<p>Has anyone heard anything about the Jewish experience at Texas A&M. I’ve heard conflicting reports from a great Hillel experience to antisemitism on campus.</p>
<p>@counting down: Vanderbilt did actively seek Jewish students in order to diversify, but when I visited in the spring the admissions counselor indicated that the Jewish population is now close to 20%. Mission accomplished! I have heard that Wake Forest is now embarking on the same kind of outreach.</p>
<p>Rockville Mom: Please post what is the free “mom academy” of ACT your son is taking this summer. Feel free to PM me if you don’t want to mention the name on CC. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>“Clark is an excellent school but you need to be comfortable with the gritty area around it;”</p>
<p>I agree, but it’s really like saying Yale, UPENN, Trinity (CT), Johns Hopkins, etc., etc. are excellent schools but you need to be comfortable with the areas around them. The rap on Clark has always been Worcester and the Main South neighborhood, but it does seem disproportionate to so many other outstanding schools that are located in gritty urban areas.</p>
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<p>mdcissp, re moM academy: google “mothers of madness”
If that doesn’t work, try “madness of Mothers”</p>
<p>;-)</p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University : Campus Map : Hillel House](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/map/hillel-house.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/map/hillel-house.cfm)</p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University - College of Business](<a href=“http://business.alfred.edu/]Alfred”>http://business.alfred.edu/)</p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm)</p>
<p>Here are some links for Alfred University’s Hillel House, the School Of Business and Financial aid, both need-based and merit aid. </p>
<p>Alfred University has School of Business, School of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts, and School of Art & Design. For a small school of 2200 students, there is a lot going on! Some programs are affiliated with the state of New York. Alfred State is across the street. (most of their programs are two year programs). </p>
<p>Alfred University is in Princeton Review’s “Best 371”, the Fiske Guide 2010, USNWR’s “Great Schools Great Prices” & is a highly ranked “Master’s University, Northern” by USNWR. Fiske Guide gave the School of Business very high marks. </p>
<p>AU is a highly ranked, small, private university set in the very charming village of Alfred, NY and is not a “50K-er”. We are seeing very little increase in the COA for D to go back for Sophomore Year. Also, shuttles do run to Buffalo/Rochester airports at peak times.</p>
<p>Clarkalum, I agree completely that the areas around Penn and Yale are also gritty, having gone to both, they were just not part of the discussion. I think much of the reason that those schools’ surroundings are not as commented upon as Clark’s (or Temple’s, Drexel’s, etc) is that their cachet overcomes most qualms, except of people whose options include equally prestigious and prettier schools, such as Harvard, Princeton or Amherst.
One of the things I admire about Clark is that it uses the troubles of Worcester as service opportunities for its students.</p>
<p>SLU, I knew I could count on you to chime in for Alfred! For those interested in business majors, note that there is a type of accreditation–I think it is AASCB–that is regarded as a sign of a strong undergraduate program. This helps separate the schools which a general business major from those which offer a more indepth business education.<br>
Union is a very good school, but, when it was recommended for my son, I recall finding it offered a “Gender Studies” major, but not Business.</p>
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<p>mdcissp - by “Mom academy” I meant myself! I plan to purchase the ACT study review book and have him do 2-3 sections a week - we go over it - go over the questions he got wrong, etc. Then maybe once a month he does an entire practice test. The practice book gives you strategies to use - a lot of the ACT strategy has to do with time management - particularly in the science section. You are not penalized for wrong answers on the ACT - so never leave a question blank - that type of thing. My gut feeling is that since he already got a 26 on the PLAN back in January - it is reasonable that he could score a 28-29 on a real ACT with some in-home practice and that’s the level I am hoping he attains.</p>
<p>I LOLed at College4three’s comment that Wake Forest was now reaching out for Jewish kids. Six years ago we told our son that if he wanted to go anywhere more expensive than UNC Chapel Hill (in state), he would have to get merit scholarships to cover the difference (no debt allowed). We went to a college fair in Charlotte and asked the WF rep about merit scholarships. The reply we got was “you don’t look Baptist”. They were immediately dropped from any consideration and we never visited. All for the best as he ended up at American U. on a full tuition scholarship.</p>
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<p>Hillel’s Guide to Jewish Life on Campus at hillel.org will give you percentage of Jewish students at various public and private universities. It’s interactive and you can plug in schools to find out the percentage. </p>
<p>A great pdf chart is offered at reformjudaismmag.org.This chart is filled with surprises. Emory, in the South, has one of the highest (33%). Yet Northeastern, in Boston, has only 8%. Download it for some interesting information!</p>
<p>Among not ultra-competitive but solid schools, here are a few thoughts: SUNY Binghamton 30%, U Maryland 26%, Syracuse U 21%, American U 20%, Rutgers 17%, Boston U 15%, Hofstra 15%, U Mass Amherst 13%.</p>
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<p>cltdad - well that is pretty outrageous, but I do have to defend Wake, as that is where S1 attends. When he was in hs and looking at colleges and DH first suggested Wake - as it met all of our wish list except for Jewish population - I was firmly against it. I really felt it was too Christian/white/Republican and that S1 would be uncomfortable there, if not outright ostracized. But, at the urging of DH and S1 we visited and liked what we saw. I then made a lot of contacts with the Hillel advisor and Hillel students to see how comfortable they felt at Wake. All agreed they were doing fine - no problems noted. The consensus was that an observant Jew would not tend towards Wake, but that someone who liked Wake and fit in otherwise would not find being Jewish at Wake to be a problem. This is where parents have to be realistic about their kids. Unlike S2, S1 is not terribly interested in Jewish life. He probably would not be active in Hillel - regardless of where he attended school. His friends know he is Jewish and he has not experienced any difficulties that I am aware of. Wake Forest would most likely not be a good fit for someone who is seeking a more active Jewish life, but S1 is happy there thus far.</p>
<p>rockvillemom - your defense of WF is well stated. I am glad your S1 is happy and I did not mean to denigrate WF. I just enjoyed the irony of our (admittedly small) experience a number of years ago differed from their objectives today.</p>
<p>Rockville makes exactly the right distinction–there are kids who want an active Hillel and kids who will never go to Hillel and just want to be freely accepted.
There are also parents of all religions who want their kids to date within their faith. At our HS, there are substantial numbers of Protestants, Catholics and Jews and I have noticed that neither sex of all 3 religions seems interested in dating within the faith (whether they feel that way about marriage, time will tell).
My son was very interested in whether kids seemed friendly, informal and relaxed, but not at all focused on being in a very small minority, even when I told him that kids from rural PA may never have met a Jew before. I hope he turns out to be right. My fear is that he may find a girlfriend’s parents unaccepting or that he is viewed as an oddity.
Has anyone read anything on whether copllege students tend to date along religious lines in schools?</p>
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<p>I can’t keep up with this thread…I had to take a pad and paper to write down everything I want to post…</p>
<p>1) Elon’s Jewish population: since I now “know” most of you that have posted on this thread, one of us (ok, I’ll volunteer) has to call Nancy Luberoff to get the most current numbers; apparently the incoming class of 2010 is much higher than in the past but I don’t have specifics (if someone else knows and can save me a phone call, please post)</p>
<p>2) yabeyabe: I literally had to read this to my husband when u posted; this seems to be a pattern in New Jersey; just had a conversation about this with friends in Bergen County as well…my older daughter (who dated a Catholic boy for three years) has not had a boyfriend in college so I cannot comment on whether the “dating” in college goes more towards religious lines…I do know for sure that neither of my girls have had Jewish boyfriends in high school…</p>
<p>3) I think that Vanderbilt is done with Jewish recruitment; that is not to say that an ED Jewish kid would not get a bump, but probably much more difficult for RD than it has been over the last few years…</p>
<p>4) There was an underlying impression since 2008 that Emory was trying to reduce their Jewish population…accepted less Jewish kids (and legacies of the failth) than usual that year; that may have changed with the changing economic climate and, again, ED may not be affected…again, not gospel, but this may have changed since then…</p>
<p>If I think of anything else…I’ll post later…</p>
<p>One more thought re: schools like Wake…I think the absolute numbers are less important if the “culture” of a school fits…that is something that is difficult to interpret without a visit…each person is different…</p>
<p>אהההה
הקידוד מתברר לאט לאט</p>
<p>יופי נחמות</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>not a scientific study, but you may find interesting re attitudes on inter dating <a href=“http://www.lilith.org/pdfs/20_somethings_mating_lilith.pdf[/url]”>http://www.lilith.org/pdfs/20_somethings_mating_lilith.pdf</a></p>
<p>since studies do show approximately 50% rate of intermarriage, i think it safe to assume there is plenty of inter dating going on in college. and i also don’t think you can always predict which Jewish students will seek mates outside of the tribe (see above article).</p>
<p>to a large extent, parental preference just isn’t a great factor. by the time they go to college, we’ve done what we can in terms of giving them Jewish experiences that we may hope will influence not only how they live their lives but who they may seek as a partner in those lives. if they don’t care about being at a school with a Jewish community, our pushing it in the hopes that it will increase their “desirable” dating pool, probably won’t make a difference. even if they do care about having a Jewish community, it doesn’t necessarily mean that desire will translate into their dating choices.</p>
<p>You might want to see if your high school has a free SAT prep course as part of the 11th grade curriculum. The prep can be overwhelming. Also, if your son takes both SAT and ACT, you can compare scores and just send in the best score.</p>
<p>Even if a Jewish student is not interested in Hillel before starting college, this can all change once your child gets to the university. Many kids try Hillel at least once to see what it is like and then decide if it is for them. I think the kids look for activities and clubs of personal interest and just want to be where they feel comfortable.</p>
<p>“even if they do care about having a Jewish community, it doesn’t necessarily mean that desire will translate into their dating choices.”…</p>
<p>excellent point…</p>
<p>I think the OPs son enjoys some Jewish activities and simply wants to be sure that he attends a university where he will continue to find activities of Jewish content.</p>
<p>Thanks. Although I could not open the link yet, I think your points are very accurate.
I think Hillels, like synagague activites, have to combat a substantial “uncool” image among many kids. I also think many kids date outside their faith–whatever it is–to satisfy their curiousity; spite their parents; show their independence; or feel daring. I have been amused, for example, at how upper middle class black and hispanic at our HS affect ghetto personnas–and girls and boys flock to them en masse! </p>
<pre><code>I think part of the issue is that Hebrew school is seen as both horribly boring and an added weight to already overcrowded schedules. I think this deters future Hillel attendance. I would vastly reduce the hours involved and teach less Hebrew and biblical history and more about the Jewish experience in America and Jewish identity.
</code></pre>
<p>Incidentally, at bar mitzvahs in our religiously mixed town, it is fun to watch Christian kids who rock to songs like Dayenu–perhaps because they have not gotten bored with it over many years as Jewish kids have.</p>