<p>Hello, just checking in while the family is glued to the Cotton Bowl. Chochip, I hope the trip is wonderful for your S! Birthright is an amazing experience.</p>
<p>I hope the freshman fall semester went well for the kids of all of our senior members. S2 loves the school but is not looking forward to getting back to work in just over a week.</p>
<p>Congrats Liny and all the rest of you who have gotten acceptances. Good luck to those of you waiting.</p>
<p>OMG you guys. My S emailed that he’s visiting a Kibbutz tonight and it sounds like the same exact one I worked on for a month when I was there in college!!! That is an amazing coincidence. I’m psyched. What are the odds of that happening?</p>
<p>Hi Spectrum! How is your S’s stomach issues? How is Texas A&M?</p>
<p>Momjr: We will be looking at BU & Northeastern just to see if my S2 likes them, but I’m almost positive he’ll end up at WPI. Great fit for him and much, much smaller. Glad to hear she’s enjoying BU. We know a few kids there now and loving it.</p>
<p>Pkd: Two at once? Yikes. Good luck!</p>
<p>Pkdof13, one more app due 1/15 here, then the long wait. We had the same wait with DD several years ago, and it wasn’t much fun for her, especially when so many of her friends had applied ED and already knew where they were going; of course, she had the added stress of auditions, which thankfully we do not have with DS.</p>
<p>I haven’t had any success getting DD to sign up for birthright, but I know she’d love it. My cousin sure did.</p>
<p>Hey Chocchip, S2 loves TAMU and he had a great first semester. As for the gut, it has remained under control with medication. So far so good, no issues, not even during finals. I will however, say for the sake of anyone else who might have a kid with a “disability” that working with the disabilities office before school started really set the stage for optimal success. They were a pleasure to work with! From what he and I hear next semester is the real weedout semester for engineering so our fingers are crossed for more success! Thanks for asking :)</p>
<p>chocolatechip…I’m so your S is enjoying his Birthright trip. We just finished packing DS’s bag. He leaves on Monday and I am sure that we packed to much (I hate that 50lb weight limit - I’m always the one at the airport pulling out shoes and random clothing and shoving it into my carry on!). I’m so excited for him. Wish it was me!</p>
<p>Interesting thread elsewhere in the Parent Forum about parents who refuse to go into debt to pay for their children’s college education. Many posters agreeing, wanting the kids to stay in state, live at home, etc. Now, paying for college is a very personal family decision, and everyone is going to differ in their opinion of how much parental sacrifice should be, but I do personally disagree with the tone of that thread. (Not planning to chime in there, however.). We have happily borrowed and gone into debt to pay for college. I’m sure that most financial experts would be critical of what we have done, but, it feels right to me. If it means retirement is a little further off, so be it. I’m ok with driving older cars and not taking fancy vacations. But reading that thread makes me wonder if our position is becoming less common. Or maybe it is a Jewish cultural thing? No regrets, but I’m wondering if trends are more in tune with the views of these other posters.</p>
<p>DS got 3 more apps in today, just 3 more to go. Two of them aren’t even due until 2/15, but he promises me we’ll finish them all tomorrow. DD working on a big English essay, then turning to get her apps done. </p>
<p>I don’t know what it’s going to be like when they’re both gone.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, happy new year. Dd’s break ends tomorrow and off to Florida she goes. It is crazy how fast a month went! She loved school though and that is what is important. Best to all of those waiting for positive responses!</p>
<p>Mine leaves for Birthright tomorrow! I’m excited, she’s nervous. She went back a day early and caught the next to last show of War Horse in NYC. Her sister is there taking another group to Israel and they’ll overlap with each other for two days in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Mazel tov and safe travels to all those headed on their birthright trip! So excited for all of them!</p>
<p>fourkids…which trip is she on? My son leaves tomorrow out of Newark, trip organizer is Kesher.</p>
<p>Happy New Year, cyber friends!</p>
<p>D is back in a few days from her Birthright trip. I’m excited to hear all about it, see her photos, etc.</p>
<p>I’ll chime in here on the go into debt/college education conversation.</p>
<p>We definitely went beyond our means to give our kids the opportunity to attend the colleges of their choice. It has been a huge sacrifice, but we feel like it’s an investment.
The kids know that there will be sacrifices on their end, too. We won’t be the parents who buy apartments or new cars for them after graduation. </p>
<p>For our family, it feels right. I do understand, however, the other position, and if our state had some of the great public U’s like Virginia, Michigan, California or Texas, we’d maybe feel differently.</p>
<p>I put in a google search yesterday about this topic and found myself reading through this conversation. It’s like a great novel, and I have tried to catch up - to no avail. (Although I am in a awe of the friendships that unfolded before my eyes, and just had to find out where Rockvillemom’s son went!) So forgive me for entering mid-stream. I’m not sure if this conversation includes newcomers like me, but I’d be grateful for some support.</p>
<p>I am a fairly non-religious single Jewish mom with a Chinese D who is a hs jr. She is a hardworking b student in a highly competitive public hs, so her class rank is quite low, and she struggles with testing. Her UW gpa is 3.3 and weighted is 3.7. D has chosen Judaism and made me join the temple so she could join NFTY. We don’t speak Hebrew, and haven’t been active in the synagogue (partly a time/money concern), but we resonate with the the culture.</p>
<p>We live in NC (in an area w/ a fair # of Jewish people) but I am fr the NE and D spent first 10 yrs in MA, and we both miss the NE. However, I need to stay here to take advantage of ed. assistance prog at Univ where I work.The goal is to find a place where she is not different,where she can keep up, and where I have friends to be there for her. She wants to be near a city and is thinking of majoring in sciences or non-creative field. </p>
<p>These are the current thoughts. DC area: George Mason, American (I am an alum), UMBC, U of Del. (that came fr this discussion 
)NY area: SUNY Stoneybrook (close fr. nearby) and wld consider others in NY. MA: U Mass Amherst, Clark. We may look at Elon or others nearby, and really need some safety schools. By the way, she is thinking of putting “other” as race on apps…</p>
<p>Rockvillemom,
I too followed the thread on loans for college and agree that it is a cultural phenomena but not limited to Jews. If you look at it historically when Jews were prohibited from certain trades, it forced them into the educated professions and coupled with the cultural emphasis on education, it resulted in a society that valued college.
I have seen it in my own family. My grandparents emigrated from Eastern Europe dirt poor and neither of my parents had an opportunity to go to college, as my late father left high school to serve in World War 2. He came home started a business and made sure that his kids would have an opportunity to go to college. His mantra was, “an education is something that nobody can ever take away from you”. He sent 4 kids to college without a dime of loans ( we all paid for grad school ourselves). They recognized that an education was a way to achieve upward mobility. It’s not exclusive to Jewish communities as I’ve seen many other recent immigrant groups where the student progresses from barely speaking the language in early grades to graduating at the top of the class. Granted it was easier back then to pay for college without loans but
every parent values education differently…</p>
<p>Welcome NEinNC,</p>
<p>No it is never too late to join us here. You will feel like part of the family in no time.</p>
<p>We looked at George Mason for my D2 who is at Udel. Mason, while on the rise, is a big suitcase/commuter school. UMBC, is another hot school on the rise. My frineds son goes there. Does not love it. Again, lots of commuters. They are trying to change it. Have you looked at Pittsburgh. Great for sciences, city is now cool, kids love it. Sports, rah rah, and city are hard ti find…Georgia? Kids love it…Great college town…Indiana? Michigan State? Penn St.? Are they too big? Do you prefer public or private…</p>
<p>NEinNCMom - welcome! It is always great to have someone new join our conversation! Lots of good schools on your list. The only one I might hesitate on is George Mason. From what I understand, it is very heavily in-state, with many students who go home on the weekends. Since you are a NC resident, have you considered any of the UNC schools? Have you visited any schools yet? It would be interesting to hear what campuses she has liked or disliked. </p>
<p>You mention she struggles with testing, has she taken the ACT or SAT yet? Are you familiar with the website fairtest.org? It lists schools that are test optional in admissions.</p>
<p>I’m sure many of us will be happy to provide whatever assistance we can and at the very least keep you company during this process.</p>
<p>jandjdad - you are right - sacrificing to pay for college is not a cultural phenomenon limited to Jews, I was just thinking that might explain my disbelief at how harsh some of the posters were on the topic. I was raised with the concept that parents sacrifice their wants to provide the best for their children, including the best college education. I sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone views it the same way and there’s nothing wrong with going to a community college and living at home, etc., if that is what that family feels is best.</p>
<p>NEinNC - just wanted to second socaldad’s suggestion of Pitt. Besides fitting well with her desire for city proximity and being great for sciences, Pitt offers rolling admissions. You could have a Pitt acceptance in hand before Thanksgiving. I’m a big believer in having a few rolling and/or EA schools on the list. Having that first early acceptance in the fall takes off a lot of pressure.</p>
<p>UMBC is worth a visit. Great for sciences, great for internships and a very dynamic president - this school is really on the rise! Lots of diversity, many Asian students. I’m sure many do go home on the weekends, and this is why I would suggest a weekend visit to see how it feels.</p>
<p>Hi NEinNC: Welcome, first at least at a glance I don’t think RVM gave you the answer to her cliffhanger, so I will tell you her S is at Elon. (sorry if I’m redundant). In reading your question about schools three that aren’t on your list that have gotten a lot of talk on this thread are Kansas, U of Charleston and Towson. I really don’t know if they meet your criteria and haven’t looked at any of them. I’ve just seen a lot of talk about them.</p>
<p>RVM: Aside from being a Jewish thing I wonder how much taking on debt is a regional thing? Here in TX we are blessed with a strong public university system and kids wanting to work in state might very well do better employment-wise going to the state schools than to out of state privates. But as things are much more relaxed, at least where I live there is not the same drive to both save for college or willingness to go into debt. As you say it is a very personal decision.</p>
<p>I have also seen the decision to go the CC route made several times and for good reason usually very personal and individual. We even have friends who invested in sending their kids to private out of state HS and then began college at CC. It is very difficult to generalize why decisions are made. I haven’t looked at that other thread but the thing that frustrates me a bunch is when people try to generalize why they have made their choices to it being the right thing for everyone…That never happened to me with regard to college costs but I did hear some buzzing about my choices to work with my then undiagnosed kid with ADD. We have to go with our instincts our situation and I am glad that I did.</p>
<p>Hi Neinnc! New members are a good thing!</p>
<p>If you have any questions about American, just let me know. My youngest is a senior there and has loved every minute of it. He loves the global focus of the school and he loves being in DC.</p>