<p>Congratulations ExpatCanuk!</p>
<p>Spectrum2
Mumof 2
Pennylane2011
Whenhen</p>
<p>When I wrote my original post about TCU on page 808 of this thread in January of 2012, my twins were seniors in high school and looking at colleges and universities. Fast forward and today they are both sophomores at TCU. I reiterate what I wrote then so I will not repeat it here. My kids could not be happier.</p>
<p>TCU has an active chapter of Hillel. In fact, one of my twins is the President this school year so if you have any questions about it you can e-mail me. There is a reform and a conservative synogogue less than ten minutes away. TCU is a warm, inviting and inclusive community in all aspects: religiously, academically, and socially. It is a tight knit community as well. My kids have gotten to know all of their professors. The professors encourage it. They want to know their students. TCU not only encourages a close relationhip with the student, but with the student’s family as well. Periodically throughout the year, parents receive bulletins from the Dean of Students letting them know what is going on at the school. Parents of students are part of the TCU alumni community.</p>
<p>Something that I know now that I didn’t know back in 2012 is how much TCU prepares its students for life after college. For example, academic departments provide mock interviews so that the students are ready when interviewing for jobs and/or graduate school. Something else that I was not aware of in 2012 was the extent that TCU is investing in the future. When you step foot on campus, there is a lot of construction going on. New facilities are going up all over campus. The administration has a vision of what the school should be in the future and is taking the necessary steps to get there. This makes TCU and exciting place for everyone.</p>
<p>As I wrote back in 2012, it might be counter-intuitive for families on this thread to consider TCU, considering the C in the school name, but that would be a mistake. TCU is for many an undiscovered gem. It would be worthwhile to take the time to discover it.</p>
<p>Great post on TCU, thank you. Correlates well with my original premse in starting this thread - to discover colleges for Jewish “B” studnts beyond the obvious choices. I think some families will have difficulty getting past the name - but it might be fine for others. It’s all about having more options.</p>
<p>Thank you for an informative post. It is good to get an inside view. Glad your twins are doing well. </p>
<p>Students being trained to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses. Sad but true.</p>
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<p>Scary to think this is needed, but I am concerned that it is. </p>
<p>Congrats Expatcanuk to you and your son!</p>
<p>My apologies to LINYMOM and ddahwan for not thanking you sooner for your helpful responses. I’ve been a bit frantic trying to balance my crazy joy, moving to a new house soon, and all this college stuff.</p>
<p>My son (who’s been acting, strangely, more nice and mature lately–maybe partly due to relief?) is supposed to visit U Miami April 23-24. It was nearly impossible finding a flight from Boston that was under $2000! but finally found a round trip that wasn’t too bad and wasn’t going to have a zillion stops. It’s only him going, because as much as I’d love to go to Miami especially with all this cold and snow here, I can’t afford to pay for me too.</p>
<p>However, now I’m trying to figure out where he’d stay. He called the rep here and was told U Miami has no place for visiting students. And now that we’re searching for a hotel, it’s looking like he’s can’t check in anywhere because he’s under 21. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas? Unlike Drexel or UVM, he doesn’t know anyone who goes there. Does anyone know of a youth hostel type place?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>@naggymom - here’s what I would try, in order:</p>
<ol>
<li>Call the Hillel and ask for a student host for the visit.</li>
<li>Call hotels and ask them if you can pre-fax a permission letter for DS to stay ther.</li>
<li>Look for hostels/etc.</li>
</ol>
<p>Try talking to a human being (as opposed to booking on the internet). When my 20-year old son needed to spend a night in another metropolitan area we had a similar problem finding a hotel that he could stay at. My wife talked to the agent at (I believe it was Expedia) and she was able to locate a hotel which would accept him at age 18.</p>
<p>Thank you–I will try all of those!</p>
<p>Hi everyone! Still not adapted to new CC “upgrade.” Good intentions of catching up on missed messages but it’s so much harder to read these days…is it just me?</p>
<p>Quick update…Cheergirl’s choices pretty much narrowed down to (1) Tulane (2) UDel and (3) UMD. She loves UMD but feels it’s a little too close to home. We all love everything about UDel. She’s fallen in love with Tulane “on paper” and through social media and we’re visiting for Top Scholars weekend March 15-17. </p>
<p>Congrats to everyone on acceptances and successes!</p>
<p>Congratulations Cheermom! Great choices!!</p>
<p>Trimester 2 results in. Yin & yang. ExpatSon continues to push the envelope … at both ends. </p>
<p>History teacher opines that his writing demonstrates both knowledge of the material and a high level of analysis, and encourages expatSon to pursue the study of History in college. :)</p>
<p>AP Environmental Science teacher writes that his tests are often the bar against which she compares the rest of the class. :D</p>
<p>And then there’s that D+ in Precalc. :-/
If my calculations are correct, as long as expatSon passes the final trimester with a D, he’ll not have the offer of admission from Dalhousie’s Faculty of Science revoked. But I’d much prefer that the accuracy of those calculations not need testing. 
</p>
<p>Thanks Shulamit! :)</p>
<p>Wondering if any other parents in this forum will be visiting Tulane for Top Scholars event this weekend?</p>
<p>And/or…for those of you with kids already at Tulane…what would you recommend for “must-do” activities during our visit. We’re flying into NOLA late morning on Saturday and we’ll have the rest of that day to explore on our own after hotel check-in. Most of Sunday and first half of Monday are committed to TU programming, and we have an early evening flight home on Monday. Kicking myself for not extending our visit for an extra day or two!</p>
<p>Happy Purim everyone. Looking forward to chocolate Hamentschen myself.</p>
<p>Sounds similar to my son, ExpatCanuk, I never know what to expect! If it’s any reassurance, the stepson of a friend of mine had at least one D senior year but still got to go to Northeastern U.</p>
<p>Just wanted to share that my D has decided on U Miami and we are all very excited! She was accepted to 8 schools, rejected at 1 and hasn’t heard from the other 2 which are off her list now anyway. Wanted to say thank you to all the great folks on this board who reached out and helped us in some way. The information and support I received from other parents here was invaluable and greatly appreciated. In an effort to pay it forward, I started a thread a few months back called Smartest Things You Did During College Process which is online here: <a href=“Smartest Things You Did During College Process - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1589761-smartest-things-you-did-during-college-process-p1.html</a> I hope the tips garnered there will be helpful to other parents. </p>
<p>If anyone has a U Miami kid or one who will be a freshman in August, please feel free to get in touch! </p>
<p>And now I will start to concentrate on my S, a HS soph who needs to start looking at colleges this summer or fall. So far he has seen Bama (loved it and the Comp Sci advisor he met there) and Lehigh (loved their wide range of interdisciplinary programs). He is unsure of his major but is thinking computer science or possibly engineering. Let the fun begin again!</p>
<p>I haven’t seen much discussion about Towson. I have 2 very close Jewish friends with daughters who are very happy there and both are involved with Jewish life. My daughter is truly a “B” student and after today’s visit she committed to the school. My husband and I really liked the atmosphere and academically we think it is a good fit. Temple was her first choice and although she applied early action, she still has not gotten an answer from them. We were not happy with Temple for various reasons. I think for our Jewish family with a B student from the east coast Towson will be the right choice.</p>
<p>NYMom–Mazel tov! So happy for your D and for YOU! Awesome choice!</p>
<p>Leapmom–CONGRATULATIONS!!!</p>
<p>We live in Montgomery County, MD and my D knows dozens of awesome Jewish kids at Towson! They’re all happy and thriving. Solid academic choice AND a terrific college town.</p>