<p>Well, we are back from our weekend at College of Charleston. The open house was great. It was very well run. Everyone we met was super friendly. But, my daughter did not like the dorm situation. The dorms are suite style and you may be placed with upperclassmen. She wants a traditional two person room with hall bathrooms. She didn't like the fact that the fire code prevents you from leaving your door open. At my son's school, everyone left their doors open and it was easy to meet people in your dorm. She is afraid that you will mostly see your suite mates. And there could be 4 or 8 people in the suite. What if she was the only one out of state girl with 3 or 7 others from South Carolina? And maybe two or three will room together that know each other from high school. She wants to have one roommate. We did stop in the Jewish studies building and talked with a few students. And we met some guys from the Jewish frat. They were all very nice. Also, there is not a campus feel. My daughter couldn't discern what was the campus and what were city buildings. So, the jury is out on this school. First visit down, more to follow.<br>
Jym626, please post your thoughts on your visit.</p>
<p>DS didn't think C of C was for him. Its possible that it is hard to compare CofC after having just seen Pomona, CMC and USC, so it doesn't look as good in comparison. We weren't able to see any dorm room. He was more concerned that only 30% of students live on campus, there were a lot of core course requirements (with lots of language) and that the retention rate was really low (like in the 30% range). Also, the honors class we sat in on was boring. He did like the fact that it was 2/3 women! I had lunch with the dau of a friend who just transferred there. She is very happy there, fwiw.</p>
<p>Lastly, they weren't very organized in out case. The Admission office had his packet for his honors visit, byut the other offices (the admission/tour office and the honors program) did not have him on their calendars. It wasn't a problem, just a bit sloppy, IMO.</p>
<p>Hi, Jym, yes there are alot of girls. My daughter noticed that as well. And the low on campus numbers were troubling. One dorm, an old motel, was scary. Oh well, back to the search.</p>
<p>My daughter and I are trying to decide which colleges to visit this summer. Any thoughts on these North Carolina schools: UNC Asheville, App State, Queen's University of Charlotte, UNC Wilmington, Elon and High Point University? Any thoughts on Jewish life at these schools? Her SATs were just under 1200(out of 1600), but will take again. She is in the top 10% of her class. Any more schools in the South that we are overlooking? They all have a small number of Jewish students. Is under 100 Jewish students way too low?</p>
<p>Candace, I looked at UNC Asheville for my junior D--and we both REALLY wanted to like it because the size of the school (3,000), the nearness to home and the great city of Asheville all seemed right for her. In an effort to learn more about Jewish life, I called the Hillel advisor 2 different times, a couple of months apart, and never received a response either time. I have talked to 3 different local Jewish parents whose kids are students there; they like the school but not without reservations. I have also spoken to a non-Jewish parent whose son attended UNCA for 3 weeks and begged to come home because of the amount of very visible hard core drug use--even after 3 weeks. I also heard from an unrelated source--the college age daughter of a good friend--that she knew someone who transferred to UNCA specifically because of the availability of "good drugs". All this is anecdotal, of course, but isn't that what we're looking for on this board? Other negatives to us--less than 1/2 of students live on campus and the VERY small number of Jews. To be honest, I'm less concerned about the ability to attend religious services (which isn't really a problem--Asheville has a Reform and a Conservative synagogue) than the availability of a pool of Jewish boys for D to date. The positives are that the areas of academic strength--art and natural sciences--are what my D is interested in. At this point we're not planning to visit--but I would be very interested in hearing anyone else's opinions about UNCA. Feel free to pm me for more info.</p>
<p>I'm hoping someone on this thread may have some insight into the Jewish environment at Vanderbilt University. My son has been accepted to Vanderbilt and it is by a considerable margin, the best academic program available to him. I am concerned about the social environment, however, given (i) the traditionally low percentage of Jewish students (much increased over the past couple of years, as I understand it), (ii) the substantial fraternity/sorority presence, which I worry may be exclusionary to Jews or other minorities, and (iii) the less than aggressive response of the University to an occurance of anti-semetic behavior by a fraternity member (involving leaving an impaled pig's head in front of the Jewish life center on the High Holy Days; albeit, a couple of year's ago). On the plus side, they do have a new and lovely Hillel and from all reports are making substantial efforts to further diversify their student body. Any insight from anyone who has any experiance here would be most appreciated.</p>
<p>Swedg, you are in luck. Our family just visited Vanderbilt with our junior D, and we were wowed--socially and academically. We also are interested in a significant Jewish presence. D did an overnight with a girl that the Hillel director arranged for her--she was nice as could be and very happy there. She was not in a sorority, but said she had some friends Greek and some non-Greek, and that it didn't make a difference. Eating lunch in the main dining hall, we saw a very diverse student body--and didn't see any Vandy girls dressed to the nines, either.</p>
<p>Also, random students on campus came up to us when we looked a little lost, asked us if we were visiting and if they could help.</p>
<p>If your son hasn't visited, he really should--that's the only way to tell for sure, but IMO Vandy has reached and exceeded the "critical mass" of numbers of Jewish kids so that that should no longer be an issue.</p>
<p>Mazal tov on your son's acceptance! Feel free to pm me for more info.</p>
<p>this article is a couple of years old, but certainly makes things sound good:
<a href="http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/49469056.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/04/49469056.shtml</a></p>
<p>Thanks very much to unbelievablem and dg5052 for your very helpful reponses.</p>