p>
<p>Does anyone on this thread have any knowledge of how comfortable Jewish (not necessarily religious) students are at University of New Hampshire? Does anyone have kids or kids’ friends who go & like it there?</p>
<p>Hi and welcome, Dogo123 - I’m sure you will get some responses.</p>
<p>Link for Hillel - seems fairly small:</p>
<p><a href=“http://wildcatlink.unh.edu/organization/hillel[/url]”>http://wildcatlink.unh.edu/organization/hillel</a></p>
<p>But here is a list of recent activities:</p>
<p><a href=“- Wildcat Link”>- Wildcat Link;
<p>Welcome Dogo123! While, honestly, I know nothing about UNH, I can tell you that on the UNH website, the Common Data Set page reports student surveys which are quite in-depth and revealing, and therefore possibly helpful to you in determining the overall “culture” of the school.</p>