I got a big lecture from one of my friends who claims expertise in this area. She basically tells me that I cannot take my S16’s experience or those of his male friends and extrapolate it to my D17. As an unhooked WGFNYNJ she is the worst demographic or close to it and a boy (other than an ORM studying STEM) would be a much easier applicant. In her opinion even a STEM female is in trouble - and D cannot apply STEM anyway and it is too late for her to take harp lessons! I realize it is the unhooked girl that is the biggest problem, not the Jewish. Except the Jewish (for me) eliminates matches such as Villanova. She really needs realistic targets and safeties. Looking back for the last 3 years, boys have done better than girls in their school with similar stats but I had assumed it was random, just ECs and essays.
Now I am wondering if my friend is right. Although why does the unhooked humanities girl do so much worse than the unhooked STEM white boy?
To quote @RockvilleMom who started the thread that inspired me to post this question, “I make this request - if you are interested in this topic - have good ideas - please contribute. If you feel this type of thread is not necessary - then I guess there is no reason for you to post on it, right? (Said gently!)…So, I’d love feedback from parents and students who are familiar with Jewish life and the Hillels at these schools. If I have overlooked some - please fill me in. We are trying to stay in the mid-Atlantic region” I would add North East as well mid west with a good airport and good connections to metro NY/NJ but driving is preferred. Would prefer not to put her in too political a situation, such as where SJP or BDS are a strong factor. I want her focused on her education not marching in protest.
D has decent but not extraordinary STATs, 3.8 and a 31 - broken out strongly in favor of English. Strong leadership, consistent activities and varsity sports (not a recruit). Her common app essay is very good and unusual (say her parents!) She is looking for a mid size research university. Over 3500, under 14,000 (upper end not a deal breaker, lower end is). She will apply to Rutgers/SUNY et all. She is not interested in any of the CTCLs, F & M or Muhlenburg. I have seen lots of other posts for girls in this category that will have suggestions such as Fordham or Villanova or St. Olaf. For obvious reasons neither of us is comfortable with those suggestions and St. Olaf is too small for her anyway. She wants a SECULAR school with an active Hillel, not to be the founding member or a school dominated or organized by another religion.
Dealbreakers: Urban, small (under 3500) or rural.
College Town or Suburban is good.
The reaches are not a problem, it is the usual suspects, that according to my friend she will have a “sad process” with, Tufts, Emory, WUSTL, Vandy, possibly Cornell. Some targets, Lehigh she liked, most others do not appeal and are too far to visit such as URochester (will probably apply - she is ok with cold weather), Case Western (another target that she is meh on and is far for me).
She happens to not like Brandeis, BU, or NE because she spent time in Boston in the past and does not care for the urban feel. She was open to women’s colleges until she visited one and decided no. NOT interested in Miami (either one), Syracuse or Ithaca (Cornell OK) and hates the idea of the usual OOSs such as BAMA, UDelaware, UMaryland, OSU, Indiana, UIUC, UWisc or UMich (she would like the last two but I have personal reasons for not permitting them). I do not want her too far west or south, a 2.5 hour flight is about max. Do not know enough about UNC-CH or UVa other than they seem like reaches for her and may be too southern in population.
She really needs targets that she can get excited about and safeties beyond her state flagship.
