I know there was once a forum on this same topic that had 1000 comments, but since it can no longer be accessed, I’m starting a new one.
My daughter is a B student who is looking for a LAC with a strong and vibrant Jewish community on campus. We are looking mainly on the East Coast and in the Midwest but would be open to some West Coast schools too.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Muhlenberg, Goucher.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges/a-plus
I loved attending Clark University. It has been many years but the current undergrads I have met through internships at my work place, seem to love it as much as I did
College of Charleston
Elon
Muhlenberg
Brandeis
Hofstra
Some larger schools with great Jewish communities:
Indiana University
SUNY Binghamton
University of Maryland
Muhlenberg seems like a great option.
-Union College
-Dickinson College
-Sarah Lawrence College (more artsy type and has a large percentage of students Jewish although not as much strong Jewish programming)
-despite the name, Trinity College in Hartford has a decent size well organized Jewish community
Here is the link for the most recent Hillel college guide. we based my daughters whole college search on this. There are separate ranks for public schools, private schools, and all schools ranked by percentage of Jews.
(Hillel College Guide Magazine - 2022 by Hillel International - Issuu)
C of C for a larger Public LAC. Strong Jewish presence. Other great names listed by others.
Rollins, Hobart, Allegheny, Kalamazoo, Wooster. .
If you google a school name and Hillel college guide you’ll get a summary.
Many will have small population but active …contact student ambassadors and Hillel reps at the school to learn more.
Liberal arts colleges (or about 3k undergrads or fewer):
Per Hillel (percentage of Jewish students or # of Jewish students):
From Chabad (at least has an on-campus Chabad):
Not liberal arts colleges, but still medium to small (3-5k undergrads)
Per Hillel:
From Chabad:
If your D is willing to go up to 5-7k undergrads, then SUNY Cortland, Oswego, and Oneonta could be added to the mix.
Awesome, thank you!!
Thank you for the amazing list! I’m excited to start digging in and researching them. Appreciate it!
I cannot speak to the others but the reason Florida Southern has Chabad is on campus is the population of the Jewish community is small. It’s a campus affiliated with a Christian group and pretty isolated in its city.
Another thing to look at on campuses is if they have a Jewish Studies major and teach Hebrew. Now with this you also have to be a little careful that the topic isn’t being taught to for students planning to go into missionary work but aside from that reason it does help.
B student…with what unweighted and weighted GPA?
And has this student taken the SAT or ACT?
And is cost a factor.
Good suggestions here, but the answers to these questions will help to give suggestions that might be better for the OP.
Thank you! Great feedback, and good point. I’ll look out for that, for sure.
She has around a 3.3 or so. Likely going test-optional, but we’re too early to officially know her scores. She’ll take the test in May. Her extracurriculars are awesome…and her grades have gone up because she switched schools and now has a ton of support, so they will see an upward trajectory.
You don’t need to put it all here…but if she has support via an IEP or 504 plan, you want to make sure that the disability office at any college she applies to is helpful also.
Wow, this is insanely helpful. Thank you!
Thank you! Clark is definitely on the list! We’ve been hearing amazing feedback on this school. 
While looking at schools you may want to consider the Jewish population and support network in the university’s home city/community. For example, DePaul is a Catholic university, but it is located in Chicago, a very diverse city with a large Jewish population. It also has a respectable Hillel chapter. Obviously, this will favor schools in larger metro areas.
In addition to schools already listed by other posters, our synagogue in Atlanta had multiple kids heading off to Indiana University, Syracuse, University of Colorado Boulder, and the University of Miami last year.