Actually, my DD was accepted to U of South Carolina her senior year of HS, and we visited last that spring…of 2006. So…it’s been over 10 years! Yikes.
But my kid loved the school…and really ifmshe had been accepted to the honors college, I think it would,have been her choice.
They have an outstanding, and extremely well regarded sports management program. I’m wondering how that might tie in with the OP’s daughter’s interests.
Honestly, I still think this school is a hidden gem in southern schools.
If one wants a larger Jewish population at a SC school, College of Charleston would have been the go to place.
I think you need to delve into what Jewish life is like at these schools. If she’s not into Hillel, is she planning to go Greek? For kids who strongly identity as Jewish culturally it’s good to know the make up of Greek Jewish life. At some schools the percentage of Jews who go Greek is vastly more than the general school population. And at some , especially in the south , the percentage Jewish girls are relegated to one or two sororities. For this kind of insight she needs to be In touch with others students. Are there others that she knows from your hometown, or friends of friends she could talk to?
None of the national sororities would be allowed to exclude Jewish girls by policy. I pledged a national sorority eons ago and we certainly didn’t ask and didn’t care what religion a potential member was. I went to my first Seder at the sorority, hosted by a few members who wanted to share their religion and culture with everyone.
Do some houses exclude potential members because of religion or hair color or background or being loud or race? Of course, but it is much more common for a house to have wide diversity in membership.
Probably very dependent on campus. Some campuses have a rather high level of racial (self-)segregration in sororities (based on chapter photo albums), while others have much less.
You have asked a direct question, so I will answer directly, as it relates to the U of A (Arizona): There are significant numbers of people from the “north” and Jewish students at the U of A.
It is not even an issue that I would think to consider. There are over 40,000 students, from all slices of society. Arizona has significant representation from local students, but also vast numbers of individuals from California, Illinois, New York …
That being said, a visit might be in order for other reasons. That old saw that students can “make their own way” is absolutely true, but the U of A is a large public research University with excellent educational opportunities … as well as a well earned reputation for “fun times” …
I live in Tucson. Tucson is a very diverse and pretty liberal city. Tucson has a really big and awesome Jewish Community Center, but it’s not located next to the U of A. Here’s their website → https://www.tucsonjcc.org/. I have non-Jewish friends who are members there. U of A has a Jewish fraternity on campus, but I don’t think there’s a Jewish sorority. U of A focuses a lot on diversity like a lot of university campuses do.
Sororities at U of A are held responsible to standards of non-discrimination by the administration, as well as standards for philanthropy and grades (the house overall). DD’s sorority is over 50% Jewish, and was a historical Jewish sorority. However, as I said earlier it is a mix now of Jewish and Christian girls and traditions, and a great place to learn about both.
Around 40% of students at UofSC are from out of state and that includes many from northern states. She will not feel out of place just because she is Jewish or from the north! If she does decide to attend services outside Hillel, there are two synagogues within easy driving distance (one more conservative and one reformed).