<p>Have to agree with chocchip on this one. Most of my college-aged/young adult family members have gone on Birthright and had a wonderful experience. Obviously every family has to do their own evaluation of the situation, but I expect S2 to go on a trip with Elon students in the spring or next year and I am fully supportive.</p>
<p>My kids have also been on Birthright without any incidents.
Birthright puts up the funds for the trip, and it is oganized by several organizations. I think it’s a good idea to go with the other students from your school’s Hillel. Then, you will have made friends that you will know back at school.
BoysX3- I also like the young adult trip. It would be great if they could go twice.
Our trip had a parent group phone session where they addressed parent concerns about safety. Of course, each family’s level of comfort with safety issues is individual.</p>
<p>chocchipcookie, rockvillemom: Pennylane2011:</p>
<p>WRT my safety concerns about the Birthright trip:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>They very clearly state on their website and re-iterated to me when I spoke to them that the kids are supervised at all times and that at no time are they mingling with the general population. It turns out that this is absolutly not true. I heard from several past participants (and my son confirmed) that they were able to go bar-hopping in Tel Aviv.</p></li>
<li><p>They also cleary state that they will cancel a trip if there are ever any security concerns. But… they also proudly state that they have never had to cancel a trip. This means that in 2002 when Israel was on such a high-state of alert that ther fighter pilots had to sleep in their cockpits and Israel’s own minister of tourism was assinated, they were still in the business of sending American kids to Israel. My view is that their #1 priority is to get as many kids to do this trip as possible and that the kid’s safety is a secondary consideration.</p></li>
<li><p>They have an armed member of the Israeli military with them at all times. If this place is so safe as you all say. Why is that necessary?</p></li>
<li><p>They all travel together on a big bus. I would think a bus full of American Jewish kids would be a very attractive target for a terrorist.</p></li>
<li><p>They spend a lot of time “hanging out and getting to know” members of the Israeli military. Not only does this put the kids in danger (as the military is obvious targets) it does strike me as a bit “innaproprate” to be getting all buddy-buddy with a foreign nation’s military.</p></li>
<li><p>The Birthright folks were completly dissmissive of my concerns. At one point in the conversation the representative actually said to me: “Oh, you don’t want your son to go to Israel? You must not be Jewish.”</p></li>
<li><p>This has nothing to do with security, but the whole organization seems a bit sketchy to me. They give you a quiz to “prove you’re Jewish”. They only allow Jews in the first place, if you’ve been to Israel before (and thus have already formed an opinion about it), you can’t go. If you’re in a mid-east studies program in college (and thus are well-informed about the region), you can’t go. It just doesn’t feel “right” to me.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
Perhaps, and yes there is crime everywhere (including in the US) but there are not too many other places that you might reasonably consider going where there is a chunk of the population that would actually like to kill you. My whole point, is that why take the risk (however small)? I’m sure Alyssa Flatow’s friends and family wish that she chose to go somewhere else.</p>
<p>Soze, you are entitled to your own opinion, however, I don’t want to engage in any argument with you.
I’ve posted with you on another thread that was closed because of religious arguments. I do not want to see this thread closed. It is one of the longest running threads on CC and it has served the purpose of placing students in the best fit colleges. As the title states- it does discuss specific concerns of Jewish students. However, many families who are not Jewish have joined us as well, and, I believe I can speak for the group that this thread is open and welcome to anyone, Jewish or not, who is interested in joining us for the purpose of gaining and sharing pertinent information that may help their student.
What it is not, however, is a place to argue over topics, religious or otherwise. I have read many of your threads, and you are very much against many things that are Jewish: Birthright, Israel, and keeping Kosher. You are entitled to your opinions, but they don’t reflect the opinions of many people who are attracted to this thread.
In the interest of keeping this a supportive, and inclusive community, I would like to see this discussion stopped here. If you would like to continue it, please start your own thread on this topic.</p>
<p>soze - thank you for expressing your opinions and raising your concerns. It’s always useful to hear both sides of any issue. But let’s now simply agree to disagree and move on.</p>
<p>Pennylane2011, rockvillemom:
Fine, we’ll move on but (dispite how you might interpret my previous posts): I’m not “against” Israel, keeping kosher, etc. I’m just raising questions that occur to me.</p>
<p>But you’re right, this is clearly vearing away from this thread’s main topic, so we’ll move on.</p>
<p>And now, back to the subject at hand…</p>
<p>My S2 is in fact a “Jewish B Student” albiet with a 2250, so that puts him in the weird situation that for many schools that fit his GPA (3.44) he would have “over the top SATs.”</p>
<p>Any recommendations on schools that have a robust program in broadcast journalism with an emphasis on production (e.g. have significant newsroom, studio facilities)?</p>
<p>soze: we had the same situation with S1 - 3.5 gpa with 35 ACT & National Merit Finalist. We found that if you look at tier 2 schools you will get a lot of $$. However, S1 didn’t want to go to to a tier 2 school - his interest was computer engineering so he is now at our state flagship which is ranked high for his major.</p>
<p>For broadcast journalism I would suggest U Colorado- Boulder or Mizzou or Indiana or UT-Austin- all highly ranked and would be good fit for your S2 stats. I wouldn’t exclude Medill (northwesten) or NYU either, though because you never know what they are looking for. Also, I think Carnegie Mellon has an interesting program in their fine arts program (but no merit $$).</p>
<p>Have you looked at Quinnipiac for Journalism?</p>
<p>ECmotherx2:
The average student from his HS that gets into Quinnipiac has 470 points less than him on the SAT and a 3.1 GPA. I’m sure it’s a fine school, but I’d like to see him do a bit better.</p>
<p>tootiredtocare:
Texas is a possibility I’ve explored. My son does have an issue with big state U’s as he’s concerned that the majority of the kids will be in-staters and he doesn’t want to be an “outsider.” </p>
<p>CMU I think is out-of-reach for him. He would have the lowest GPA of any kid accepted from his HS if he were to get in.</p>
<p>NYU is a real posibility. There are programs at both Tisch and A&S that interest him and NYU will only let you apply to one.</p>
<p>Northwestern would be fantastic, but I think it’s totally out of reach for him.
(My older son “threw away” his ED1 on a school that was out-of-reach for him and I really don’t want S2 to make the same mistake).</p>
<p>For Broadcast Journalism, have you considered:</p>
<p>NYU (yes, looks like you have)
Syracuse University
Boston University
Emerson College (a very small college in the heart of Boston)</p>
<p>chocchipcookie:
BU, NYU and Syracuse are all on his list.
Emerson would be good… but it’s just so ultra-narrowly focused to the point that if he were to want to change course, he’d have to transfer.</p>
<p>^^But at that point, he could just transfer to BU and still keep his friends at Emerson. I personally think that small colleges are great if your child is the type to do well in an atmosphere where everyone gets to know you. And the professors know your name. Just think of the attention he’d get in a field he’s interested in! BU is also very highly regarded…so he could transfer easier from one college to another in the same city…food for thought…</p>
<p>thanks for the Reform Judaism list, happy to see Washington and Lee at # 18 as a small and mighty Hillel. I can vouch for it being a terrific Hillel, with a beautiful new building (2-3 yrs old) with a cafe all students love, and fun, innovative programming.</p>
<p>also, just as an aside, my two college grads had only great experiences with Birthright, with two very different groups. we all met up in Israel following their trips and found the flexibility about that terrific too.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>There’s a ages-old debate (which will always be there) about small college versus comprehensive university. From my personal experience (I went to a small school and so does S1), the notion that you get “personal attention” at a smaller school is largly a myth, but I do know that there are people that swear by the whole small-college-experience.</p>
<p>My issue with him is that for what he wants there are really no small colleges offering what he’s seeking both from a course offering and facilities perspective. Emerson would be perhaps a unique exception because it’s their main focus.</p>
<p>Does Ithaca college work? They have an extensive communication school amid a diverse college. While not as prestigious, it might yield scholarship offers</p>
<p>Soze-- have you looked at American university in DC ? They have a very strong program from what I gave gears from my sons. Lots of access and high level internships</p>
<p>Chapman University might fit your son’s criteria if he’s willing to go cross country for college.</p>
<p>Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend and all of your Rosh Hashana cooking is on schedule! Happy and healthy New Year to everyone.</p>
<p>Have all the new freshman launched?</p>
<p>D2 and I (mainly I) have been struggling over her list. As the months have progressed she has eliminated all but 1 reach school from her list. Has 2 matches (one that I made her add) and 2 safeties…there are another 2 safeties that we are in negotiations on! I would like another 1 or 2 matches or reaches added to her list. It is safety heavy. Personally as she cuts each reach school, I have a feeling she wants to reject them before they reject her. Her list would be 1 reach, 1 match and 2 safeties. With this list finances shouldn’t be a concern. The match school is currently her top choice. But…there are no guaranties with matches or any school for that matter and I feel she is limiting herself when all is said and done. She is a high stat kid, with lots of AP’s, leadership, etc. I am afraid she is selling herself short by not taking a chance on more reaches.</p>
<p>Other than 11/1 deadlines for EA, etc. I told her we would discuss the rest of the schools after that, figuring that she may be willing to add more when she gets closer to the RD deadlines. </p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Agree. Most of the reach schools will have 1/1/14 deadlines - so you have plenty of time to add. She may be more inclined to add reaches when she hears where her friends are applying, or perhaps her GC (or her older sister) will encourage her.</p>