<p>"Curmudgeon, maybe what your niece needs is a summer trip, courtesy of her favorite uncle, to Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem. What are you waiting for?"</p>
<p>Taglit-Birthright Israel may also be of interest.</p>
<p>You have to be of Jewish descent to qualify for Taglit-Birthright Israel.</p>
<p>You said "forgetting Columbia"....but what about Barnard? Calmom indicated her daughter was admitted with similar stats....</p>
<p>I guess what I mean by "forgetting Columbia" was that it is awfully easy for a lot of kids , regardless of their chances, to fall in love with Columbia. So, I would have been more clear if I had said "forgetting Columbia for the moment".</p>
<p>Barnard would be a great choice.</p>
<p>She could check out Marist College up in Poughkeepsie - they have a Major in English with a concentration in Theatre and a Jewish Studies Minor.
There is an Amtrak station right in Poughkeepskie, it's a nice little school, requires only FAFSA and she would probably qualify for at least $10,000 in merit alone.
It would be a safety, perhaps not a "financial safety" though.</p>
<p>
My son had better "stats" than that and ended up at a public college that was well below "safety" for him -- and he certainly was not unhappy. It was his 2nd college (transfer) and I won't say he was 100% satisfied with the academics, but I think he was far more engaged there than he was at more selective LAC where he started -- and he found some great profs at the lower-ranked school, including at least one who he said was "brilliant". Plus he ended up with an exceptional opportunity through the school that was his for the taking partly because he was at the top academically. And I think the lower-ranked school was a better fit socially & emotionally for him. </p>
<p>If the school has a strong department or focus on areas of interest, and a student is strong-willed and independent -- plus if independent study projects are encouraged -- then the very bright, but not amazing, kid might be an academic superstar in the less competitive environment, but overlooked in a more competitive environment. I'd look more to the kid's personality than the numbers -- and the fact that this kid can visit Wagner and "love" it says a whole lot. Rather than look askance at the admissions stats or the US News ranking (or lack thereof)....I'd ask, why the love?</p>
<p>I think Curmudgeon's niece will do well wherever she goes, actually -- but for her it may be more important to look at the opportunities and resources each campus affords (including off campus opportunities) - rather than the SAT scores of her fellow students.</p>
<p>Watch it with Marist, if there is going to be financial need above merit aid. Marist's endowment is only about 22 million, and they meet 68-72% of financial need, on average. My source for this is USNews. All of that said, the sticker price at Marist is lower than at many private colleges, and when looking at the bottom line, it ended up being one of the best financial packages that my son received, but we are upper middle class. Also, to keep the merit aid my son was offered, the bar was set at either 2.7 or 2.8. If merit aid is lost, however, as you can see, they can gap quite a bit.</p>
<p>The campus is beautiful, but they are quite far from NYC, although there is access by train. I am not sure, but I believe that it could take 1.5 hours, and I know that trip is not inexpensive. The school does run period trips into NYC, and perhaps your niece could organize one. I know that in the past they have run a bus with showtickets for a very good student price.</p>
<p>A few more thoughts on Drew...Drew has a top-rated and demanding theater program; and they also have an interdisciplinary minor in Holocaust Studies. Unlike several schools on the list, Drew is generally pretty good about merit aid. In fact, they have a special Presidential Scholarship in the Arts (up to $10k per year) that would be worth checking out. They have also been working very hard at increasing national and international diversity, so being from Texas would definitely be a plus.</p>
<p>mudge</p>
<p>Co-worker's D will be a freshman at Brandeis this fall. She is Jewish but interestingly both of her future roommates are not.</p>
<p>While it is the only non-sectarian Jewish sponsored college or university in the US, it's overall diversity is usually a surprise to most people who have not fully investigated the school.</p>
<p>Profile for Brandeis from Hillel.org</p>
<p>Enrollment:<br>
Undergraduate: 3,081
Graduate: 1,801
Jewish Enrollment:<br>
Undergraduate: 1,700
Graduate: 300
Approximate number of Jewish Studies courses: 60
Jewish Studies Major or Minor: Major, Minor</p>
<p>Is it all about NYC? I was wondering if L.A. is a possible venue, since you're on the 50-yard-line there in Texas. </p>
<p>If so, I'll root around the Simon Wiesenthal Center website there for you for ideas (internship perhaps) ..or mention Chapman U's Stern Holocaust Resource center/academic major plus their well-developed performing arts department.</p>
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Is it all about NYC?
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She needs a generous school, should qualify for big FA.
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<p>I can see why your sister will need all the searching capacity of Ol' Cur! Except for a couple of schools, NY is simply not a good venue for students needing generous financial aid. Hoping for a school such as NYU to offer a generous package is as much a pipedream as NYC turning into a heaven of politeness and cleanliness. </p>
<p>This will be a hard one, but that could be made easier by dropping the restriction brought by needing a *theatre *program. As we know, going where *everyone *is going is not the ideal way to stand out. Theatre? New York City? Pick a number!</p>
<p>Xiggi, remember Willie Sutton's reason for robbing banks? --- Because that's where the money is. That applies to anyone studying theater in NYC. It's where the theaters are. Hundreds of performances are staged every day at theaters large & small. At clubs & parks & cafes and holes-in-the-wall. No other place will have anywherre near the number of opportunities.</p>
<p>Marist is just up the road from Vassar (and the Culinary Institute of America which is beside the point of this discussion.) At any rate, it would be easy to visit both in one swoop (along with Bard and Sarah Lawrence) and have a delicious dinner too!</p>
<p>But unless you live in NYC proper and can access the opportunities readily, being "near" NYC doesn't help a heck of a lot.</p>
<p>paying3 tuitions beat me to it. Chapman. They are also VERY generous with financial aide for the right student.</p>
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Xiggi, remember Willie Sutton's reason for robbing banks? --- Because that's where the money is.
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<p>Oh, I know! I know! </p>
<p>This said, you have to pick the horse that lets you finish the race. It does not help much to spend all your energy to land an admission at a school that is financially inaccessible.</p>
<p>The question to answer is if theatre is really the sine qua non part of Cur's puzzle.</p>
<p>I want to second Drew. It's very close by NYC, in Madison, N.J., an easy rail trip into Manhattan. We have a family friend there, and he loves it.</p>
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The question to answer is if theatre is really the sine qua non part of Cur's puzzle.
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True. And if it is, most of the theater opportunities his niece could reasonably take part in at a school as far away as, say, Vassar, would have to be on campus or in Poughkeepsie. It has to be 80 or 90 miles away from NYC & that would make regular trips for hands-on theater tech work quite tough. So a school that might be seen as an academic safety, like Pace, could become quite attractive if the NYC appeal is strong enough. Or a Seton Hall, which is only about 15 miles & a quick train ride away.</p>
<p>Given the attraction to Wagner, I would guess that the theater tech opportunities are very important to this student. The first thing I found when Googling was that Wagner seems to have a very production-heavy</a> schedule on two stages -- obviously enough to keep a techie very busy.</p>
<p>Wagner is a wonderful school, considered by Princeton Review to be one of the most beautiful campuses in the country (oy the view!), and the theater program is awesome. It IS in NYC and very generous. Particularly to an exotic type like a Texan!</p>