<p>D has the following criteria: small to medium size school, Jewish studies major (or at least minor), in or near a big city. Her basic stats: GPA = 3.7 (school does not weight); top 25th percentile; SAT = 1420/2120 (will retake in October); SAT II Math I = 720 (will take others in November); NMSF</p>
<p>She has taken the most rigorous curriculum available, including 5 APs. Her HS has no honors classes and limited AP options.</p>
<p>ECs include several leadership positions (VP of religious youth group Regional Board, Co-President of GSA, news editor of HS paper, publicity director for HS drama department, Girl Scouts (Silver Award))</p>
<p>Several schools on her list meet just 2 of her 3 primary criteria (Jewish studies/urban/small-medium). In ascending order of reachiness:</p>
<p>Are we missing any obvious schools? Any we should definitely take off the list? I think 16 schools is way too many. But if there is no such thing as a true match anymore, only safeties and .everything else, maybe an inordinately long list is the only way to beat the odds?</p>
<p>Use your collegeboard profile and the "Academic Tracker". Plug in your classes and stats, ie. SAT/ACT scores and GPA.</p>
<p>If you store all of that info and then pull over the schools that you are intersted in and click on "how do I stack up", it will not only put your stats into a graph for that school, but you can also click on "how important is this" for each school to see what they look for the most. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. This tool is incredibly helpful. Good Luck</p>
<p>I was going to pop in to say Vassar. The city in question is easy to get to. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me; I'm a sophomore at Vassar. I don't know anything about the Jewish Studies program, though.</p>
<p>I second checking out WUSTL. It meets all your D's criteria. Mid-sized school on a beautiful campus in a vibrant area of St. Louis. Outstanding Jewish Studies dept. (It was my D's minor there.) I also suggest taking a look at Barnard.</p>
<p>WUSTL was on her list early on, but it looks like a serious reach - her SAT scores are near the bottom of the mid 50%. But it's worth a second look.</p>
<p>I think Barnard didn't make the list because all-women doesn't appeal to her, although she considered Scripps, but only because of the broader consortium.</p>
<p>dc89 - thanks for the PM offer. I'm sure she'll take you up on it if/when she has specific questions about Vassar.</p>
<p>UW-Madison is an interesting idea - I'll pass it on to her.</p>
<p>Barnard is basically right across the street from Columbia, and Barnard students can cross-register for Columbia courses (except for the Core curriculum, I believe). Lots of cross-pollination between Columbia and Barnard students. Is your D familiar with the joint-degree program between Columbia/Barnard and List College (the JTS's undergraduate school)? Students get two degrees -- one from either Barnard or Columbia's CGS and a second one in Jewish Studies from List. </p>
<p>Wash U is no more selective than Vassar, IMO. Emory, Oberlin, and Vanderbilt are only slightly less selective. Last year's 25/75% Math + CR at Wash U was 1370-1530.</p>
<p>Are you able to pay full freight or do you need merit money? If you're able to pay, that will help you in the case of schools that aren't need blind.</p>
<p>You've put together a great list! I know Tulane is offering a sped up decision process. Tell them you're interested in a priority decision and they'll let you know within 4 weeks, waive application fee, essay etc. If she hears "yes" early from Tulane, she could then eliminate any schools on her list that she doesn't like as much as Tulane. And maybe there are some other schools on her list that offer Early Action or quick decisions? Could be a great way to whittle down your good list.</p>
<p>paying3tuitions: I like the Hillel website as a starting point for looking at Jewish communities on campuses, but the information provided about individual schools on the Hillel site is so often inaccurate. The revised website, with its advanced search function, is just as unreliable as the previous version. I just did an advanced search for schools with full Kosher meal plans and came up with 55 schools, including Williams and Vanderbilt, two schools that did not have Kosher meal plans as of last year. I thought, wow, how great. But alas, a look at the Williams and Vanderbilt Hillel websites confirms that the info on the Hillel website is inaccurate -- no full Kosher meal plan at either school. So the Hillel website is a good place to start looking for colleges with Jewish Studies programs (or anything else of interest), but it's imperative to go to individual colleges' websites for accurate and more detailed info.</p>
<p>MM2K: When we started to put the list together, she was leaning toward Jewish studies, but it wasn't a must-have. It has become more important to her lately, but the list still has some schools with either just a JS minor or no JS at all. </p>
<p>She did visit Macalester and loved it. We went to Shabbat services there and she felt right at home. But Mac has no Jewish studies program, so she'd probably have to cobble together an independent major of some kind.</p>
<p>1ofeach: Thanks - I do think it is a good list, but getting CC feedback is always helpful! D is working on the early Tulane application, and I agree, having an answer from them soon will help guide the rest of the application process.</p>
<p>p3t: I agree with wjb - the Hillel website isn't always accurate and the search function is pretty clunky. That said, it is a good place to start. Another great resource has been the Reform Judaism magazine INSIDER'S GUIDE TO COLLEGE LIFE, particularly the "Schools Jews Choose" list.</p>
<p>wjb: No, she is not familiar with the Barnard/Columbia/List joint-degree program. I'll suggest she look into it.</p>
<p>Brandeis seems ideally suited to your D in every way and seems like a true match to me. In your order of "reachiness" I'd tie it with Macalester, a notch below Oberlin and Vassar. You've got lots of good schools on your list, but none will have the feeling of Brandeis' EMBRACE of Jewish studies! If your D hasn't visited, she definitely should.</p>
<p>Thanks silvervestersmom - that's good to know. D keeps Kosher intermittently (usually in the weeks right after she gets home from Jewish summer camp ;)) and even then it's not strict Kosher.</p>
<p>My D loved Brandeis and has a lot of friends who go there. If Jewish studies is a priority for your D, I think Brandeis is simply the best.</p>
<p>I just want to add to the Macalester thought, since she liked it there when she visited. If she isn't planning to major in Jewish Studies, she might consider minoring in the Macalester religious studies department or just taking interesting electives in that dept. Also, Macalester is part of the ACTC, and there are buses that run between the two campuses. Earl Schwartz is the professor who runs the Social Justice program at Hamline University, just a short distance down Snelling Avenue from Macalester, and he teaches a Jewish ethics class at Hamline that she could take (since Mac has Jewish scripture and Jewis history courses but no particular Jewish ethics course). </p>
<p>Also, if this appeals to her, students at any ACTC schools who want to take advanced Hebrew can do this at the University of Minnesota, since none of the ACTC schools offer it.</p>