Bigpapiofthree: We visited UVA with my son 5 years ago and found that there was a reasonably active Jewish life (i.e., both Hillel and Chabad) if you went looking for it.
rockvillemom: JMU is top on DD’s list and I am familiar with the VT Hillel. I was hoping someone would be able to share first-hand impressions of these schools along with VCU, UMW and CNU.
Are your kids looking for Jewish life or are they looking for social organizations as they participated in through their local temple? If it’s Jewish life than Hillel is important, if it is social than fraternities and sororities is what they are seeking.
Clarinet, you raise a good clarification. My S is looking for a good jewish social life, not religious. If others know about UVA, please chime in…
Seems UVA has issues http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/07/us/uva-greek-life-reinstated/
Hi!
Does anyone know anything about Sewanee’s Jewish life? They are located in Tennessee (red flag), and I have yet to find anything. Thoughts?
Thank you in advance.
Not much Jewish life. Sewanee is an instrumentality of the Episcopal church and its seminary is an important part of the school. (I doubt a Jewish student would have a bad experience; it’s a good school, Episcopalians are relatively liberal and accepting, just not many Jews there.) Tennessee isn’t necessarily a red flag- see Vanderbilt. Rhodes College might be more comfortable for Jewish students than Sewanee because of the active Jewish community in Memphis.
@BigPapiofthree my son is in his Second Year at UVA. Many of his friends are Jewish…and it isn’t that he was looking for them. He goes to Hillel on occasion…often for dinner on Friday night and attends services on the HH. He really likes the Rabbi who runs the Hillel. He just came back from a Birthright trip with Hillel. UVA was able to fill a bus and a second bus was half filled with UVA students and the other half were from Cornell.
@ClarinetDad16 in case you weren’t following this, this story published by Rolling Stone was later discredited.
@MAsecondtimer can you share insight how UVA social scene has changed since the new rules implemented a year ago?
wondering if anyone has advice regarding premed. S looking for schools with “open” curriculum. Would like to hear about anyone’s experience with success in medical school application and particularly if the schools used a “committee letter” vs. regular letters of recommendation
@ClarinetDad16 it is my understanding that the Fraternities came up with the new rules around their parties and these were implemented last Spring. My S’18 is not in a Frat. He did go through Rush last Spring and although he received a Bid it was not to his first choice Frat so he didn’t join. He has decided not to go through Rush this year. Some of his friends are in Frats and some aren’t. Only about 1/3 of UVA students are in Fraternities or Sororities.
My son said that he doesn’t go to Frat parties as often this year. To use his words “it is more of a First Year thing”. He is living off grounds this year, which is not unusual for Second Years and I think that also changes one’s “social scene”.
It terms of how the Social Scene has changed I am not really able to answer that question with any more detail. I will add that he seems very aware about how to keep an eye out on his friends…girls and boys. This stems from the Hannah Graham tragedy. He talks about people being careful to not walk alone, late at night. Hope this helps. I have no regrets having my son at UVA and I wouldn’t hesitate letting his younger sister apply if she was interested.
Thanks MAsecondtimer. I appreciate your perspective. Hoping to visit UVA over spring break. Will let you know.
Hoping all is well for folks here, and that this forum can keep going–it was so helpful when S1 was applying (he is a very happy sophomore at Elon).
Getting ready for the process for S2, now a sophomore in HS, and will be very grateful if this forum remains active!
Just needs a new group of interested and active posters!
S2 graduates in May - hard to believe. So I am really far removed from the college process now. Connecting with other like-minded parents on this thread was a very valuable experience and I also hope it picks up again.
@naggymom: same here. this forum was great for looking at schools for both S1 (UIUC) and S2 (Ohio State U) and now I have D3 who is a sophomore and would like a smaller (though not small school). She is not a math/science kid but loves computer programming and graphic design. She is very involved in our synagogue - still attends classes for high school and helps teach art at Sunday school - and on her values chart assignment in English we were both surprised by how high religion scored - right behind family & friends. We live in the midwest but I think she would travel for the right school. I need her to qualify for merit $$ - no tests yet so we have to keep the thread going for a few more years, at least!
Nice to hear from you both! Thank you again RVM for starting this great thread-- Can’t believe your S2 graduates this spring! And tootired- I know it’s kind of early to get very specific but your daughter’s interests make me think of Drexel,
through which one of my friend’s daughter’s (studying Design) just landed an amazing internship.
Hello RVM. It’s amazing that the first class on this thread is about to graduate! My son fell a semester behind due to mono but is doing great. I never did have the type of info that most parents coming to this thread are looking for but it turned into a very lovely community with lots of support. I hope a new group takes over for our graduating class. As for me the thread is bookmarked so I usually catch the new posts eventually. I am not current but somewhat informed about Texas schools.
Thank you @naggymom - we will put Drexel on the list. We are just starting to think about making a list. My husband is not ready to even think about it…and I’m not sure my D3 is ready either!
Some medium size schools with active Jewish communities:
Tulane
U. Miami
College of Charleston
Towson
Larger (but not huge) - Pitt
Smaller, midwest - see Denison for generous merit aid (growing Jewish presence)
Son is a high school junior with great grades. He wants a small town/rural setting type of school with a minimum of 5000 students. He wants the school atmosphere to be green (lawns, trees, not a lot of cars). Mom wants the college to have some sort of Jewish population and not be west of the Mississippi. He is thinking Business, Economics, or Computer Science. His 2 picks so far are William and Mary & Miami University of Ohio. We’ve decided to look at Lehigh and possibly Cornell. I’m having a hard time finding medium sized schools to fit this critieria. Any help would be most appreiciated.