@WHSalumDad Your DS should look at the College of Wooster, it is outside the 4-5 hr driving range, but still doable in a day. The school is very friendly, small Greek population, Hockey team, Hillel and 90ish% of students receive merit aid. All seniors do an IS (Independent Study) with very strong support from advisers. It is truly a school for B students however, my senior A student who is still trying to choose his college for the fall has it on his short list along with Grinnell and some other schools.
If you havenât already, take a look at Colleges That Change Lives, book or website. The schools on the list have a program May 17 in Tysons Corner so your son could talk to several schools without having to travel.
@WHSalumDad - great analysis and organized approach. I do find it interesting to have SMCM and UMD as the top choices given the size disparity - but I certainly understand the appeal of in-state options. Do look at some of the others you mentioned - such as Elon and Gettysburg - and use the net price calculators on their websites to get an idea of what you would actually pay.
Have you used Naviance to see how your sonâs stats look at those schools?
Colleges That Change Lives is also a great suggestion - will provide other options similar to SMCM.
I searched this discussion and did not find any comments about Southwestern University in Texas. Yes, I realize it is technically a Christian-affiliated college, but so is Muhlenberg⊠So my question (to anyone who knows): is there any Jewish presence at this school? I know someone who is looking for an animal behavior program who needs a âb-studentâ college, and this school came up in a search.
Janjmom, I donât recall Southwestern ever being discussed. A good friend of my sonâs goes there and likes it but he isnât Jewish. Among my boyâs Jewish friends I have not heard any mention it while there are other Texas schools with Christian names that Iâve heard of a few Jewish kids attending. I saw that 90% of the student body is instate which points to a small Jewish population. It is however just outside Austin which has one of the larger Jewish communities in Texas. I think that if your friends are looking for a Jewish presence they should research it well. I have never researched this school so I really donât know. Iâm just sharing my in state experience since Iâm guessing that few on this thread are familiar with this school.
The Jewish presence at the Christian affiliated college can vary greatly. I would check each one individually. In general, I would say that it is rare to find one with a large population of students from other religions. Muhlenberg is an exception. Elon, also began as a Christian college and now has a relatively large Jewish population.
Also, there are not many colleges that have a focus on animal behavior alone. However, many colleges have programs such as animal science and biology that can prepare someone for a career working with animals. Since the student needs a B student college, perhaps it would be better to not be restricted to a limited major, and look for a college that has access to animal science/biology/zoology and other factors that fit this student.
Depending on the studentâs grades, some choices could include University of Delaware- which has a nice animal science program. It is getting harder to be admitted into Elon, but Elon has a nice biology program and the relatively rural location might open up possibilities to work with animals.
Just to be clear, what I would research for is the presence of an active Hillel or other Jewish organization. If there is a Jewish presence it will be small. Jewish kids in Texas who are true B students looking for a sizable Jewish community generally go to the schools discussed in this thread.
I am new to this thread, but have been participating on CC since fall 2014. I have a daughter starting at a large OOS flagship (with a large Jewish population) this fall and am VERY concerned about the environment for Jewish students. I noted this previous comment about how unprepared students can be:
Have any of you availed yourselves of the services of this ADL program for college students?
I am thinking of organizing a session for my community, but am seeking feedback on it first. Iâd also welcome feedback on any other program out there. Thanks.
I donât have experience with the ADL group, but I commend you for addressing this, and I share your concern. Without veering this thread into a political argument, there is rising divisions along political approaches on campuses, even among some Jewish students who choose to align with different groups on issues that concern Israel.
What is most concerning personally is that it seems there seems to be a disconnect with promoting anti Israel sentiment and who is may affect personally. People I know seem to think it is acceptable to express their sentiment to my face, as if somehow I am not connected to something they see as happening overseas. The bulk of this comes from people who have no personal connection to Judaism or Israel, but rather identify with anti- Israel opinions politically. It is very hurtful to me to read their posts on Facebook and hear them. I think it would be difficult if I was their college peer.
I realize that people are entitled to an opinion, but the insensitivity and callousness of these activities on campuses is very concerning to me. I am glad that there is interest in support for students who are affected by it.
To get my own bearings I will reiterate my understanding of the purpose of (the 1,236 pages of) this post. The discussion is to help us identify schools that might be good options for those of us who have Jewish kids with âBâ level transcripts. And so far I have found that collective wisdom and input here to be outstanding. Weâve done more research here at home that I will report back sometime tomorrow, addressing questions / suggestions specific to my earlier inquiries and posts.
In that same spirit of trying to paint a clear picture of what might make for a good fit for a Jewish B-student comes the whole issue of âcontext.â Meaning, what might the on-campus environment look like for our Jewish student? So I donât think it makes the conversation overly political to identify that on-campus attitudes and activism regarding Israel could have an effect on our Jewish students depending on where they might end up.
If nothing else, that thread within this conversation has caused me to go out and do my own research on the various Jewish student groups that our student might run into. Whether that be Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) or Safe Hillel on the right, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) or Open Hillel on the left, or the center right / left of Hillel or J Street U. In that research I have come across an interesting site aimed at Jewish college students: New Voices. Here is a link to an article written by a former Open Hillel outreach coordinator that I found educational:
So my take away is that just because a particular Hillel has declared itself to be âopenâ doesnât necessarily indicate a hostile environment. But thatâs mine, and yours might be different, which is kind of the whole point of bringing the situation to light so we can all be making informed decisions.
This is a great point, and yes, I agree that it is important to consider the political climate on campuses and the activities of the Hillel and other student groups. Where I say- be cautious- is that if the thread deviates into political discussion and away from the intent of the thread- it could violate the boundaries of CC and be shut down by a moderator. Considering the broad readership of this board and the many opinions of the readers, this has happened on other threads when posters have disagreed. Occasionally posters have responded strongly to posts on threads that mention politics, and we should exercise caution when responding ,or choose to not respond.
For those who are trying to find out about the Jewish community at School X, hereâs what I did when my kids were in the thick of the search:
*Look at the most recent version of Reform Judaismâs College Guide http://www.reformjudaismmag.org/
*Check out School X on Hillelâyes, itâs old and out of date but itâs a resource
*Search (Google) on the schoolâs name and the word Jew and see what pops up.
*Search this thread for the name of the school to see if itâs been discussed before
*On campus visits, be sure to check out any Jewish communal organizations e.g. Hillel
Responding to brantlyâs asking about using ADLâs program about anti-Semitic bias:
I canât speak to the effectiveness of the ADL program. I would assume that it is going to be very helpful for some Jewish students, not as much for others. However, when I said that some of my childrenâs friends âfelt totally unprepared for the campus discussion about Israelâ, it was because these young people felt that theyâd not been exposed to as much discussion or views of history. A number of these students did not know what the term ânakbaâ meant, for instance. Theyâd heard very few (if any!) speakers during their high school years who were in any way critical of any Israeli issues.
As others have said, this is NOT a political thread. Itâs not ideological. I hope that people here will not take my remarks in any way, shape or form as advocating a specific political bent. I do believe that it was immensely helpful to my children in adapting to college life to know a little bit about the complexities and grey areas that can be found in Israel (and the US, for that matter!). Sharing that for those who are navigating these kinds of issues and decisions in their own families.
In OT news, I visited boysx3 today. She has come a long, long way from the last time I saw her in November. Her personality shines through and we were able to have a nice chat. Her nurse is a lovely person and everyone is working to get her outside and more mobile so she can enjoy the neighborhood and the glorious weather. She is continuing to improve and I was really happy to see her.
RVM thanks for mentioning TAMU, that article makes me proud but also embarrassed to learn about this from you and not my son. But then again itâs been a busy couple of weeks for him and weâve barely spoken. I hope he caught some part of this eventâŠI hadnât realized that the Jewish presence was less than 1 percent but Jewish kids on that campus will find a Jewish presence if they seek it.
Hello to everyone but a special shout out to ST and Spectrum.
Has anyone seen or heard of the movie being shown all around the country called âBeneath the Helmetâ? I think if you google it, it is beneathhelmet.com
It is a movie that is @ 80 minutes long and showcases the lives of 5 young Israeli men, each 18 years old, just graduating high school and then joining the army for the mandatory 3 years, before deciding on college or any other life plans. It is an excellent real life story of these 5 men and how they cope with the struggles of leaving their families and doing what it takes to learn how to use a gun and defend themselves and their country.
So far it has been shown in many forums as well as over 30-35 colleges in the US and also other countries too. There have been discussions held after the viewing, with the general audiences, but we have been told that on some campuses, there is lots of controversy. Sometimes I think that people start controversy just because it seems the popular thing to do, without necessarily really understanding the meaning of their protest. Just taking the opposite angle.
Please look into it if you canâŠit is being shown to all audiences, Jewish and non Jewish alike. They said it was made to hopefully dispel some rumors about the Israeliâs and their quest for peace and freedom.
Thanks for the report on boysx3, countingdown and that she looks better and hopefully stronger & improving. Excellent news.
