<p>Springfield College is excellent for Phys Ed and Elon College in North Carolina is excellent for Sports Management as is UMASS/Amherst.
Supposedly Elon has an active Hillel as does UMASS.</p>
<p>notan4me, Syracuse has a strong sports management program, a strong Jewish community and big time sports. Two caveats:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Sports management is a hugely popular major with schools adding it all the time, for obvious reasons, yet there are very few jobs in that field now and that number will not nearly keep pace with the number of graduates. In addition, the decent jobsâin fact, any jobs-- are so incredibly coveted that they nearly always go to someone with strong connections, regardless of whether they have a sports management degree. I represented 2 pro sports teams and one college, so please trust me on this.</p></li>
<li><p>D1 baseball is much more consuming than D3 and often gets in the way of studying. D1 baseball scholarships are extremely rare; lots of D3 colleges give baseball players aid and admissions preference.</p></li>
<li><p>Your college list has good options in NY and MD, but PA has more good small colleges than both those states (and my state, NJ) combined, including schools which offer both business and education programs (although not necessarily sports managment and phys ed), plus D3 baseball. </p></li>
<li><p>Elsewhere on CC you can get advice on being a baseball recruit, such as assembling a DVD and going to showcases this Summer. And the B+ and 3.0-3.3 students parentsâ threads have wonderfully helpful and informed people.</p></li>
<li><p>Try to get your son to focus early on what else he wants in a college, especially size and rural/urban/suburban. Is he the sort of B+ kid who will be fine at Penn State or will he get lost? Will he like being a baseball regular at a small rural school with small classes or will it seem too much like HS?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Shawbridge, if I recall Muhlenberg correctly, it has a very strong (and rigorous) pre-med program; lots of dance courses (theater is a big deal there); 20-30% Jews (even though I think it is affiliated with the Lutherans); no frats; and no football.</p>
<p>Muhlenberg does indeed have a very strong dance department; it is part of the theatre department, but all students can register for classes. Classes are not limited to dance majors. Many kids who were dancers in high school, but arenât majoring in it, continue to take dance classes at Muhlenberg and feel very challenged. Most dance programs of this caliber limit the classes to dance majors (or at least they get first dibs on signing up).</p>
<p>Pre-med - yes, also very strong.</p>
<p>Jewish population is 1/3 of the student body. And there is a Greek life, but lots of interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks. And there is a football team, D-3. They actually did quite well two years ago.</p>
<p>St. Andrews, Scotland.</p>
<p>Rockvillemom, we did the at-home test prep thing. With S1, it was mostly finding a couple of types of problems that gave him trouble (the trick grammar Qs) and letting him work through them. Ditto SAT-IIs. </p>
<p>Both kids did the PSAT in 9th and 10th were done ice cold â no prep at all. HIs scores went up a lot between 9th and 10th just based on taking Alg II w/Analysis, and did another leap after pre-calc. S2 tried to make a concerted effort at raising his math score. We used the SAT Blue Book and basically did section by section, and DH would sit down and go through each question, figuring out a) what the answer was, b) why he chose that answer and c) analyzing the tricks and traps in that kind of question. Most of his CR increase was thanks to IB English close analysis. Writing was my bailiwick.</p>
<p>We spent about two hours a week for ~ eight weeks before the junior PSAT, then the equivalent of 3-4 full tests (some in parts, then two full runs because he has unaccommodated fine motor/processing speed issues) before he took the SAT in March of junior year. Was happy with his March score, and said he would have been one-and-done if his writing and CR scores were reversed. He retook in June with zero prep (not with 5 APs and 2 IBs in May!) and went up in math and CR.</p>
<p>We did the same thing with the SAT-II Math Level II exam. Did practice tests in sections, dissected the problems. He also took USH and English Lit â he had just taken APUSH, so no additional prep there, and he took SAT-II Lit after one practice test.</p>
<p>The key to the at-home prep mode is that you and the kid have to be on the same page and be willing to work together. DH was really patient with S2 and tried to inject humor as often as possible. I kept them supplied with brownies and ice cream. 
Breaking up the practice tests into small pieces seemed to help a lot, both as far as learning the material goes, as well as everyoneâs attitude (parents and teen). </p>
<p>S2âs school encouraged trying the ACT if the SAT wasnât working out well. Does your school have mock exams? There are a couple of test prep services in the area that the PTAs bring in and administer a practice exam for $15. (S1 did this before the junior year PSAT just for grins. We didnât do it with S2 â he had enough on his plate.) They then give out the scores along with their spiel, but we were able to get the scores without having to sit through the presentation.</p>
<p>Shawbridge,</p>
<p>[Alfred</a> University - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - Performing Arts](<a href=âhttp://las.alfred.edu/performing-arts/]Alfredâ>http://las.alfred.edu/performing-arts/)</p>
<p>If you are visiting NY, you ought to look at Alfred, dance is available as major, minor, or just participate in the performing arts, no matter what your major. No Greek life, Division III Athletics, see my previous post in this thread. Rolling admissions, so it is possible to have an acceptance in hand by November 15th, always a good feeling. </p>
<p>Shuttles run to Buffalo/Rochester airports at peak break times. Merit aid & need-based aid is available. I have found the students to be a pretty diverse bunch there! AU is just one of those hidden gems. Very friendly community!</p>
<p>notan4me - just want to chime in on the sports mgmt major - yabeyabe made excellent points on the scarcity of jobs for undergraduates with this major. Two years ago - this was S1âs intended major. He applied to and was accepted at Michigan - great for sports fans - has a sports mgmt major and an active Hillel. But aside from some finanaical issues, I also grew concerned about the job prospects. On the Michigan sports mgmt webpage I saw info that the majority of the graduates went to law school directly from college - and we felt that S1 should have more options than that - which is why he is doing a more generic business major at Wake instead. But if you are going to look at sports mgmt - we were impressed with Michigan and Syracuse, and Elon has a Leisure and Sports management program which offers both a major and a minor. Elon does have about 250 Jewish students and a quite active Hillel. Delaware also offers sports mgmt - and other have already posted on here about the sizeable Jewish population and active Hillel.</p>
<p>levirm - both of my boys prefer warmer weather. Although we live in MD and gets snow (particularly this past winter) they wear shorts year round. Other than khaki pants for a Temple function - I no longer bother buying them pants of any sort - they donât wear them. I consider myself fortunate when they put on a jacket. They both golf and have no interest in winter sports. We are keeping PA on the list as there are so many great LACs - but otherwise - pretty set on heading south.</p>
<p>notan4me: Syracuse sports management is excellent and well-funded; but very, very competitive for admissionâŠ</p>
<p>also, in the schools where theJewish population is SO large, many, many students feel it isnât ânecessaryâ to be involved in any significant way (goes back to someoneâs earlier post about numbers)âŠfor example, my daughter is a soph at Newhouse; she is involved with Jewish philanthropy only (with regards to Hillel); doesnât attend meetings at all, doesnât attend social activities etcâŠthis is how she has chosen to be involvedâŠaccording to her, she doesnât have to âlookâ to be with kids âlike herâ and feels this is enough to affirm her own faithâŠ</p>
<p>Update on Elon: incoming class will be approx 6-9% Jewish when the numbers are finally tallied (of course, this is only the kids that wrote âJewishâ on their apps)âŠapparently the range listed is because alot of kids do not write it down for âwhatever reasonââŠ</p>
<p>also, Hebrew will be introduced into the foreign language curriculum in 2011 (originally thought to be this fall, but pushed back due to time constraints/registration)âŠ</p>
<p>I didnât dare ask what their target is, but if they are following the Vanderbilt model, I do remember that they had a target of 12-15% back in 2006 (in the midst of their push)âŠthey are now at 20% for the incoming classâŠ</p>
<p>Just a few more thoughts on this school - about 100 Jewish students out of a student boody of 1850. Is a CTCL school. Has rolling admissions. Does have an undergraduate business major. Might use as a safety school for S2. While researching, I came across a recent article about Eckerd in a local Florida Jewish newspaper. One quote in particular caught my attention"</p>
<p>ÂOver 15 percent of the Jewish students in the United States are studying in Florida. That includes the University of Florida which, outside of Israel, has largest Jewish student body (approximately 8,000 Jewish students out of 50,000) of any university in the world."</p>
<p>I just had no idea - although I guess I had never really thought about it.</p>
<p>notan4me: Just want to add a few thoughts re: sports management. You are right - lots of sports-related majors at University of Delaware. In fact, âmisterbillâ (on the Delaware board) has a son at UD who is in sports marketing; he can tell you more about that. And, much to misterbillâs surprise, his son becamse active in UD Hillel (we met him when we went down for Decision Day).</p>
<p>As someone who used to work in sports public relations (my first job out of college), it isnât all itâs cracked up to be. Sounds glamorous. I guess parts of it are. But itâs still work and employers get hundreds of unsolicited resumes, even when there are no job postings. My boss once got a resume from someone who used to play for the NY Knicks and invited him in for an interview just because he wanted to meet him!</p>
<p>My S is going to want south also â although Iâm not going to let him rule out nearby schools so quickly. Going to keep some Boston and Pennsylvania schools on the table. Perhaps DC because itâs driveable. But will definitely let him consider Emory, Vandy, UMiami. I have time for him - just sharing that I âgetâ the mentality. I had some business conferences out at Stanford and I was thinking, âWhy didnât I go here? Northwestern with palm trees!â Instead I put up with Evanston winters. Itâs all a trade-offâŠ</p>
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<p>I talked to my college roommate about this. She works at Brandeis. Even if the percentage of Jewish students is higher at a school like Brandeis, the actual numbers are often bigger at some of the larger universities. So canât just cross those off the list if the Jewish presence is important and the size of the school isnât an issue.</p>
1 Like
<p>My Jewish D is a sport management major at York College of Pa. She is very happy and has gone to Hillel functions there. Loves the major and has a great internship already.</p>
<p>college4three - I was completely unaware of York College! Just took a very quick peek at the website and I like what I see so far - undergraduate business is offered - seems like a wide variety of majors, rolling admissions, very reasonable price tag, 4600 undergraduates. Please tell me more!</p>
<p>What does you D like and dislike about York? What made her choose this school? What colleges did she pass up to attend York, if thatâs not too personal? How is the campus and the housing? How is the surrounding area? I am very curious to hear more!</p>
<p>^^dittoâŠ</p>
<p>edit: Checking out YorkâŠneed much more infoâŠeven has a Jewish sorority and fraternity (SDT and ZBT)âŠlooks like a great rolling optionâŠis there a forum on CC?</p>
<p>I could be completely wrong, but I think that York tries to make themselves more affordable than many other schools because they donât give âfull ridesâ to a few students. Looks to me like the Presidential Scholarship is 6500/year.</p>
<p>Thanks, SLUMOM. Weâll look at Alfred. I left University of Rochester off the list accidentally. It seems like a really good school with a fair Jewish population and good for science. My sister went there and was generally very happy. It did seem like the snow capital of the universe. Her freshman year, every time she called home, it was snowing. I wonder, though, whether it would be a high pressure kind of place. Maybe we can see both of these on the same trip.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, makes sense. The GC was saying that from my daughterâs school, one needed Brown-like stats to get in based on Naviance but that from in-state, it was not nearly as hard â and I think she was generalizing to all OOS kids. As a result, we more or less took it off the list. Maybe we shouldnât.</p>
<p>The lack of a business program would be a killer for your son. I will say that I began my career teaching at a well-known business school which only teaches MBAs (and have worked for, started and run businesses since then) and I tend to think a liberal arts degree (preferably technical) followed by business school is probably better in the long run than an undergraduate business degree. You learn ways to think first and then later learn about business after youâve experienced something about the business world. But, you and your son probably have good reasons for planning the course you are planning. If youâd like to ask me about this, Iâd be glad to give you more in depth thoughts.</p>
<p>Queenâs Mom, ShawD thinks that the feeling of a supportive and cohesive community is more important than whether it is in the middle-of-no-place or a city. However, I suspect that middle-of-no-place locations lend themselves to cohesive, supportive communities because the only things the students have got are each other.</p>
<p>York always gets 1 or 2 kids from our HS, usually kids who have not been academically focused, but that may not be representative. One boy really turned his academic life around there, then transferred to UMD. York may be the least expensive private school in the Northeast.</p>
<p>^^sounds like a GREAT rolling, inexpensive, safety optionâŠany ideas about educational experience?</p>
<p>âAlso, marrying Jewish is very important to me, and I hope to my kids.â</p>
<p>That was phrased beautifullyâŠif you communicate it in exactly those words to your kids, they will hear your message!</p>
<p>levirm - thanks for the kind words. I do hope the messge gets through. I will tell a little of my story, so that you and others can see where I am coming from with my attitude towards this. As they say, hopefully we learn from our parents mistakes.</p>
<p>My mother and grandparents were Holocaust survivors, my father was raised very orthodox (not black hat, but close). As a child of a survivor I was raised with a bit of Jewish guilt, LOL. Was told, I must marry Jewish, I canât finish off what Hitler started, etc. As a kid when you are told that, what do you want to doâŠrebel! So I did. Went off to a very Jewish college, met someone not Jewish, dated through college, almost got married. What stopped me? It wasnât my parents guilt. It wasnât my father threatening to stop paying my tuition if we didnât break up. It was thinking about the future. Could I raise my kids as anything but Jewish? At the end of the dayâŠI couldnât. </p>
<p>The message I try to share with my children when we talk about the future and when they get married, is that life and marriage are hard enough. Yes, there is great joy in life and marriage, but there are also the daily struggles. As I have said to my kids when they see the differences their dad and I have in making the decisions regarding Judiasm in our lives, these are the issues we have when making choices in one religion, can you imagine if you were making decisions regarding your children in two religions? I am trying to approach it with my kids in a practical matter. Will it make a diffence? Only time will tell. But right now, they are both involved in BBG, they both go to Jewish sleep away camp and they both read Torah at our shul. So I hope the foundation is there. </p>
<p>Didnât mean to hijack the thread. I am now off to look up York CollegeâŠLOL!</p>