<p>tjdad, I think it’s a good idea to visit different types of schools early in the process.</p>
<p>My D attends BU and like fretfulmother said, there is a strong Hillel and lots of Jewish programming. My daughter has only taken advantage of that during Jewish holidays, but she has lots of Jewish friends. </p>
<p>Syracuse has a large Jewish percentage and probably has a strong Hillel.</p>
<p>I visited Villanova several years ago and it has a very Catholic feeling. I still remember the tour guide saying that “everyone goes to mass on Sunday nights.” </p>
<p>My daughter just finished her sophomore year at Northeastern. She attended a couple of Hillel programs during orientation, but didn’t “feel the vibe” there. That said, many of her friends at Northeastern are Jewish. The Hillel does have an Israel coop advisor, who was helping her find coop opportunities in Israel. They have a new Kosher food station at one of the dining halls. And she took hebrew last semester, though there were only 2 kids in the class - talk about having a connection with your professor.</p>
<p>On a different note, they are currently running a summer program in Israel. While the kids were supposed to be there until the end of July, they are evacuating them today because of the decision of the US airlines to stop flying into Israel.</p>
<p>I don’t have much to add but my daughter who goes to a smaller school in the area (and is President of its small Hillel) did a Birthright trip with Northeastern and they have an apparently wonderful professional person just assigned with Israel programs. Lots of follow-ups and invitations to events. My daughter met nice kids on the trip. Other than that, I haven’t asked or heard about Northeastern’s Hillel. She has also gone to BU, MIT and Harvard.</p>
<p>Pitt has a sizable Jewish community and a very nice and active Hillel it shares with Carnegie Mellon (and other Pittsburgh area schools). It is located at the edge of Pitt’s campus (on the CMU side). <a href=“http://www.hilleljuc.org/”>http://www.hilleljuc.org/</a></p>
<p>I haven’t looked at or written on this thread in…forever! I just signed on and saw a list of colleges posted by tjdad2011. I can tell you that even if other posters say that some colleges Hillel’s are smallish, some of those still have quite large Jewish populations, if that’s of any importance to you.</p>
<p>ie; Northeastern has a large Jewish population and does Vermont (@ 3,000) so I’m surprised to hear their Hillels are smallish. Rochester has many active Jewish kids, so does Syracuse, BU and Wellesley. Pitt shares a Hillel building with Carnegie Mellon…tons of activities. These colleges that I’ve just listed, you don’t really have to worry about if meeting Jewish kids is an issue. BU and Notheastern Hillels have been known to do things together, and sometimes even with Brandeis. Not sure about other colleges listed.</p>
<p>Personally - I would steer clear of Villanova if you are looking for an active, reasonably sized Jewish community. Juniata is quite small - so I would check on the size of the Jewish community and number of active participants. The rest of your list should be fine.</p>
<p>Given the PA schools already on your list - you might want to also consider Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Franklin&Marshall and Lehigh. In NY, Binghamton and Ithaca also come to mind. </p>
<p>@tjdad2011 - We actually saw the Pitt/CMU Hillel today! It was great. It was definitely the bright point of our CMU visit which was otherwise disappointing, which I was kind of upset about, because I had been looking forward to it.</p>
<p>@maryversity - thanks! We visited UMD-CP this week and the admissions guy (not Jewish) clearly talked about how highly UMD ranks for Jewish students and referred to <em>Reform Judaism</em>'s rankings. We loved the Hillel there, and the college as a whole, by the way. I gather from your handle that you might agree.</p>
<p>Ha ha. That would be an understatement, lol. I’m an alum and mom of a current engineering student, so if you have any questions about Maryland, please feel free to ask me either publicly or privately. :)</p>
<p>@maryversity - I would love to hear anything you want to tell me about engineering at Maryland, or the Honors Program there in case my DS16 gets into that. Just tell me everything I should know. This is my oldest. We live in MA, but loved UMD on the tour and from its reputation, and from my sister’s experience there way back when.</p>
<p>The most important thing to know about Maryland is that you need to apply by the Nov 1st priority deadline. It is not a commitment, so no worries about that. It’s just that only the students who get their app in by then will be considered for special programs like honors and merit scholarships. </p>
<p>I will send you a more lengthy pm with info specifically about engineering because I do have a lot of info to share about that. </p>
<p>@fretfulmother, two of my cousin’s kids gave gone to Maryland. The parents are both professional Jews. The kids went to conservative day schools K-12. They loved Maryland. One graduated in business. He had a few summer internships and now has a good job on the west coast. The other is a rising senior interested in neuroscience who us interning this summer at NIH. Very active in Hillel and jewish things, I believe. </p>
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