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

@Monkeypanda I also recommend College of Charleston . Your son’s stats would make him competitive for the Honors College . I can’t say enough good things about The Honors College . They have a great Classics program. They also have a vegan and kosher dining hall . It’s probably worth a look. My son attends the Honors College there. Feel free to PM if you’d like .

@Monkeypanda I am going to recommend Clark Univ-- Ancient Civilization program which also includes Jewish studies.
Visited there with my younger son, we loved it-- not a party school, the students there were warm, friendly, down to earth, smart but not competitive with each other but instead so supportive of each other.

His older brother attends Elon, and his experience has been mixed. I can’t say that Elon is not a party school, and very fraternity-oriented-- this has been difficult for him, and although there have been many positives about it, he wishes he had gone somewhere with a less prominent frat party scene.

@jym626 just to clarify - we visited OWU in early August when the school was not yet in session for fall. Same visit to U of Cincinnati & OSU but since those are much bigger campuses - it didn’t make as much difference that we were between summer & fall sessions. Does your friends DD - freshman at OWU - like it? Feel ok being Jewish there?

thanks!

I will ask her.

Thanks to all your suggestions earlier in the year my son visited many of the small liberal arts colleges in Florida. He has since decided he would like to be a high school history teacher. He applied and was accepted to Lynn, Eckerd, Rollins, Flagler, USFSP, and Florida Southern. He narrowed it down to Florida Southern and Flagler due to their secondary education programs with Florida Southern being the front runner. We are going to revisit Flagler in January. Does anyone have any experience with either of these schools? They both seem like great fits for him but we are all struggling with the decision. We just eliminated Rollins due to cost and he felt like it may be a bit of a party school. Thank you.

Rollins is in the best town of the three, but it is very expensive.

I have a prejudice against Florida Southern because they are the arch rival of my daughter’s team, and they are not nice when we have to visit. Not nice players, not nice parents. We did not feel the love when we visited during the college search either. The school is beautiful, but the town is not. And it is HOT HOT HOT as it is inland.

On the other hand, I love St. Augustine and Flagler. The school is right in the center of the historic town, and this can be a positive or negative as there are always tourist around. It’s on the intercoastal and the ocean is just across the bridge.

I don’t know how each school sets up student teaching but it would seem FLC is limited to Lakeland where Flagler is in St. Johns Cty and close enough to Duval Cty (Jacksonville) and Palm Coast to make them all work

(@Monkeypanda I am going to recommend Clark Univ-- Ancient Civilization program which also includes Jewish studies.
Visited there with my younger son, we loved it-- not a party school, the students there were warm, friendly, down to earth, smart but not competitive with each other but instead so supportive of each other.
His older brother attends Elon, and his experience has been mixed. I can’t say that Elon is not a party school, and very fraternity-oriented-- this has been difficult for him, and although there have been many positives about it, he wishes he had gone somewhere with a less prominent frat party scene.)

@naggymom -
This is the most helpful comment I have ever gotten. He got into both Clark and Elon (amongst other schools). Still waiting to hear back from others but knowing that Elon’s frat scene is more than your son anticipated is helpful in our decision making process. I am trying to learn more about Clark and the surrounding area now. Thank you! (PS: he’s an “A” student now!)

I agree that Rollins had the best town and Florida Southern the worst of the 3 but it’s not the town so much my son is interested in it’s the school and program and kids that are most like him which would be quiet and mostly serious. With that said I think Lakeland is a nice little town but definitely not as cute as Wintef Park and St Augustine. I am so surprised at your impressions of Florida Southern as our experience had been totally the opposite. My sons admissions counselor was so kind to my son when he first met her in NY at a college fair and later that week for coffee at Starbucks. She actually called him 2 weeks after he applied to tell him he was accepted and when we went for a visit to the school in November she personally came out to say hi to him and all the kids on the campus seemed very friendly. Of course that was just our impression and experience but now I am concerned. His counselor at Flagler has been very kind and responsive and did also call my son after he received his acceptance to see if he had any questions about the program or process. We are going to see Flagler for a second time (from NY) in a few weeks. He didn’t feel the need to see Florida Southern again as he liked it so much. It now your comments are making me second guess that.

It’s not unusual for smaller schools in somewhat isolated locations (like Elon) to be bigger party schools than you think. There’s not much else to do.

My kid at Elon has found time to attend exactly one fraternity party this year. Busy every single moment, and genuinely perplexed how other students are finding time for them with everything else going on socially. I guess priorities vary.

Looking for suggestions for my daughter who’s a junior. She’s an A student but no AP and a few honors, mostly on level), ACTs will probably end up 24-26 range. Wants a smaller school (7000 or less ideally) with an ACTIVE hillel and jewish population in general. Most likely also wants greek life. Looking anywhere along the east coast, south to north. Would consider midwest as well. Would love to hear suggestions to add to her list.

@handlmom- Muhlenberg. 30% Jewish, with active Hillel, even though it has a Lutheran affiliation.

My D was looking st those types of schools, minus the Greek life. She applied to Susquehanna, Arcadia, and Drew, among others. Other possibilities include Clark, Ithaca, Rider, Hartford, Quinnipiac.

SUNY Binghamton, College of Charleston, University of Vermont, Muhlenberg

SUNY Binghamton would be a reach, and it’s much bigger than 7000. But look at some of the SUNY colleges–Oneonta, Geneseo, Cortland.

If you are looking in the Midwest, Bradley University might be a good fit. About 5,000 students with an active Jewish population and good merit scholarships.

It’s bigger than you want, but take a look at Towson University. It has a very active Hillel, Greek life, nice campus and lots of academic choices. Despite the size, students have access to good advising and small classes.

Not on the east coast, but U of Denver has the other check list items - large Hillel, small Greek life, right size, beautiful campus. Easy access to any east coast area by air. There is a great athletic facility and it is fun to follow the sports, with top hockey and lacrosse teams.

^^^ A sizeable number of kids from our synagogue head to Towson. Vibrant Jewish life, good academics, some nice signature programs. Our shul sent kids up there every year for a visit, but I don’t know if that was through the JCC, USY, etc.

How about Hofstra?