An article on the situation at Wesleyan:
http://wesleyanargus.com/2015/03/03/the-condition-of-the-jewish-community/
I don’t want to start a political conversation, just posting as informational.
Argh, first Vassar, now Wes, running out of college ideas 
Now thinking maybe small selective northeastern LACs are not the way to go, maybe larger universities or state schools are better?
well I was certainly confused for a page or two, catching up and then realizing that posts must have been deleted.
I’ve been thinking about you guys lately, as I plan for the graduation of my S and am about to send off D2 to college. This thread has been a valuable source of information for parents of B students in general and particularly helpful to parents who want to send their kids to schools that are welcoming to Jewish students…which includes parents of A students, LD students and others, too. In fact, I think this may be one of the most supportive communities on CC!
With regard to Marist, I think the general vibe is welcoming, but there just aren’t that many Jewish kids there. Hopefully, more Jewish kids will find their way to Marist, as it’s great school for B students…but for now I think the experience might be a bit lacking for kids who are observant.
Haven’t posted here for a long time, but the recent discussion is drawing me in 
For what it’s worth–in our family’s experience, having an Open Hillel or Jewish Voices for Peace are not necessarily reasons to dismiss a school. It depends on the student, as well. There are certainly schools where there’s a very heated environment about Israel issues, but there’s also a large Jewish community. Some kids will welcome the debate, some will take advantage (or refuge 
) in the Jewish community resources, and some will feel uncomfortable or unsafe. Y’all know your kids best to know what works for them.
For other smaller schools like Guilford or Wesleyan or Swarthmore (the latter two definitely not B student schools), it’s different, because the school is small and students know everyone. And this can be very difficult for some kids, even coming from high school years spent deeply involved in Jewish community. I know one freshman at one of the schools I’ve just named who was deeply involved in youth group, in Israel advocacy, in synagogue life, went to a day school, the whole nine yards, and said kid has just been poleaxed by the environment.
On the other hand…D2 is at a small LAC (albeit part of a larger consortium) with a very active Students for Justice in Palestine. D2 has similarly been very involved in youth group etc etc, and has been to Israel four times in the last three years. She was in Tel Aviv when the sirens started alerting people to go to shelters during the start of the Gaza war. She’s had a painfully difficult time talking with SJP folks at times, but she has ALSO been able to engage in a lot of really productive dialogue. That’s because, as she puts it, she can’t just hide in the Jewish community bubble and not be socially involved with the students in SJP. And some recent events at her school have meant that the Jewish community has drawn together. She rolls her eyes in disgust with SJP rhetoric, but she also rolls her eyes when folks say that Jewish members of SJP aren’t Jewish or are self-hating.
Talking with my D’s (D1 is a senior at a mid-sized A student school with a large Jewish community), I’ve been hearing a lot about how many of their Jewish friends from high school–again, these are kids who were super-involved with the community–felt totally unprepared for the campus discussion about Israel. What many of them got through 12th grade was far more one-sided than what D2 got via taking part in programs with Israelis of all political stripes.
Anyway, food for thought for those of you in the search phase.
Anti-Semitism is running rampant across college campuses. For a “B” student, have you considered SUNY Binghamton? Rutgers?
Syracuse University???
SlitheyTove - so good to see you back here! Thanks for your insights on Open Hillel.
Hi Slithey!!
Long time, no see!
Back when I went to a small school (at the time about 2,200) I worried that everyone would know everyone. It turned out not to be the case, and, now reading the alum facebook pages, it seems like I hardly knew anyone!! (Of course the other possibility is that I don’t remember, but I shall choose not to think about that). In all seriousness, everyone didn’t really know everyone, and that was a good thing.
SlitheyTove, thank you for sharing your experiences. Your reply resonated with my concern that in a smaller college environment things could get amplified and nowhere to hide if needed, and peer pressure to change ones values, on the other hand it could bring like-minded people together. I have an A student this time but this forum has been so helpful so I’m sticking around
SUNY Bing is definitely on the list.
Here’s what’s happening at Muhlenberg, with regard to Open Hillel: http://www.jta.org/2015/03/30/news-opinion/united-states/protesting-hillels-restrictions-muhlenbergs-hillel-president-resigns
Personally, the increase in anti- Israel sentiment on campuses is disturbing to me. I don’t want to get into politics, especially on this thread that has been so informative to many people over the years. However, I too would be concerned to find a college where my Jewish child feels that the campus is safe and inclusive. Isn’t that what any parent wants for their child?
What appeals to me about this thread is that it is safe and inclusive- for students who are looking at colleges outside the most well known, for various reasons, be it grades, learning styles, finances or preference. While it is centered on the needs of Jewish students, there have been posters who are not Jewish, and they have felt included here too.
Thanks to RVM for starting this thread. Has it been five years? I posted a while back about maybe we would start a shidduch thread too one day for the grads lol
When I stumbled across this initial post I figured I’d breeze through them all… until I saw there were 1,234 pages (that was 3 days ago, now 1,236). What an amazing thread! It just so happens that I too have a Jewish B student son from Rockville, MD who finally decided he’d take a few minutes away from the X-box to look at colleges. This thread has been amazingly helpful at providing suggestions of places to visit.
Today we did our very first, St. Mary’s College of Maryland which he was very pleasantly surprised at just how much he liked. Lot’s of great fits here that suit many of his needs. He actually surprised me with his maturity level in recognizing the advantages of small classes / student:faculty ratios (he has ADHD - very bright, homework production is a real challenge). Heading down I was worried about three things: small overall enrollment, next to nothing about Jewish life, and no club ice hockey. Turns out he’s okay with the first, and the 3rd may be a worthwhile sacrifice if the academic environment fits and gives him the support he needs. The 2nd, Jewish life, is still a bit of a black hole. Our tour guide piqued our interest because she said she was a member of Hillel, but when we tried to dig deeper couldn’t get much beyond qualitative (ie, never got an estimate on a number). So I’m curious if anyone has been able to find some estimate of the Jewish population at SMCM. (I did search this discussion and didn’t find any yet) He hasn’t done BBYO, but is very active in NFTY, and takes comfort in having some Jewish peers around him.
He is also interested in staying within about 4-5 hour drive, so we’re hitting central VA (JMU, UVa), Baltimore (Goucher, UMBC, Towson), and DC (UMd, American). Will probably also look at Gettysburg and Elon. Any other suggestions, particularly schools at about 4k - 8k in size? Goucher and SMCM are less than 2k and the rest are 12k+.
As a side note, I went to Wesleyan and did my Junior spring semester living in Jerusalem thru the Wesleyan in Israel program (late 80s). After reading this thread and learning about Open Hillel and other similar programs, I just get kind of sad about where the environment on campuses regarding Israel has devolved to. In some respects I’m a bit relieved that Wesleyan isn’t in the picture for him (apologies in advance to anyone offended by that comment).
WHSalumDad - welcome! Glad you found us - can’t believe you looked at the entire thread! You have a good list started - how about adding Delaware? Larger than that elusive 4000-8000, but fitting in with Towson and Maryland.
If you are looking at Gettysburg - consider Dickinson, Muhlenberg and Susquehanna.
My recollection on St. Marys was a Jewish student body of about 100 students - but I did not get much of a response from admissions when I asked. They have been having issues hitting their incoming freshman class goals the past few years and I went so far as to suggest beefing up Jewish life and marketing to Jewish families in MD, but not much of a response.
Keep us posted on your visits and reactions. I kind of miss the college search!
MODERATOR’S NOTE
I did some catching up on this thread hoping to get an update on boysx3 and noticed that some posts had obviously been deleted, which left some other posts not quite on topic. I tried to clean it up, but if any members here have any further posts they’d like edited so that references are not made to reflect deleted posts, please send me a PM with how you’d like your post edited (or deleted). I’m only referring to posts that occurred within the last week or two, though!
As a more positive update, the University of Oklahoma has a temporary Israeli coordinator of Moroccan descent who regularly instructs the mainly Ashkenazik OU Jews about Sephardic and Moroccan customs. She’s hosting a [Mimouna(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimouna) celebration after Passover which is pretty neat.
The Schusterman Center for Judaic and Israeli Studies at the University of Oklahoma recently concluded its Jewish Film Festival where they screened a variety of Israeli films for the general OU student body at no charge.
@WHSalumDad I would be surprised if this website wasn’t already suggested but just in case you missed it, Hillel gives some numbers and other info in terms of Jewish population. http://www.hillel.org/college-guide/search
@teriwtt - boysx3 is home and still improving - but it is a long road. She is not able to be left home alone and has an aide with her all day while husband is at work. She is still having issues with short term memory and focusing. Some improvement in speech and walking with a walker. It’s hard to predict if she will continue to improve or if this is pretty much where she is going to remain for the rest of her life. I am hoping to visit her next weekend or the following and will update more then.
Thanks for the update, RVM
@MomofM: Thanks for the Hillel suggestion.
@rockvillemom: As requested, an update; and apologies in advance for the length of post. We concluded the junior year spring break visits today having done 5 info sessions / tours (IT) and 3 drive-bys (DB) over the last four days. Here is Son’s current ranking:
would like to apply (all were ITs):
- St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM)
- Goucher
- University of Maryland - College Park (UMCP / UMd)
drive-by he wants to follow up with an info session / tour:
4) University of Maryland - Baltimore County (UMBC)
taking a pass for now
T5-DB) University of Virginia (UVa)
T5-DB) Towson (TU)
T7-IT) James Madison Univ. (JMU)
T7-IT) American Univ. (AU)
Here were some conclusions he drew:
- Recognizes that a small classroom, liberal arts setting would serve him best
- Is concerned about the potential distractions of a city / college town, so would prefer rural and / or lots of on-campus activities that tend to keep student life anchored there
- Is very social, and envisions himself in a fraternity if they exist, which also has him a little worried (distraction), and so on-balance would prefer a place that did NOT have a greek system
- Does not like lots of cliques, so would prefer a place where there was a larger “we are all in this together” vibe - like his NFTY experiences have been
- Would really like to play club ice hockey (background: has played travel since age 8, and played on the MD HS state champion team); but is willing to trade that off for the sake of academics as long as other athletic activities at the club level exist (esp. rugby, soccer, lacrosse)
- Doesn’t need a particularly active (observant) Jewish student organization, just a club venue where he can meet a few other Jewish students (so a population of about 100 works fine for him)
He asked today what I thought about how many places he should apply. I had him talk it through logically, assuming for now that SMCM and UMd remain among his top choices. In that case it does not make sense to apply to too many other places, unless we uncover alternatives he ranks more highly. Reason being that he always has the option to start at Montgomery College (MC) and then gain automatic acceptance at both of those schools so long as he earns a 3.0, which I am thoroughly confident he would do.
So based on what he has discovered as his preferences, the only way there could be a perfect fit is if SMCM had a club hockey team, which it doesn’t. (It’s possible for him to start one, but that’s a discussion for another day.) Reason being that SMCM seems to match the vast majority of his academic desires, plus has the in-state advantages of tuition and the MC transfer route if he didn’t get in as a freshman. UMd is attractive because it has tons of on-campus activities, club ice hockey (both D-2 and D-3), an excellent reputation and the same in-state advantages. BUT it is big with huge potential for distraction, and he recognizes my expressed concern that he’s unlikely to get the same level of academic support that really turns him on about SMCM. He sees Goucher in the same vein as SMCM, but it is right on the edge of Towson, no hockey and the sticker price is a non-starter (although we know that financial aid could change that dramatically). UMBC is in-state and has D-2 club hockey, but I suspect it won’t be as attractive as UMd. I’m also assuming that UMBC becomes a ghost town on weekends; can anyone confirm or deny?
So the next task is to build out the list of alternatives that he might end up liking more than SMCM. The key elements of fit remain liberal arts college, small supportive classes, access / interaction with professors. He and I broadly agree that a better alternative would have to have hockey, as that is the only thing SMCM is missing, particularly because we’d be trading-off the in-state advantages (cost, MC transfer route). Of the ones called out previously it looks like only Gettysburg and Elon have that. But I will research others, including Dickinson, Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, Bucknell, and Franklin & Marshall. Possibly Clark too, but it seems to be outside his preferred 4-5 hours driving window.
With this now clearer preference picture, any other suggestions (new or reiterations of old)?
Thanks all!
The Hillel college database is outdated, so it’s a good place to eyeball some general comparisons, but if you want better info you’re going to have to type Jewish into the search bar for each college and see what pops up. Typically I found that the contact info might be accurate on the Hillel site but the numbers were several years old. On many occasions it also turned out that schools had added opportunities for Jewish community that were not listed on the Hillel site. Take what you read there with a grain of (kosher) salt.
I wish they would update their database!! It would be a great resource…