<p>Oh I understand about course sequences and so forth - I was more comparing say Gettysburg - with one major offered - Mgmt and Organizational Studies - to say James Madison, Towson, etc. with majors on accounting, marketing, mgmt, etc. </p>
<p>I just read a bit on the AU thread - interesting conversation re merit aid and need-based FA - some happy campers - some not - but I guess it is that way everywhere. AU does not guarantee to meet full need.</p>
<p>Also - some kids live at the “Tenley campus”? Was not aware of that. I know it is not far and I read there is a shuttle bus - but that’s a “hmmm…” in my book.</p>
<p>Tenley campus is about 4 blocks down the street from the main campus…it’s primarily for grad students and visiting students in the Washington Semester program. It’s about a 7 minute walk from the Quad. </p>
<p>I hadn’t heard of any first years being placed there.</p>
<p>That being said…AU assigns housing in the order in which deposits are received…so get that deposit in as early as possible. Another way to improve the chance for good housing at AU is to apply to be in one of the UC sections.</p>
<p>It seems that most students on this thread want to stay in the mid-Atlantic area. I live in the midwest and I know several families sending their Jewish students with B averages to Bradley University.</p>
<p>Bradley’s in Illinois, right? I think someone posted about it a few pages back. </p>
<p>For our family, one of the criteria is that the school should be within driving range. We are hoping to stay between PA and SC, although Florida is a maybe. S1 loves going to school in North Carolina - loves the weather. Both of my boys are golfers (for fun - maybe intermural or club level - not good enough to make a team) - so there is some consideration there to heading south.</p>
<p>I think it is wonderful when families are comfortable sending their kids to another part of the country - but having to fly back and forth does not really appeal to us and is an additional expense as well - so we are pretty firm on our geographic restrictions.</p>
<p>My D who has said she wants to go to a school with a nice percentage of Jewish students had an interesting comment. We were talking about a school on her safety list and I said well even though the % is a little lower than we were looking at, the Hillel seems to be very active. She looked at me and said “and what do you think that means to me?” Basically, she wants to go to school with Jews, but may or may not be active in Hillel! I explained what it meant to her, was that there was a place she could go for the High Holidays if she couldn’t come home, the same with a Passover Seder and that there was another place on campus that she would hopefully feel comfortable at if needed. OY, teenagers!</p>
<p>Boysx3 - Regarding Bradley, I was actually looking at it last night. All of my D’s safeties are public schools (so on the larger side) and I am trying to find one that is a little bit smaller, which means Private. It looks like Hillel is getting a new building, but there about 250 Jews, which is under 5%. I think that may be a little too low. Do you know if that % is correct? Thanks.</p>
<p>The pushback many of us receive from our kids when we place a higher priority on Jewish presence results in large part from this generation of kids being more likely than prior generations to have friends of all religions and not to be as worried about social rejection on religious grounds–or as focused on dating within their religion.</p>
<p>Accordingly, many of us will find our kids visiting campuses just checking to see whether the kids dress like them and seem friendly and attractive. Kids who wear t shirts and sweatpants will often not view kids of the same religion who wear preppy or designer clothes as favorably as kids of other religions who dress informally.</p>
<p>I would be interested in whether Catholic colleges have seen a drop in the quality or number of Catholic applicants for similar reasons.</p>
<p>mdmom,
I would call the Hillel director on campus and ask directly…what is the weekly/monthly schedule, how many kids participate/attend which activities, etc.
Are there 250 jewish kids on campus, or 250 in the Hillel?</p>
<p>If you are checking out privates, other good bet is the University of Denver–about 25% Jewish (my middle son will be a senior there) as well as some of the other schools being more considered on this thread.</p>
<p>I think yabeyabe hit the nail on the head on both counts; I will add one more…</p>
<p>A kid who gets the feeling that many of the schools on the radar of Jewish peers are out of their reach academically will more than likely “accept” one that may have fewer Jewish kids, if they know that it is a fit in every other way…you can’t put a priority on something that is out of your reach…I’m not saying that is the case, but in many cases, if something “has to give”, this is gonna be what it is…</p>
<p>it comes back to that list that RM posted a couple of pages back; so many of the schools on that list are not for “B” students; how do you think our kids react to that?
(rhetorical question btw)…</p>
<p>My “B” student has resorted to not talking to many people about the schools she is looking at…and as long as her grandmother doesn’t ask her “how many Jews go there?” “I’ve never heard of that school”…she will be fine…</p>
<p>and i ditto the suggestion of UDenver for this group btw; very highly recommended around these parts</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion regarding University of Denver. Just took a quick look and it seems to have the programs D is interested in. Only problem, is that we live in the DC area and didn’t really want to go that far. It may be worth looking into though. I’ll see what D has to say. </p>
<p>Rodney, as I follow this thread I’ve been wondering if the “something” that has to give ought to be the weather. I’m quite serious. Younger students don’t always care as much about being “too hot” or “too cold” as do their visiting parents.</p>
<p>There are just so many parameters a family can pile onto a choice list before, as you say, “something has to give.” In my experience, having the academic, financial and culture fits are crucial. A student can adapt to inclement weather. Perhaps the “give” should be there, rather than compromise the Jewish component. A student can buy a Northface Parka and learn to fly home much easier than we can change the community demographic on a campus. </p>
<p>I am the first to admit that snow is inconvenient, but given everything at stake, and with deep respect for the sensitivities of caring Jewish families, I think it’s time to Give the North a Chance (again) if that will enlarge a list of options for a Jewish B Student living south of the Mason/Dixon line. </p>
<p>Many of the SUNY’s (public) or an Ithaca College (private) are suitable… except for the weather. And that’s just in NY State! Why does weather get to call all the shots?!</p>
<p>I’m with p3t…weather isn’t a make or break element of the college experience, it’s the campus culture --both social and academic-- that’s important.</p>
<p>Distance wasn’t a big deal for our family. Our feeling was that once a school was out of a 3 or 4 hour driving distance, there wasn’t much of a difference in the convenience factor.</p>
<p>We live in Ohio. Middle son goes to school in Denver…flying is easy. Youngest son goes to school in DC…flying is easy, and the drive isn’t so bad…we drive him to school in August but generally flies at other times. We look for good fares and use credit card points, etc.</p>
<p>In high school, they were B+ students who each wanted middle-sized schools with a sizeable Jewish presence. There just aren’t that many. So consideration of the weather was never really an element of our discussion when putting together their college lists. Once the acceptances were in, it was one factor among many that led middle son to choose the University of Denver.</p>
<p>paying3 and boys3x - if I could convince S2 to consider schools in NY or CT - that would give us more options - but so far - that has been a deal-breaker. I’ll tell you quite honestly that if I asked him straight up - which is more important to you - sports orientation or Jewish life - he would pick sports. We had a brief conversation in the car the other day on this topic (best place for these conversations - captive audience) and while I did not phrase it as a potential choice - he stated that I was over-emphasizing how important Jewish life was to him. Which makes no sense to me whatsoever given how involved he is in BBYO. And then I remind myself that he is not quite 16 and his priorities right now are playing Call of Duty and learning to drive, so I really shouldn’t expect all of his responses to make good sense.</p>
<p>My thoughts at the moment are to see how our visits to Susquehanna and Elon go, and see if he wants to visit American in the fall and Muhlenberg in the spring. If he wants to eliminate the smaller schools under 3000 students - Gettysburg, etc., - then we are going to have to increase our geographic range - no question about it.</p>
<p>FWIW, if students will look in the north, all 3 of my kids liked Syracuse and all 3 have friends there who love it. Syracuse was in the top 3 for all 3.</p>
<p>I agree - if we decide to venture into NY - Syracuse and Ithaca would be on the list to investigate - maybe Binghamton as well. My problem is DH is from Buffalo - so he is on the “head south” bandwagon along with S2.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, I can’t tell if the within-driving-distance constraint is your son’s or yours (or both). If it’s you the parents, then it makes sense to consider p3t’s suggestion to accept something less favorable (weather or distance) in exchange for something harder to locate (Jewish community and/or sports).</p>
<p>rodney, my D1 is also not mentioning specific schools any more when people ask. It seems to be a no-win situation: either people have never heard of the schools, or they’re excited by a recognizable name where the student has a low chance of acceptance. One set of grandparents (the discreet ones) have been clued in on the side about schools on the list. The other set of grandparents, well, we only tell them things that are a fait accompli. They’re the ones who’ve been telling us that there are wonderful schools in California–Stanford, UCLA, CSU Northridge. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Regarding Syracuse, my D is up there now at a summer program. I really thought it would be a great fit for her. But…she says it isn’t the school for her. Says the campus is nice enough, easy to get around, but not what she wants. Not sure what she wants…but that is what Jr. year will be all about. Going to look at the different schools. I am going to try to talk her out of taking Syracuse off of the list. I think until she has seen more schools to compare it to, nothing should be off the table yet. On the other hand, on the way home we will be stopping to look at a major reach school. Will be interesting to see her impression of that.</p>
<p>I can understand the difficult grandparents’ mindset: our kids are their only grandchildren, they’d like to feel that they can see them more often, and their only experience with college admissions dates back to when USC was a reasonable backup if your kid wasn’t UC-eligible. </p>
<p>That said, they’re still clueless and tactless. Easiest just to bite our tongues and nod our heads. :)</p>
<p>ShawD doesn’t seem unhappy to tell people where she’s looking as she explicitly doesn’t want to go to Brown or Dartmouth or Amherst or their ilk. ShawWife’s parents were mutant Jews – they didn’t really seem to care much about where their kids (at least their daughters) went to college (maybe they cared about the son, who went to McGill) and didn’t attend ShawWife’s graduations. Plus, the college application process in Canada is not nearly as frenzied or stress-inducing. She reports that daughters of people she knew went to the school that ShawD likes and someone’s grandkid is there and all love it. My mother is a more typical East Coast Jewish educational snob, though her kids went to schools ranging from Princeton to Temple. She’s a very bright woman with a PhD well before lots of women were getting PhD’s and has been a professor so knows how universities work, but her knowledge about colleges is outdated, and she’s never heard of any Canadian schools but McGill, UBC and U of Toronto, but I think she’ll be tactful enough. To me, she’d probably ask disparaging questions about Hamilton or University of Denver or New College of Florida. [I personally find this kind of thing a pain to deal with, but grin, bear it, and limit visits and calls.] But, they’ll probably be little contact during the relevant parts of this year.</p>
<p>Progress made - S2 has agreed to visit American this fall. His initial response was that he has been there “tons” of times - but I was able to convince him that an info session/tour would be a different experience from attending a basketball game. Oy.</p>
<p>slitheytove - point taken - we may have to be more flexible on the driving range criteria. But at last count - we have about 10 schools on the current list. If most of them remain on the list - I think we have enough. If he starts knocking some off - we may have to cast a wider net.</p>