<p>I'm wondering if others can share their experiences - positive and negative - regarding their Jewish student's comfort level at various colleges. I'm not looking for Jewish based schools, just places where Jewish students feel accepted.</p>
<p>Have you heard anything about Udelaware, Towson, James Madison University, Ithaca, UMASS, Binghamton, University of Rhode Island?</p>
<p>To start, I recommend you type in each of those colleges to this site: [Hillel’s</a> Guide to Jewish Life on Campus](<a href=“http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx]Hillel’s”>http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx)</p>
<p>I tried two on your list – UMass at Amherst and Univ of Rhode Island. What a difference! Look not only at the statistics but the Profile written at the bottom. Also some smaller colleges have Hillel groups categorized as “small but mighty” because they are doing things beyond their own small numbers to generate Jewish student activity, which IMHO contributes to feelings of acceptance campus-wide. </p>
<p>And I hope you hear positive responses from individual members of CC as well.</p>
<p>I’ll vote as a parent for George Washington U- very comfortable, active Hillel, plus the DC Lubavitcher Chabad, where my daughter chooses to attend High Holiday services. She is most welcome there.</p>
<p>Friends were very comfortable at Ithaca, Umass, Delaware, and Bing.</p>
<p>The Hillel website p3t linked to is a great place to start. You can also use the links provided there to look at the colleges’ own websites, which contain fuller and more accurate info.</p>
<p>SUNY Binghamton has a large Jewish population and an active Hillel. The Hillel at U Mass Amherst is also large, and includes programming with all five colleges in the consortium.</p>
<p>Have you looked at Brandeis? We are not Jewish but my son is applying and I believe about half of the students are Jewish.</p>
<p>How about the University of Maryland at College Park?</p>
<p>It has a very large and active Jewish community.</p>
<p>my D, a first year at Brandeis, originally was not interested because she thought it was “too” Jewish, but that is definitely not the case. pugmadkate is right that about half of the students at Brandeis are Jewish, but they fall all along the spectrum of observance from Orthodox to non-observant. in addition Brandeis has a very large number of international students, and 19 religions are represented among the student body.</p>
<p>UMD has orthodox minyanim on campus – so there is a wide range of observance. S has felt very comfortable at UChicago. His boss (a prof at the school) last year invited S over for Rosh Hashanah dinner. There is an active community (there is a big Latke vs. Hamentaschen debate every December), but have not heard of any problems.</p>
<p>^^While we’re on topic of Maryland, and looking again at OP’s list, I wanted to add that Towson (on your list already) is located smack-dab in the middle of Baltimore County’s diverse Jewish community. And yes, U of Maryland has a strong Jewish population (19.1%) so that’s a few percentage points more than, say, Boston University (13% 15% or 17.5% depending on methodology/year used by Hillel v. Reform Judaism Magazine; and whether counting undergrads only). Recently a Jewish student won the presidency of the UMD student body, indicating acceptance at a campus-wide level.</p>
<p>The Reform Judaism magazine survey of schools is a good starting point [Reform</a> Judaism Magazine - Fall 2007](<a href=“http://reformjudaismmag.org/07fall/]Reform”>http://reformjudaismmag.org/07fall/). It lists schools with the largest number of Jewish students, and schools with the highest percentage of Jewish students.</p>
<p>^^terrific link to help this OP! Thanks, SlitheyTove. I’ll add a rule-of-thumb (sorry for that anti-feminist expression) used by some Jewish community leaders advising students re: comfort levels relative to % Jewish population on campus. Of course these are huge generalities but here goes:</p>
<p>l0% or less: Students must work hard to find other Jewish peers or partners. Sometimes the Hillel offers only one kind of service (e.g. Conservative or Reform but not both…) so students needing different movements look for it in the synagogues of the town, where they find more families and fewer agemates. Especially for kids from populated Jewish hometowns it’s a culture shock to drop to minority status below l0%. I hear back from many kids at l0% places who say they spend a lot of time explaining their backgrounds to others, which some find “interesting/challenging” and others say “gets tiresome.” A Small-but-Mighty Hillel (that’s a designation) can help offset the dynamics. Even if there are just a dozen or so Jewish kids gathering, they become very close even if they hadn’t strongly identified in h.s. </p>
<p>20%: Comfy/cozy as long as one joins the organizations and uses available resources, in which case
a student feels they may more pick and choose among Jewish peers to find friends more by personality and natural affinity. </p>
<p>30%: At this point, students of all faiths/backgrounds comment that their school has “lots of Jews” and they can find a wider range of opinions on every topic, religious to political, as well as peers/partners
without difficulty if that’s what they seek. Examples: All Ivies except Dartmouth; many top LAC’s (liberal arts colleges); a wide range of public and private colleges/unis located near metropolitan centers…</p>
<p>40%: This feels like halfway to Israel and the issue becomes finding oneself within the large dynamic of Jewish opportunities! Example: Barnard College in NYC</p>
<p>60%+: Hello, Brandeis; but remember that still means 40% are from every other faith and background,
so there’s still plenty of others to discover and grow.</p>
<p>90%+: Hello, Yeshiva U, Stern College; nearly everyone around you chose it for the combined saturated Jewish environment and fine academics.</p>
<p>I would not go by % at larger schools–as long as there are a large number, the % should be less of a concern. Also, if you view college in part as preparation for the real world, the overall US % is below 10%.</p>
<p>All of your choices seem fine, although I do not Towson or JMU well. In the same GPA category, given your concerns, look at American, Goucher, Rutgers and Drew</p>
<p>You forgot Tufts, lol. I think it’d be “comfortable” but not overwhelming…you’d be exposed to diversity there too, fo’ sho.</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin-Madison has a significant Jewish population. UW was taking in Jewish students when others on the east coast were discriminating against them. A brand new, multi-million dollar Hillel building was dedicated last week, [Dedication</a> Weekend - Hillel Foundation University of Wisconsin](<a href=“http://www.uwhillel.org/site/pp.asp?c=ceIGKTMHF&b=5471473]Dedication”>http://www.uwhillel.org/site/pp.asp?c=ceIGKTMHF&b=5471473).</p>
<p>Soooo, based on payingtuitions post, what do all of you think of a large public (>20,000) that has a 10% Jewish population and a very active Hillel? Would that be comfortable for your child? Does it depend on “where” it is?</p>
<p>What about a 10% population in a school of 10,000?</p>
<p>Just wondering; still discussing in our house…the only thing we have determined is that 10% in a school of 1500-2000 is probably too small for my daughter (her decision), especially those LAC’s that are in areas of the country that do not traditionally have pockets of Jewish population.</p>
<p>My older s went to a small school that was only about 10% Jewish. He was very comfortable. His freshman yr roommate was also jewish, and they roomed together all 4 years. Last 2 years they shared a suite with 2 others, at least one of which was also Jewish (I forget if the 4th was). They used to light a “menorah” at Chanukah outside their door (on the lawn) made of tiki torches!</p>
<p>Rodney,
That’s also a decision my sons reached on the same basis. One son pointed out that if there are only 150-200 Jewish students on a campus, that’s less than 50 in each class. Figuring half are of each sex, and not all are hetero, he felt it would be a “very limited dating pool.” This particular son has chosen to become more observant as he has matured, and for him this was an extremely important issue. For others, it may not be.</p>
<p>There was a recent thread about this subject. You should search for it. </p>
<p>The percentage of Jewish students at Brandeis is now below 50%.</p>
<p>As for feeling comfortable, I’d suggest thinking of the area as much as the school. It’s the same issue any minority feels; how surrounded are you by a population that doesn’t understand you and where you’d feel alone?</p>
<p>Lergnom: another thread also recently started on Jews always being in the minority anyway…</p>
<p>If one is thinking of the area as much as the school, where does that place schools like UKansas (10% Jewish population/1800 kids), UCharleston (800-900 Jewish kids), JMU…you get the idea…based on your thread, and based on surrounding area, one would think to cross these off the list in terms of comfort…maybe?</p>
<p>My daughter attends a private HS in New Jersey where she has met kids who have never met a Jewish person…this is NOT a boarding school…?</p>
<p>paying3tuitions wrote:
</p>
<p>I don’t know the history of the expression “rule of thumb.” Dare I ask?
I am not Jewish, but this is an interesting thread with lots of good info. Kind of thing CC does well.</p>