Yeah. I thought SMU seemed odd too. I personally don’t know any Jewish students there. The other schools listed in the article plus Duke are very popular with Jewish students in my area of the country, and Wake Forest has been getting more popular in recent years as well. As I said, I don’t generally take the NY post at face value.
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Small, but there is a community of around 350 Jewish students at SMU.
Jewish Life - SMU (Southern Methodist University).
Surprising to me, SMU’s largest religious group are Catholics, 26%.
Looks like Wake has around 400 Jewish students, bigger percentage of total students than SMU
Wake Forest University - Hillel International.
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Well yes, of course there are some Jewish students at SMU- about 3% of the students, which would be more than at nearby Texas Christian U or even Baylor-but I would never have considered it a " destination " for Jewish applicants. Maybe that will change now.
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Blockquote quite homogeneous religiously
Blockquote
I was actually surprised at SMU’s religious diversity. Methodists and Catholics combined are only 44% of the students.
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By homogenous I was referring to the 85% Christian student body.
My Jewish friend met her Jewish husband at SMU and they had a great experience there. They would like their Jewish daughters to go there. While numbers may be small(ish), if it is an active and vibrant community, it makes up for numbers. I went to a school with a higher percentage of Jewish students (over 20%) but never felt much of a Jewish presence (Except when hanging out at the Jewish fraternity. I married the President. surprisingly, a non-Jew).
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I do not doubt SMU would welcome more applicants of all faiths.
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Ok. Got you. We’re Catholic but never lump other denominations when we’re assessing the religious climate at colleges but I can understand your comment now.
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I’ll only speak for myself, but I don’t think anyone meant to suggest that SMU would not be welcoming to Jews. The other colleges mentioned in the NY post article have much larger Jewish populations and have been popular college destinations for Jews for decades. In that context, listing SMU as an Ivy alternative for Jews is a bit surprising. As an aside, Emory is also a Methodist school and while I don’t know the current demographics, I’d be willing to bet that there are as many Jewish students as there are Methodists.
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