<p>My son is thinking about schools that may be out of reach for your son. He also decided not to major in Business for undergrad, so his major will be Economics/Spanish. Also, we are concentrating in the Northeast, NY and PA.</p>
<p>In some ways, American does fit - but it is so close - about 25 minutes away - too close I think. DH went there - a long time ago of course, and did not have the greatest experience. The freshman dorms are pretty awful - Letts and Anderson. I know they are in the process of building some new dorms. Itâs also a lot harder to get into AU than it used to be - I donât know - itâs just not a school I can get too excited about.</p>
<p>In 2009, 46 kids from our hs applied, 27 were accepted and only 4 chose to attend. Average accepted GPA was 4.12 and average accepted SAT was 1292. Looks to me like a lot of kids are using it as a safety school - probably for Georgetown and GW.</p>
<p>chocchip - well you are still welcome to post your list and what you like/dislike about each school if you want to - but if you prefer not to - thatâs fine as well. I only ask because what might be a safety school for your son might be a viable match school for my son and so on. There also might be other folks reading the thread, but not posting, who would appreciate ideas.</p>
<p>When I was going through this process with S1 - we had an extremely difficult time coming up with a list of schools. In the end, he only applied to 5 - which is fewer than most kids these days. If I had been on CC 2-3 years ago, Iâm sure I would have come up with more possibilities.</p>
<p>He is looking at pretty high level schools. That is son #1 who is currently a h.s. junior. Son #2 will be a h.s. freshman in the fall and fitâs more into your sonâs âBâ category, however his interests are more in the science field.</p>
<p>Son #1âs safety school is Bentley University near Boston. So that may be too far for you. I donât know enough about colleges in the mid-atlantic states.</p>
<p>Have you considered Rutgerâs? Too big? George Washington? In the middle of the city? Same with Drexel?
University of Pittsburgh would be great, the city is beautiful, but it may again be too big?</p>
<p>One other suggestionâŠwhat about Adelphi University in Garden City, Long Island or Hofstra, also on Long Island?</p>
<p>Sounds to me that Mulenberg would be a great fitâŠdo they offer business?</p>
<p>rockvillemom, I had the same problem with St. Maryâs. They also didnât have Sâs intended major, and it is more rural than S decided he wanted. It was the very first school we visited, because S was looking at LACs and if he liked St. Maryâs, weâd have an in-state likely with a decent shot at merit $$, and they give accelerated placement for IB students.</p>
<p>Both my kids wanted the snow belt. Vandy wasnât on the list (and at 16% acceptance, not sure they would have taken my kids anyway).</p>
<p>American and GW were too close to home. UMD was a lot larger than S wanted, but felt he could make it work if he needed to. He made College Scholars, but not Honors, so he would not have been guaranteed four years of on-campus housing. Not crazy about the local cops beating up students, either.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Gettysburg, Elizabethtown or Dickinson? Donât know if they have a business program, but I have seen a lot of folks who like Muhlenburg also look at these. Shippensburg in PA?</p>
<p>I was reading this thread and someone suggested Emory for a student with 3.5 UW GPA. Emoryâs incoming average GPA is 3.84 UW and so it would be very difficult to get in with a 3.5 especially without a hook.</p>
<p>CountingDown - good to hear Iâm not the only one with a âSt. Maryâsâ issue. We are looking at a few schools in PA - Gettysburg, Muhlenberg and Susquehanna. Dickinsonâs emphasis on all things international does not appeal to S2 - their business program is intâl business and heâs just not interested in that. I donât know very much about the other 2 you mentioned - Elizabethtown and Shippensburg - do they have a reasonable amount of Jewish students?</p>
<p>alam1 - I agree completely. Emory is for a serious straight A type of student, imho.</p>
<p>St. Maryâs is named after the town/county, not St. Mary (per se). Itâs not a Catholic school .</p>
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<p>this is off topic and probably something everyone else knows the answer toâŠbut⊠when you speak of a â4.12â gpa etc⊠is that 4.12 out of 5? Our school weights gpas with 5.0 being the highest possible. (And 4.7 the highest actual in the past 5 years or so)⊠but Iâm always confused about what people mean when they speak of gpa. (Naviance seems the only way of understanding it clearly, because it only compares stats from our own school.) Anyone who can help me understand this better-- thank you!</p>
<p>havenât you considered Yeshiva?
It is extremely Jewish.
Check it up.</p>
<p>gwen - our school system uses the 4.0 scale with a B being 3 points and an A being 4 points and so forth. They also add 1 point for an honors or AP class. So, a B in an honors class is worth 4 points rather than 3. A good student with a lot of As in honors and AP classes will have a 4.4 - 4.7 wgpa. Thatâs probably about as high as it can go because not every class is available at the honors or AP level.</p>
<p>IB - I realize St. Maryâs is NOT a Catholic all girls school - I said as much in my post. I just find the name kind of funny for a Jewish boy to attend thatâs all. I donât think it is the right fit for my son anyway, so I donât really have to worry about it.</p>
<p>Do costs enter the picture? If the OP wants an in-state price, as far as I know, the only schools with Business degrees are UMCP (too big for OPâs son), Towson, Salisbury and Frostburg. My issue with Frostburg is that it has a lower graduation rate. If the OPâs son is aiming for a private or more expensive OOS university, then I seriously go back to my original recommendation for SAT and/or ACT prep course. Unless your child is extremely disciplined and actually wants to study for these tests on his own, the prep course should give him some tools to increase his score. Also, not all prep courses are expensive. My son is taking SAT prep at his high school (free), and Kaplan has a very inexpensive (about $100. or so) on-line prep available. I think prep course improves scores, and might make the difference for the OPâs son to get merit aid.</p>
<p>I donât think Yeshiva U. is what the OP is looking for. Yeshiva U. requires some religious type of courses. The OP simply wants a school with some Jewish population and a reasonably active Hillel.</p>
<p>Yes, Yeshiva is a completely different type of environment.</p>
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<p>Yes (10 char)</p>
<p>mdcissp - Iâm not worried about cost this early in the game and let me explain why. Having gone through this process already with S1 - I learned that the sticker price for the college has no relation to what you actually might end up paying. In S1âs case, the most expensive private college he applied to became our least expensive option.</p>
<p>I do completely agree with you on test scores and merit aid - the higher the scores the better the chances. I promise you - my son is attending the free âMom academyâ of ACT prep this summer. If the results in the fall are not what I hope for, I will change course and consider paying for test prep. But S1 did a great job on both the SAT and ACT just by studying a bit on his own, so thatâs my position for now. By having S2 take the ACT in the fall of junior year - rather than waiting until winter or spring, heâll have enough time to take it 2-3 times if that is what is needed.</p>
<p>Yeshiva is an Orthodox Jewish institution. It is a fine institution but it is for a specific market of students. Just because someone is interested in there being a Jewish community at college doesnât make Yeshiva an appropriate school. It is appropriate for a specific type of Jewish student â in fact, not all Orthodox Jewish students would find it appropriate â those for whom it is appropriate would not need to be told about it on a message board such as this.</p>
<p>But nevertheless, every time someone posts asking for a school with a good Jewish population, it gets mentioned. There are plenty of secular colleges where a Jewish student can find a comfortable Jewish community (however it is that any given student defines the community they seek).</p>
<p>Saw a mention of American, where D attends, and just wanted to chime in to say that freshman are scattered among a number of dorms, not just two, and that none of them are bad at allâjust pretty typical college accommodations. While I do understand that OPâs son may want to be further from home, keep in mind that distance is more psychological than physical. I attended college less than an hour from my hometown, but the school was in an large, sophisticated urban area, as compared to the small, rather parochial city where I grew up, I only went home for the normal vacations, and I felt completely âawayâ from home.</p>
<p>For that poster who seemed mystified by the phrase âJewish lifeââto me, part of Jewish life is that a thread like thisâeven in the CC âoffseasonâ draws 179 thoughtful, helpful posts so quickly.
On specific pointsâI found the Hillel site stats horribly out of date; yes, Goucher has some business courses and is a very diverse, friendly place;
Clark is an excellent school but you need to be comfortable with the gritty area around it;
the friendliness and informal student/faculty contact we found at Muhlenberg and Susquehanna far exceeded other schools we visited;
friends found Drexel and Ursinus poor on financial aid;
Pitt and Temple are good, but very large and urban;
Binghamton was very eager for OOS B kids this year;
I believe the Susquehanna Christmas event is singing, not a religious service;
Juniata has a very small Jewish population, but is a very good school;
Hartford, at our NJHS, is for C students, with Quinnipiac the popular Connecticut B option; and Lehigh and Richmond for A-
kids (Lafayette and BU being somewhat easier)
I recall SLUMOM praising Alfred in this regard</p>
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<p>Iâd expect that schools would be looking to increase the number of Jewish applicants in addition to the number of Jewish admits and Jewish enrollees. For the applicant search, Iâm wondering if religion is one of the little check boxes on the College Board site or the ACT when you sign up for those tests. Then schools can ask for a list of names fitting that criteria so they can send a marketing mailing. </p>
<p>Given D1âs ECs, itâs blindingly obvious sheâs Jewish. However, sheâs only applying to schools where thereâs already a strong Jewish community, so she will have no diversity card to play. :)</p>