Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1)

Parents Forum
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<p>Houtxmom,</p>

<p>I read your post and am intrigued. Emeory is an amazing school. Very highly ranked. I realize Oxford is a two year offshoot. While I do not know much more, I find it amazing that acceptance there was easier than UT, and USC. Have you visited? did they offer merit money? Can you share any knowledge about this school. Hasn’t been spoken of much here, and it might just be hidden gem, and a way in to a top 20 ranked school. While I have many years before my 3rd child goes to college, I still like learning.</p>

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<p>Oxford is a VERY small school at a different location than Emory…for a long time, it was primarily Georgia students attending, but in the last 4-5 years, more out of state students have applied and have attended…</p>

<p>Often, students apply to both schools, Emory and Oxford and, if accepted to Oxford, receive merit $$ if their stats are on the high side…and many are admitted while not being admitted to Emory…</p>

<p>I still do not think that Oxford is a “B” student school, per se, but both Emory and Oxford use “geographic/demographic preferencing” in their admissions decisions to “Craft a class” so a California “B” student could possibly sneak in if they have a number of other factors going for them…</p>

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<p>Thanks Rodney, really interesting and good to know…</p>

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<p>Life is getting complicated… DS got Lehigh acceptance packet today. He was accepted to the program he wanted, IBE - integrated business and engineering. It’s super selective. But no scholarship :(</p>

<p>He’s working on pros and cons tonight and will then let me know if we are visiting Lehigh again.</p>

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<p>Hi Houtx: The only one of those schools that I know anything about is GW. My older S has a friend there who is graduating and has thrived there. He has been very involved with Hillel and is very enthusiastic about Jewish life on campus. If she is up for being in the DC area I would think this would be a real contender. The one thing about GW that some people love and others (including my older son when we visited) is that it doesn’t have a true campus but occupies several buildings that are as far as I can remember and easy walk from one to the other. My S didn’t apply because that didn’t appeal to him but his friend said he felt like the whole city was his campus and he loved the easy access to mass transit.</p>

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<p>LINYMOM: oh boy…that is a great program; we have a close fam friend who completed it a few years ago and absolutely loved it…(I don’t think I am helping your case here haha…)</p>

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<p>UT was crazy this year for in-state kids from competitive high schools. They only auto-admit the top 8%, and if you’re from a competitive magnet high school, that’s difficult to achieve. 75% of the admissions are auto admits. I think another 10% is in-state non-auto admits. The rest is out of state. Most of the rejected students from Texas are offered the CAP, where the student goes to UT San Antonio or Arlington, gets a 3.2 and moves to Austin.<br>
We visited Emory, but not Oxford. My daughter’s SATs (2160) are on the high side for Oxford, but the rank might have kept her out of Emory College. (I wouldn’t consider my daughter, who has a WGPA of 4.3 a B student, or to be “sneaking in” to Emory. ;))</p>

<p>BTW, she just got a letter from Pitt offering her some money, so maybe that’s on the table again. Oy.</p>

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<p>HouTxmom: That top ranking policy for UT sounds very competitive and frustrating. Emory has great Jewish life, but I don’t know much about Oxford. GW has a good Jewish percentage, so I’m sure that Jewish life is thriving. My D2 (who wanted an urban campus) liked GW a lot when we visited. It’s in a very nice area of DC close to Georgetown. There isn’t much green space, but they do have another campus about 20 minutes away with more open space and playing fields. I would seriously consider GW if the $$ are generous.</p>

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<p>The UT policy is by state law, so I can’t blame UT. It is frustrating, though. She did not consider the CAP program. There’s no way she’d pay money to go to UTSA when UH, which is a better school, is free because of her NM. </p>

<p>GW was generous, so she is seriously considering it. We’ve visited GW already. They have a great location and fantastic internship opportunities. We’re learning more about Oxford, as well. We’ll probably visit this month. </p>

<p>I’m so glad she’s got great choices. This uncertainty is way better than the stress of the last month. :)</p>

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<p>HouTxmom: in terms of Jewish kids here are the numbers: </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2012/aug/13AUG12_Top60.htm[/url]”>http://www.hillel.org/about/news/2012/aug/13AUG12_Top60.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>As you will see GW is number 5 in number of Jewish undergraduates. From your list is the highest.</p>

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<p>Don’t know about Jewish life at Berkeley, but at UCLA it is thriving. Los Angeles in general, and in particularly on the West side, where UCLA is, is well-populated with Jews. I graduated in 1978, and at that time there were two Jewish sororities (I was in SDT), think the other AE Phi is also still there. Jewish culture is prevalent. I never went to Hillel, but there were many mixers with Jewish fraternities. If she just wants to feel comfortable and not feel like a minority, UCLA is perfect. Many temples nearby, reform, conservative and orthodox. Also, Chabad is across from campus. Easy to find kosher food outside of campus, and I imagine they have on campus as well.</p>

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<p>Shulamit, please let me know how Goucher visit goes. We can’t go this Friday (problem with twins is I can’t be in two places at once, and am taking D to Macalester). We will try to get to Goucher within the next couple of weeks. I went to an admitted students reception here in L.A., and it was a wonderful evening. Sandy, the president of Goucher was there, also a professor of philosophy, and some current students and their parents, all of whom made a compelling argument for Goucher.</p>

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<p>False alarm. I got home late last night and went for the Lehigh packet right away. DS was admitted to Rossin Engineering at Lehigh. But NOT IBE. He didn’t read it right (probably just skimmed… which is also the reason his CR score on SAT wasn’t as high as it could have been). I didn’t get to talk to him about it because it was so late.</p>

<p>Looks like the decision is a no-brainer now. He knows paying full freight at a private is not an option. That’s why I didn’t push him for more of those upper tier schools, where he <em>might</em> have had a chance. Too much $$ and not enough merit aid. That’s why I pushed him on test scores last year. Merit aid, merit aid, merit aid. And the reason I was excited about Tulane and Miami. Excellent private schools that reward academics generously.</p>

<p>DH has not been involved with the search (his choice) but I explained last night how I helped create the list based on not only academic interest, but also finances. He is on the same page as me on this. </p>

<p>1 HMFR where, if he even got accepted, he wouldn’t get $$ (Hopkins, denied anyway)</p>

<p>2 private universities, looked like matches (according to Naviance) where he probably wouldn’t get $$ (Lehigh, accepted, no $, as well as RPI, waitlisted - apparently not a match!)</p>

<p>2 great privates, looked like a match, where probably would get $$ (Tulane and Miami, accepted to both, significant merit $$)</p>

<p>1 OOS public, looked like a match (Maryland, accepted to College Park Scholars, merit $$ too). Needed this one as he refused any of our in-state options due to location/ weather/size - if he was going to go big, then not in the middle of upstate NY!</p>

<p>1 OOS public safety with engineering (UMass, accepted to honors, merit $)</p>

<p>1 private safety in warm weather, no engineering, but combined chem/MBA (Tampa, accepted, honors, merit $)</p>

<p>I really appreciate all the help here on CC. You all really helped me map this all out within my DS’ interests and my need (obsession?) to get merit money and early acceptances. I learned where you need to show interest, how soon you can get apps in, what to communicate with adcoms.</p>

<p>I can’t see DS taking much longer to make his decision…</p>

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<p>Linymom: You had a great strategy, and it worked. I’ve enjoyed following your son’s journey. </p>

<p>PDK: Good luck doing the re-visits with twins! It looks like both of your twins have good options also.</p>

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<p>Hi, all. So much good news and good decisions. It makes this yucky “spring” weather more tolerable. S1 has decided on University of Illinois & we are accepting tonight! :0</p>

<p>In response to the comments about A vs. B students on this thread. S1 is 3.6 with 35 ACT. Is he a B student? Technically, yes but with NMF and ACT maybe he is on the high end. However, S2 (sophomore) is 3.3 GPA and not the best test taker (we are hoping for 30 ACT) so I will definitely stay loyal to this group which I find to be the most supportive and informative on CC. S1 is super focused; S2 not so much so I know I will be even more active on this thread in the next year or so.</p>

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<p>tootiredtocare: Congrats on U of I! And as I read about your S2, I started thinking that you better rest up because you won’t be able to get through this if you are too tired!</p>

<p>From sunny, but freezing, Long Island.</p>

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<p>Tootiredtocare: I sympathize with you. I have just sign up my senior in college and in a week my junior is taking the ACT. I feel like I in the movie Groundhog Day.</p>

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<p>you did such an awesome job linymom! he’s going to be successful wherever he ends up! i hope you have a bunch of friends with younger kids because you could get a paying job consulting them through the college process!</p>

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<p>Chiming with congratulations all around. Nice to be out of the woods, right?
From having been here for so long, I know that some of the recent results are for A-students, but I agree that it’s a good idea to be clear, for the benefit of new readers. This thread has attracted all kinds of readers —yay— because we are inclusive and supportive of each other and each others’ kids.
Anyway, it’s good to see that everyone has great choices. D2 and I traveled over the school break to see a few schools in D.C…merit money will be more important this time around for us (third child) and I was gob-smacked by the sticker price at the schools we visited. </p>

<p>Also, Vitrac: kudos on the American acceptance! That’s so funny!</p>

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<p>Congratulations! Such great news for the class of 2013! </p>

<p>I haven’t been on in awhile, just did the Junior Spring Break College Trip with D2! 7 schools in 6 days. Yikes. 3 off the list the remaining 4 stay on. One HMFR (love that!), one match and two safeties. List is starting to come together, D2 wants to revisit some we already visited to see if any might be a school she wants to apply to ED.</p>

<p>Last year we put together a list of where our kids were accepted along with a notation if they were A/A-/B/B+ students. Maybe this years group might want to do that? </p>

<p>Also, we did a list of things we found helpful during the admissions process, I think I might try to pull that up to see if this years parents want to add anything to it.</p>

<p>LINYMOM- Your S has some great choices…but I think we all know where he is gong to end up…LOL! I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but I am about to send you a PM.</p>