<p>Can anyone tell me at all about the Jewish aspect of this college? Is there a Hillel? Any information anyone can provide to me would be very appreciated-</p>
<p>How difficult is the 70/30 male/female ratio? Does WPI do anything with Clark Univ socially?</p>
<p>Thanks...</p>
<p>I’m just checking in again…no one has any information for me? I do have the names of a few people to call, which I will do…I just wanted to see what this forum thought first. I’ll wait a bit longer, then I’ll just call the contacts that I have. Thanks-</p>
<p>Another question: I heard that WPI has a bowling lane…can anyone tell me anything about that? Do they have bowling leagues? Team or Club bowling?</p>
<p>I looked on the Hillel website and the address below was at Clark University Hillel. I am assuming they don’t have their own so they share with Clark. You could e mail them to get a better picture of how it is there. I have no idea what the distance between the two schools is.</p>
<p>I emailed Hillel director at Clark who sent a nice reply. Clark is two miles up the road–supposedly an easy walk–and is majority female with a significant Jewish population. Hillel is open to WPI kids, but only a few take advantage. Apparently on their own a small group gathers on Fri night at WPI to welcome shabbat. My son is an entering freshman. You can pm me if you like.</p>
<p>Be advised, Clark is in a VERY scary part of the city.</p>
<p>I believe that the bowling alley is closing. It was open this year, but it was closing due to construction and renovations of the building.</p>
<p>Regarding the 70/30 male/female ratio, it depends if you are a male or a female. The saying around campus is that the ratio seems more like 50/50, since so many of the males are not as social as the females. My D is involved in many campus activities and has no problems meeting other students- either male or female. Find a group that interests you, and get involved.</p>
<p>Thanks all of you for your responses. </p>
<p>My S is currently a rising h.s. Junior, so we have quite a way to go ahead of us. However, he is one of the 200 kids currently attending WPI’s Frontiers program and seems to be loving it. When we dropped him off, we did try to take a car tour of the area and of Clark, but Clark’s campus was so under construction, a car couldn’t even get onto the campus. It did seem, however, that it would be quite a walk! Maybe they have shuttles to get them closer? It was hard to tell the area…sorry to hear Clark is in a scary part of town…how so? </p>
<p>gsmomma: so the bowling alley would permanently close or just temporarily? Gee, that’s too bad. He’s on a league now and one of the few ways he gets exercise. :(</p>
<p>Yeah, so he’s a S. One of the 70% part of the equation. gsmomma: what other colleges did you look at? We have a list, but are always open to hearing from others! Maybe with more of a male/female balance…I’ll have to find out what’ll be most important for HIM.</p>
<p>My S is at frontiers now too. Haven’t heard much from him, so I’m sure that means he’s having a blast (at least I hope so!). My D will be a freshman in a few short weeks. Of the other schools she got into. RPI came in a close 2nd to WPI. Their ratio is still top heavy with males but I believe it is closer to 60 - 40.</p>
<p>My D visitied Northeastern, BU, University of Rhode Island, UMass- Amherst and Dartmouth, Drexel, Lehigh, Villanova, Stevens, Union, RPI, Tufts, and WPI. HEr big list had a few others, but were dropped from the visit list for one reason or another.</p>
<p>She applied to and was accepted at URI, UMass, Drexel, Villanova, Union, and WPI. WPI was her first chocie since the first time she visited in Fall of her Junior year. She loves everything about it, and told me that she never once regretted her decision.</p>
<p>Wow, granitestatemom…that’s cool that your S is there now too. I’ve also not heard much from him, so I consider that a good thing! 
He will be staying one extra week for the Robotics program. Although we haven’t visited RPI yet, it seems to be a bit higher level academically? Is that true?</p>
<p>gsmomma: our lists are very similar. What was your impression of Union? And Northeastern? Did you also look at Wentworth? What was your impression of Stevens? BU may be too big??</p>
<p>I will be in touch with the Clark Univ. Hillel, then, for more info. I was also given the names of a few WPI people that might be able to answer some questions too.</p>
<p>My S just completed his freshman year at WPI and loves it!!! I don’t really know about how large the Jewish population is, but I don’t think it is structured into any organized activities (e.g. hillel). I will say that I was FURIOUS last fall when WPI scheduled their Parent’s Weekend on Yom Kippur! I always planned on attending Parent’s Weekend only when my S was a Freshman and I was so upset to have to make that decision on what to do. I called the school many times regarding that conflict, which they could not/would not change. Ultimately, we did attend the Parent’s Weekend, but I expressed my displeasure to the President of WPI just before he addressed the group that morning, on Yom Kippur. Aside from that, I was impressed with the President’s talk.</p>
<p>Regarding the 70/30 gender disparity…it doesn’t seem to matter when you consider those males that don’t actively socialize. My S joined a fraternity and is very, very happy in his world at WPI. </p>
<p>He also considered RPI, Tufts, Lehigh, Carnegie Mellon, Dartmouth…and RPI was his second choice, but for many reasons he much prefers WPI…proximity to Boston/Providence an important consideration for visiting friends and having them visit, too. I don’t think those experiences would have happened if he was at RPI.</p>
<p>His first visit to WPI was in his sophomore year, after a morning visiting Tufts…he kinda knew then, he wanted to go to WPI and I’m glad he’s so happy there!</p>
<p>D did not look at Wentworth. Wentworth is more of an engineering technology school, although it has become slightly more of a ‘hard’ (as opposed to ‘soft’) engineering school recently.</p>
<p>She liked the Stevens campus, and the proximity to extended family and NYC, but she wanted to minor in Spanish, and Stevens does not offer any languages. She was told that she would need to take language classes at NYU. </p>
<p>She loved Union. It was her second ranked school for a while, but felt too limited in the number of engineering majors that they offer. Union only offers 3 engineering majors, and she knew that she had no desire to major in 2 of the 3.</p>
<p>BU was crossed off the list during the tour. She didn’t like how the campus was laid out, and definitely didn’t like the T running right down the middle of the campus.</p>
<p>OMG gsmomma: My S has also thought about a Spanish minor! Wow, thanks for doing some research for me! Good to know these things ahead of time, may save me from one or two college trips. Thanks for sharing your info.</p>
<p>How do I find out definitively that the bowling alley is closing for good or will be re-opening? It’s not a deal breaker but I’m disappointed that it may be closing permanently…</p>
<p>cc367: Nice to hear from you too! Yes, I heard that the parent’s weekend was on Yom Kippur last year…I was annoyed too and I don’t even have a child at that school (yet)! My older S is at Tufts…did you have a good experience there? We, too, only went to parent’s weekend for Freshman year and will do the same for S2. We also looked at Carnegie Mellon, Lehigh, Cornell, UPENN and more for S1, but he is my Liberal Arts kid whereas S2 is more of the STEM kid…and quite honestly fell in love with Tufts at first sight and ended up applying ED.</p>
<p>Glad to hear your kids are having positive experiences at WPI. What I’ve heard about Wentworth is what you mentioned…and not all majors are accredited? Are the kids allowed to take any classes at Northeastern? Is Northeastern as hard to get in now as I’ve heard?? </p>
<p>We will definitely visit Union, but this summer has been a great experience for him doing Frontiers and it may be just what he needed to sort out what he wants to study in college and the type of atmosphere he’ll be looking for.</p>
<p>I like the quarter system where they concentrate intensely on three classes…how does that work out for your kids? Positive/negative?</p>
<p>I don’t pop on here much these days, but noticed the title of “Jewish Aspect of WPI” and was intrigued…</p>
<p>My hubby and I are WPI Alums. Our son is now, technically, a senior at WPI (How did that happen!!!). And we are a Jewish family… So, I guess I can answer a few things here, or shed some light.</p>
<p>Clark isn’t in a great part of town and is in no way walking distance or is a place you would want your son walking casually on a Friday (or any other) night. There is a shuttle that can take him there for Hillel, but I would check into the group on campus that meets to greet Shabbat on Friday evenings. My son never got involved with them (mainly because he’s heavily involved with theatre and the ski team, both of which tend to take up Friday evenings in one way or another). We now own a house close to campus that my son shares with some friends from WPI. 2 of them are Jewish. We will most likely be having a rousing Chanukah party and usually have a seder here (we live 20 miles away) and we bring in students for that, but I think we’re going to plan one for the house at school. PM me if you’d like me to give you info. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, let’s talk ratio… It certainly is better than the 9:1 it was when I was there!! My son is currently dating a girl that goes to Assumption. She got involved in the theatre program at WPI and they met that way. One of the other kids I know is dating a girl that goes to school in Boston. They met through a mutual friend on campus. And I know a lot of WPI couples… Don’t let the ratio be an issue. Find a school that has the activities available for him to enjoy and he’ll find people he will enjoy. Just like gsmomma said! (Lots of good advice and comments coming your way from her…)</p>
<p>Jewishness… I agree that there are issues with WPI not “embracing” the Judaism of some of their students and their families. They would not have put anything on the calendar for Yom Kippur weekend if they did. However, I will say that the calendar is short and sometimes they have to cram everything into those 6 weekends available during the fall and they don’t have an option. It’s not an excuse, but since it’s not a school focused on religion, it’s just what happens. If having others to reinforce his Jewish identity is important to you, WPI then might not be the right school. However, my guess is that if he looks for others at WPI he will find them.</p>
<p>Good luck with your search!</p>
<p>Skithesteeps is correct about the timing of Parent’s Weekend. There were a few complaints last year on the WPI Parent’s Facebook page about the timing, since last year it was the week before finals. Many students told their parents not to come, since they had to study. The response from WPI was:</p>
<p>“Thank you all for the comments about Parents Weekend dates. It is true that we try to have our major weekends (Homecoming and Parents Weekend) centered around football games, and with only two home games in A-Term, when the weather is (possibly) better, we are limited in available weekends. Still, we take your comments seriously, and are already looking for dates for next fall. We’ll definately be more attentive to dates in 2012.”</p>
<p>This year’s Parent’s Weekend is September 28 - 30, 2012. Last year, I believe that they added information regarding local services for Yom Kipur.</p>
<p>Skithesteeps:</p>
<p>Hi and thank you so much for your input. I may be making more of this topic than I need to. Like you said, there are ways for him to socialize with other Jewish kids if he so chooses on Friday nights. Plus, he’ll probably get to do Birthright at some point and that will also help to seal his outlook. It’s just that with older S at a college that is 30% Jewish, it helped me to know there were many activities for him to partake in.</p>
<p>We will look at all options this coming Junior year and then make our decision obviously based on many, many factors. My reason for starting this thread was that “on paper” WPI looks like a great fit for him but I wanted to know more about the Jewish aspect of all the colleges we look into to help us make our final decision in his Senior year more comfortable.</p>
<p>Just noticed this item in the events for Parents Weekend:</p>
<p>“Join Hillel for Shabbat services and refreshments. A Q&A session on Hillels on-campus presence, as well as interfaith activities and projects will follow.”</p>
<p>[Parents</a> Weekend: Schedule of Events - WPI](<a href=“http://www.wpi.edu/parents/weekend/schedule.html]Parents”>University Calendar | Worcester Polytechnic Institute)</p>
<p>^^Awesome, Beantowngirl! Thanks so much for the info. It’s very encouraging. </p>
<p>I haven’t had a chance to call anyone in the admissions office yet, but I did email Hillel and they wrote back telling me that each individual college plugs in their own student info. on the Hillel.org website. I’m thinking that the “60” student number is probably outdated…</p>
<p>Cowtownslim: will your S be going on Fri. eves? Can you let me know @how many kids and what type of events are featured? Thanks!</p>
<p>yes, sometimes the smaller clubs at smaller schools aren’t good about keeping their websites up-to-date 
So don’t make too many assumptions based on that, dig deeper if the school seems to offer other features you like.</p>
<p>^^Thanks so much. We’re going to check out Wentworth, too, since it’s right next to Northeastern, which has a large Hillel…actually we’ll be checking out several of “the usual” schools. I do know he’s had a fantastic time at WPI this summer…very happy for him…</p>