<p>I am trying to help my niece find a college. She is number one in her class, her ACTs are 32 ( will take again), and she should be in the cut off for National Merit (at least finalist). She wants a school with a good music program, BUT she only wants to minor in music not major. She has won lots of music awards, etc. and this is her main EC. This probably sounds not too difficult, but she also needs a school with a significant Jewish population. She wants there to be Jewish kids at the school, and also a strong Hillel or similar type of organization. We are having trouble identifying safety schools that she likes. We have found a lot of reach schools, but are most concerned about safeties and matches that meet her criteria. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>michmom, there were searchers last year for active Hillels and there were some not so obvious choices and then of course the obvious. Certainly not safeties but Emory, Miami, and Tulane all have active Hillel's as I remember. I'd do a search using Hillel on just the parent's forum and see what I got.</p>
<p>Try these. Good luck. </p>
<p>Of the schools I saw when I was glancing, Scripps though very selective and Ursinus are both schools I liked a lot for my D.</p>
<p>The Claremont Colleges have an active Hillel community and Pitzer, which would be a safety for your niece, has a huge Jewish community (it's a significant enough population that many classes are cancelled on Jewish holidays and the school upholds a religious tolerance policy that says no student may be in any way punished for missing classes in observance of religious holidays). The schools also include Scripps (could also be a safety/match), Harvey Mudd, CMC, and Pomona. There are two strong and active music programs...one at Pomona, one for the other four colleges (the former is known as more academic, the latter as more recreational, which allows for a range of participation and commitment). For a description of the unique consortium set-up, see <a href="http://www.claremont.edu%5B/url%5D">http://www.claremont.edu</a>.</p>
<p>How about Case in Cleveland? Very broad range of majors offered. Smallish-to-midsize UG student body for a research uni. Good merit aid for top students if that's a consideration. World-class Cleveland Orchestra as well as the Cleveland Institute of Music right on campus. <a href="http://www.cim.edu/index.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.cim.edu/index.php</a></p>
<p>"Hillel staff serve Jewish students at multiple schools in Northeast Ohio as well as the 350 Jewish undergraduate and 500 graduate/professional students at Case Western Reserve University where the Hillel Jewish Student Center is located."
<a href="http://www.clevelandhillel.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.clevelandhillel.org/</a></p>
<p>A little off topic, but, I wonder how much cross-over there is between kids at Case and those at CIM? Sometimes it is very difficult for non-music majors to participate in anything (other than attending music events) at the conservatory level. I know that is true of Eastman and U of Rochester.</p>
<p>Weenie, my info might be out of date now... but back in the day, lots of crossover. CWRU students got to use the practice rooms (by appointment, of course) at CIM which is located on campus literally next door to CWRU dorms. Some ensembles, etc., comprised students from both. Don't know if Case still has Intersession (the month of January off between semesters; may be called something else now), but the Cleveland Orchestra used to sponsor some month-long internships for UGs. In any event, students got admission gratis to all orchestra practice sessions and greatly discounted tickets to concerts. Hard to beat if you're a classical music lover!</p>
<p>Second Claremont Colleges / Pitzer, and Case. I know music-oriented, Hillel-going kids who are happy at both. I also know such kids at Smith (where the girl in question basically didn't consider herself Jewish going in but likes Hillel so much it's a big part of her life there) and University of Rochester. And also Wesleyan, which has a lot of music going on (great grad program in ethnomusicology) and an active Hillel.</p>
<p>Any largish school in or near a largish city is going to produce a lot of opportunities to play music and is likely to have a critical mass of engaged Jewish students. As well as the ones listed by others: NYU, Temple, UCLA, UC-Irvine. A friend's son who is a serious jazz trumpet player is using DePaul as his safety. I don't know what kind of Hillel it has, but I do know that a young Jewish adult in Chicago isn't going to have trouble finding a community.</p>