Colleges for the Jewish "B" student (Part 1)

@classof2020 The Common App has a section for extracurriculars, years involved, and description of the EC. Tell your child to put 2 years of involvement with NFTY and a sentence in what he or she did while there.

whenhen is correct. Your child will be participating in NFTY for 11th and 12th grade. The Common App allows you to list activities and check a box for each grade participated in. I also think ( haven’t seen this in a while) there is a box to check whether or not this will be continued in college as well as how many hours a week spent on the activity.I think that if your child intends to participate in Hillel, it is OK to check that too, since it is in the same category. You might actually list this as Jewish Youth Group to make that category broader than just NIFTY if she participates in more than one group.

For example, a student who plays in the school orchestra can list “school orchestra” and check off each year even if the student changes schools. The activity doesn’t change, although the name of the high school orchestra might change. Or one can list all the orchestras and groups, but there is only so much room to list the activities. I think the most important part is for the college to see what types of activities the student is interested in. Playing in a large ensemble is different from a quartet, so those would be separate, but two large ensembles are similar. NIFTY, BBYO, and Hillel are similar activities.

I think there is room to add the name of the activity along with the category, so “Jewish Youth Group” could be the category with NIFTY added and plans to join Hillel in college in the space to describe the activity.

The Common App also, last time I looked, asks to put the activities in order of importance to the student. If there is something a student wishes to add more information to, for instance extensive involvement or leadership in NIFTY, then I think that can be indicated and/or addressed in an essay. In general one does not include pre-high school activities on the college app, but something that has been an interest since elementary school and is important to the student can be addressed in an essay.

I think this will all be clearer when you see the format of the college application.

Hi everyone! Been a very long time since I’ve posted. Oldest (twins) graduated LAST year from Delaware and both are are gainfully employed in their respective fields of study and are slowly adjusting to post-grad life. Youngest daughter is finishing her sophomore year at UMD-CP. To say she loves it there would be an understatement. Anyway, I’m chiming in because I see that Chardo’s son is going on Birthright next month and so is my daughter! She leaves on May 27th, just wondering when your son was going?

Thank you @whenhen and @Pennylane2011 that helps.

@jaynebe my two Ds are also on the May 27 trip!

My younger S leaves on May 26th!

I hope your kids have fabulous and safe travels!

Birthright parents, what are your suggestions re cell phone? DS has an iphone on Sprint. Will it work? Should he just leave it in airplane mode and use wifi when available (if that works)? Any other suggesions?

just returned from Israel with my daughter’s high school orchestra. we rented a phone from Amigo-USA (very reasonable & worked great for calls - did the cheapest plan). We also used iphone wi-fi which was available most places but occasionally spotty - what’s app worked well, too when we had wi-fi. I know some changed their plan but make sure the phone will work in Israel (I would have had to do something strange to make mine work). Hope DS has a wonderful time!

My D’s mostly used WiFi on their iPhones. Under the iPhone’s settings you turn off Cellular data before boarding the plane. Then turn on WiFi when needed–leaving it on all the time saps battery life. Both WhatsApp and Viber work great for free phone calls if you the parent also have a smartphone and have those apps installed. iMessage also works for free over WiFi.

D2 got a SIM card to use in Israel on her last two trips (which were both to staff a program) so she could talk to her fellow staff while out and about. But really it’s not necessary. Plus, they’re in Israel, mostly for the first time–they shouldn’t be focussed on their phones!!!

Adding cell phone discussion to my list.
I’m trying to push my two to get things in order for their trip. It isn’t till July but I hate them doing everything last minute. Till now I have let them handle the trip. The result of that is that they signed up for a trip out of NY when we live in Ca. They will need to get to NY on my wallet.
Both need to do the medical forms and upload passport. Both of them don’t have a regular Dr at this point and the forms will need to be filled out by a Dr who has not seen them before. Hoping this isn’t an issue. D is taking the quarter off so she can’t use the school Dr she has seen before. She called over 15 Dr offices in search of a Dr taking new patients. It is crazy to have insurance and not be able to find a Dr. She finally found 1 who will take her but it is a 45 minute drive. My S is working and I think he will just go to a urgent care med clinic for his form.
Also D sees a therapist. I’m assuming she will need a letter from her psychologist. Any experiences with that?
I’m looking forward to hearing how the trips go.

Hi - make sure you leave plenty of time between the flights to and from CA - and the flights to and from Israel. They typically have to meet their group 4 hours before the Israel flight is set to depart. But I would be sure to have the CA flight arrive well before 4 hours prior to the Israel departure. Same thing on the way home. My son’s return flight arrived in NY several hours late and he missed his flight home. He ended up spending the night with a friend in NY and catching a bus home the following day - but being in CA means fewer options in that sense.

Mom60, don’t be too upset with your kids for booking a trip out of NY. My son was in school in California and booked his trip through Hillel at his school and that trip left from NY. I don’t know if there are any that leave from the west coast but at least some California programs set up their departures from NY.

Rockvillemom- I just saw the meet your group 4 hours before. I think due to timing they will need to arrive the day before and depart the day after.
Spectrum2- I think the same trip organizer has a slightly different trip leaving from LA just a few days earlier. It’s fine. I’m just happy they want to go and that they are getting to go together.

My trip, a San Diego State based one, departed from LAX. According to the Washington Past, the flight from LA to Israel is the 20th longest commercially availible one in the world.

mom60 - I do think that is the best plan - adds the cost of a night in a NY hotel before and after - but worth it to avoid flight issues. I am sure you can find something relatively inexpensive near the airport.

Some of the hotels near JFK ( and I assume La Guardia) require that guests are 21 to register. A few take over 18. For my kid’s BR trip, the return flight arrived late at night so all the kids had to stay overnight. There was a parent group online meeting where the parents made arrangements for the students to stay in rooms together. Since some of the students were not 21, parents booked hotels that would accept over 18.

I think it is worth it to be close to the airport and take the hotel shuttle. Your kids could share or even find another student (s) to share with them. I think there were 3 in my kid’s room.

When taking kids to the airport for birthright, do parents typically come into the airport with them or just drop off?

Interesting that you ask that question, Chardo! I think it depends on the child and your comfort level. My older S is very independent and walked into the airport on his own with no problems whatsoever. He was also a bit older (chronologically as well as mentally), I think he went in Dec. of sophomore college year. My younger son, who just finished his freshman year and who is going in two weeks is not quite as worldly/street smart, whatever the word is, so I’m sleeping over with him the night before since he has to be there at the crack of dawn and will take a shuttle from the hotel and bring him inside. 10 days later I will feel more comfortable letting him arrive back from Israel, go through customs and walk out to the curb to meet me.

I’m not even going to the airport with my Ds - both are experienced travelers, and if they stay over in D2’s NY apartment the night before, they can easily catch public transportation to the airport. I will pick them up on the return, though, even though they’re coming back at different times.