<p>Boysx3, I hope your holiday was okay. This year’s timing made it tough for a lot of kids to come home. We were lucky to have D1 home, but D2 and a some of my nieces and nephews couldn’t make it. </p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that Linymom’s and Shulamit’s sons are settling in. </p>
<p>NeedplanB: Thanks for the report on your visits. I know 2 boys who really liked UMW, but neither one graduated. One left for medical reasons and the other one decided to become a chef. A lot of students from my area attend JMU and love it, but I do get the impression that the students enjoy partying. </p>
<p>Have you considered Towson? Towson has a nice Jewish population and a pretty active Hillel. My D has friends who are quite happy there.</p>
<p>First week of school started this week on Rosh Hashanah. So, Bunheadgirl only attended one day and assigned three days of homework to complete and submit on Monday and Tuesday. She completed 2 days worth of homework today and caught up on all course readings. The remainder of homework will get completed tomorrow. </p>
<p>I normally post in the 2015 and 2015 3.0-3.3 forums, but now that Bunheadgirl is a junior and the college search is in full swing, I need the assistance of the Tribe as we solidify D’s lists of schools. </p>
<p>I’ll post separately on D’s GPA, board scores, and schools currently on her list. </p>
<p>Looking forward to being an active member of this thread after pretty much lurking since 2010. </p>
<p>L’shana Tova wishing you all a sweet New Year. My son is now enjoying his classes at UMiami while my daughter is taking her final ACT this September. We are all having a lot of fun with the college football season for the first time. My daughter is also leaning towards UMiami and we hope she will apply ED on November.</p>
<p>Just stopped in to say hello and to wish everyone a very happy new year! DD loves her second year at Ringling College of Art and Design (they started on the 19th). She has taken a job in the Admissions Office (yippee) and is having fun, and I love it as it is about 5 hours a week, which is perfect given her 70 hours of homework a week (got to love an art program). We were empty nesters last year as dd is our only child, but this year took an exchange student (16 year old boy) from Argentina! I don’t know what got into us, except that we were very involved with AFS when dd was in school (and when she was young). So after a year off, it is back to counselor meetings, football games and driving to school! At least I don’t have to worry about his college applications! Take care and good luck to all those in the process!</p>
<p>Just stopping in to say hello and to wish everyone a very happy new year! My daughter LOVES University of Maryland, had a much easier transition than I was ever expecting. I’m happy to answer any and all questions about Delaware (twins are seniors) and the little I’ve learned about Maryland already. I believe I’ve seen over 35 college campuses and helped my kids fill out over 30 applications so I feel like an old pro already :-)Take care and good luck to everyone in the college process.</p>
<p>Thank you again for your comments. ExpatCanuck, I agree that 83% retention rate at UMW is not low, just not a great number. On the other hand, it is better than at a lot of other schools that appear to be a match for D’s stats so it may be nothing to worry about. </p>
<p>Momjr, thanks for the info, do you happen to know what reputation UMW has locally? We really enjoyed our visit but our friends who live in DC area, only about an hour from UMW, don’t know anyone who went there. Another puzzling fact is the absence of selectivity (almost 80% accepted) but combined with the average gpa of 3.48 and to ExpatCanuck’s point, pretty good graduation rates. Coming from NE, it is very unusual. So I would love to know more about it. </p>
<p>We are planning to visit Towson in November. My concern is the low graduation rate. Our second daughter is three years behind the first so at that point we’ll have two kids in college. We are really hoping for our older D (and of course for her sister as well) to graduate in four and go to a school where most students do. An exception would be if she decides on a 5-year combined program. </p>
<p>Pennylane, thank you for your idea to check UNCG. I remember reading about it being a commuter school for the most part. The 4-year graduation rate is only 28% and 6-year - 53%, it looks like there would be a lot of students transferring out and many part-time students probably as well. So I don’t think it would work, especially coming OOS.</p>
<p>BunHeadMom, you will love this thread. Both of mine are “bunheads” too as they both dance although at different levels.</p>
<p>To the parents whose kids just started college, thank you for posting about their first days of school, it is actually very helpful to know that it does end well most of the time:)</p>
<p>I am sorry if this is off-topic for this thread but I am sure that I am not the only one trying to figure this out. Is this correct to translate an 87+ gpa to a 3.2 on a 4.0 scale? My D’s school provides only the percentage on the transcript, the 3.2 is the number given to me by the GC for reference. Searching online including CC, I found several methods of calculation which produce different results so it would be great to know what most people are using.</p>
<p>Let me put a plug in here for Elon University in this thread. My DD just started 2 weeks ago, and we have been impressed with the Hillel and it’s wonderful staff. We attended a lovely Shabbat dinner on move in weekend. With the holidays so early this year, she has been at Hillel events 5 times already and made some nice new friends.</p>
<p>Look into Elon for your Jewish student. If you are concerned about your chances of acceptance, ED is the way to go (85% get in).</p>
<p>Based on the [collegeBoard</a> stats](<a href=“BigFuture College Search”>BigFuture College Search), I surely wouldn’t wager on a typical ‘B’ student being admitted to Elon. A B+ student might have a shot.</p>
<p>I certainly won’t denigrate Elon since my daughter attends. The school has certainly made vast gains in improving it’s academic reputation and has subsequently improved the quality of it’s student body. My daughter is an A student and is at Elon as an Honors Fellow.</p>
<p>I still believe it can be an excellent choice for a motivated B student. If you are well-rounded and express a keen interest in the school, an early decision application to Elon significantly improves your chance for acceptance.</p>
<p>There is also a growing Jewish presence at the school. My daughter reports almost 10% of the freshman class is Jewish. The brand new Hillel was also voted one of the top ten “small and mighty” hillels by Reform Judaism magazine.</p>
<p>mnm111 - I am so happy your D is happy at Elon and is enjoying Hillel. My son is a very happy sophomore and is very active in Jewish life at Elon. You also nailed it on acceptance - Elon IS a great option for a “B” student who wants to apply ED, as their ED acceptance rate is over 80%. They also really consider ECs, demonstrated interest and essays - this is holistic admissions - not straight GPA/test scores.</p>
<p>expatCanuck - Elon might be a stretch for a “B” student applying in the EA or RD pools. But an ED applicant has a great shot.</p>
<p>Go to <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5B/url%5D”>www.collegedata.com</a> they have all the stats of ED,EA and regular admission with numbers and percentages. Really helpful.</p>
<p>Tprcd66 St. joes is about 10 minutes away so not even a consideration for my son. I honestly don’t know much since I never considered it, but the campus looks beautiful in an old world gothic sense. It’s close to the city ( well technically I think it’s considered “in the city” but not really in center city. Tons of public transportation to get kids into the area college kids hang out. The boys look very athletic and clean cut (we drove by today and I noticed that).<br>
Our schools naviance has BU and Miami about the same but my son has now decided he “knows” he wants a small liberal arts school. He said if he went to BU it would not be for school but for the city. He LOVED Colorado College and wants to apply ED there, I want to cry, but am also really proud of his reasons why CC and feel I need to allow him to try and let him go if he gets in. So Miami, BU, Tulane, Syracuse and UC boulder are off the list. First choice Colorado College, 2nd choice Union. He doesn’t care much past that but will apply to Skidmore, Connecticut College, Boston College, Elon, Bentley U, and Quinnipiac as a real safety. I give the boy credit for knowing where he will do best and forgoing the big party schools in favor of small.</p>