What part of the country? Off the top of my head:
University of Delaware
Brandeis
Muhlenberg
For business:
U Richmond
Tulane
Miami (FL)
Babson and/or Bentley in MA
Bigger: Pitt
SUNY Binghamton
Then even bigger: Indiana
Iām not sure if this is the appropriate thread for this but I didnāt know where else to go. Iāve been following this thread awhile and have gotten great advice. My son who is a ābā student just got accepted to u of Texas Austin engineering. ( Weāre pleasantly surprised!)Heās very excited with one reservation; He would like to join a fraternity but from what weāve been told, itās very competitive, itās all who you know and legacy based. Heās been told a lot of rush events are in the summer. We live in the Midwest. Does anyone have any suggestions/feedback/insight?
@oliver17 Iād post your question on the UTexas page. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/
Thanks, Iāll do that. The reason I did it here is because he wants at least a partially Jewish frat and I remember there use to be a poster whose child went to UT
@oliver17 I am an old timer from this thread. My son didnāt go to UT Austin but looked at it closely and has Jewish friends who did who were Jewish frat members that he visited in Austin on weekends once in a while. My son knew these kids through the URJ summer camp in Texas. I expect in Texas that is a big source of connection for Jewish kids. I never heard anything about the frats being competitive or legacy based but donāt know that I would have. My son just graduated so his information may be old but if you have specific questions I will ask him. At the time he looked at UTA there were 2 Jewish frats.
Congratulations on his admission, UTās engineering program is very competitive!
Thanks @spectrum2 I appreciate it! Iāll PM you with questions as he has themā¦I donāt know if he even knows what to ask.
No problem, good luck!
@writerlydreams - have you looked into IU- not in the south but a large Jewish studies program, very active Hillel, weekly services and many Jewish students. There are scholarships specifically for the Jewish studies program, but I am not sure about eligibility for them. DS is a freshman at Kelley and loves it.
@oliver17 :Your sonās best bet is probably to reach out to UT Austinās Hillel directly: itās likely someone there is currently a member of a Jewish fraternity and heāll get the most up to date answers.
@1S1Dforcollege: If I thought I could get enough merit at IU, Iād apply there in a heartbeat since they have such wonderful Jewish life. I just donāt think Iād qualify for enough as a transfer.
Iāve currently only applied to UIUC (after talking to my parents: UW-Milwaukeeās low grad rate was a concern and University of Minnesota has less Jewish life and good weather relative to U of IL, plus U of IL has better outcomes, slightly smaller classes, and a tuition freeze.)
@writerlydreams - you should reach out to the Hillel at IU- the rabbi may be able to give you an idea if any of the Jewish studies scholarships are available for transfer students.
DD is very determined to go to a school with a good size Jewish population and a vibrant communal life. So far she got into Binghampton, Umass Amherst, IU, Eckerd, Hofstra, and The New School (Eugene Lang). Any insights?
IU and Bighampton have been on the top of her list and she wants to go to admitted students day to both, but we didnāt see their packages yet. She applied to the JS scholarship at IU. Are there any freshman JS scholarships at Binghampton? She looked but it seems like all of them are for matriculated students only.
^ whatās a JS scholarship?
FYI, there is no P in Binghamton
Eckerd has a very active Hillel and a parent group as well. Rabbi Ed Rosenthal is on campus and a wonderful source of information. There are 2 more accepted student weekends in April. Congratulations, great array of schools to choose from.
Hi, group. You have all been helpful with my two older children (and I hope I have contributed tidbits surrounding their searches, too.) Now I am in process with #3 - DD who fits solidly in this category: 3.3 GPA (3.6 sophomore & junior years) & 27 ACT (34 Reading; 31 Englishā¦Science & Math not so great).
She is looking for a medium sized school with strong Arts and Liberal Arts programs. She would like to combine Graphic Design with English (toward Graphic Novels or something potentially more financially rewarding?) and would like to stay Midwest to East. We would probably need to qualify for some sort of merit aid to make this work. She has ruled out a few small colleges since there is no Jewish community to speak of. Any ideas of where we should start? She has interesting ECs (Robotics Team; Anime club; Sunday school assistant teacher) but nothing that knocks it out of the park.
She also had her eye on the Ohio State (brother #2 goes there) but if she could get in, I donāt think she would get the scholarship $$ that make it possible to send her brother there. We live in IL so UIUC is our state flagship. Not sure either school is the best fit for her.
A few people have recommended Bradley and U of Cincinnati. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!
Ohio University (not too far from Columbus in Athens, OH) would offer merit money.
Here is one ranking of Top 50 Graphic Design programs: http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-50-graphic-design-schools-and-colleges-us-%E2%80%93-2015
A few schools on that list that have nice Jewish communities, are not art schools and that might offer merit money are Temple University, University of Kansas and Syracuse University.
Thank you @quakerstake - the list of the top 50 schools is very helpful. We will look at them to see what to add to the list.
Re: aid. See if your DD can take some Jewish leadership for teens in summer or during the first semester of Senior year. It seemed to have helped my DD who didnāt have spectacular grades as a freshman and sophomore, but still got into quite a few programs with nice aid (Eckerd, The New school, and Binghamton). She is inclined to go to Bing because of the large and active Hillel. It is not a small school, but having a large community is really important for herā¦
Off topic, but Israel is kicking tuchas in the World Baseball Classic