<p>"I currently live in a very secluded dorm with other wealthier city kids who mock the mid missouri ways. No real friends I feel like I can go to."</p>
<p>You don't say??????? Hmnnnnn.</p>
<p>YES transfer! Freshman year is not supposed to be bad...only a few of my friends are having not-wonderful experiences right now! Some suggestions...
--Syracuse...GREAT journalism, good jewish community, and I have several friends there who love it (I'm also from a fairly large midwestern city)
--UMaryland
--Ohio State
--Oberlin
--USC
--BU
--Brandeis
--George Mason
--Ithaca
--Lehigh
--Northeastern
--UWashington
--UPitt
--UToronto</p>
<p>I went to Mizzou many years ago. I was raised outside of Philadelphia and ended up going there for a masters degree in the Agriculture school. Talk about culture shock!</p>
<p>That said, i learned a lot about different types of people. I really learned to appreciate the down to earth qualities and lack of pretension of people especially in the Ag school. Maybe you should look at this as a multicultural experience. In your journalism career, you might be called on to go to all sorts of places and report on all sorts of things. Perhaps even political caucuses in midwest states! It would be good to be able to do this without bias. Perhaps it could even be a selling point in job interviews?</p>
<p>One of my roommates was in the journalism school. She ended up writing stories and taking pictures of the many unusual characters around campus. Her boyfriend was Jewish, in the J school, and got a great job with National Geographic, I believe.</p>
<p>So maybe wait it out and look at it as a broadening experience, something outside of your comfort zone. You can always find roommates/housemates by answering ads on the bulletin boards or online.</p>
<p>Good heavens, folks. I live in Columbia. I am not from here. I spent most of my adult years in New England. I even spent some years in the Chicago area, where the OP was raised. It really is not another planet here! (Now, the Ag school of ten years ago would have had a lot of rural students, but that is not the case with the J school.)</p>
<p>A multicultural experience! What a riot. </p>
<p>As I mentioned earlier, I think the OP and her snooty roommates are feeling overwhelmed by homesickness and haven't found a way to become part of things, yet. That does require some effort, but it isn't the fault of the town or the campus or the kids from Missouri. Get out and find your interests.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that even the non-MU related print media in town are very happy to accommodate ambitious J-school students with internships. But again, it requires motivation on the part of the student to search out such opportunities.</p>
<p>Northwestern is the obvious choice. One of the big 3 journalism schools (along with Missouri and Columbia) in a major city, good Jewish population in Evanston and a huge Jewish enclave right next door in Skokie. Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan and Ohio State all have sizable Jewish populations/presence, but I'm not sure of how well the journalism schools at any stack up.</p>
<p>midmo, she said she wanted a jewish community. Obviously she won't find it in Columbia. If that's important to her, I guess it can be a problem.
If she is considering a transfer, I suggested that she also consider UMd J-school because it's well known, has a vibrant jewish community on and off campus, and she will find convenient and inexpensive air transportation from the area airports in DC and Baltimore to Chicago.</p>
<p>
[quote]
midmo, she said she wanted a jewish community. Obviously she won't find it in Columbia.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Obviously? Do you live in Columbia, nefer? I'm not Jewish, but I have many Jewish friends here. It is not a large community, but it is an active one. A very large new community center is under construction to accompany the other buildings being used by the Congregation Beth Shalom, as I mentioned and linked in an earlier post.</p>
<p>By the way, I am not trying to talk the OP into staying at MU. As I read her initial post, however, I see a freshman who has not really gotten to know the community. I've been on a lot of college campuses in a lot of capacities, and that is a common situation. </p>
<p>Resorting to the same stereotypes you brought to college with you doesn't usually help one make an informed decision.</p>
<p>Okay, I looked up the number that Hillel gives as the number of self-reported Jewish students on campus at Mizzou. The total is smaller than I would have predicted, but it isn't zero. It is 650 undergraduates. Yes, that is a small percentage of undergraduates. Further, there is no Jewish studies department and I didn't see any Jewish studies classes, but I didn't look thoroughly.</p>
<p>So, I'd say Columbia needs you, OP.</p>
<p>I am not jewish either and I've never been to Columbia. So, no. I can't speak from my personal experience. I've visited U Iowa once on business, though. Is it close enough? :) Loved the college town, the people. But it had that unmistakable...how should I put it...heartland feel. Lily white.
Seriously, I'm sure there is a jewish community there. But it's my guess that a college kid would prefer to be around like-minded fellow students.
I just looked up a web site, and this is what it says about the jewish population of Mizzou. Out of 28000 students, 675 are jewish.</p>
<p>^^^Well, actually Iowa is a good deal less diverse even than Missouri. Really.</p>
<p>The numbers you are citing are the same ones I came across, except your total number of students includes graduate students, med and law school. But that is quibbling.</p>
<p>The numbers quoted by Hillel on that site are self-reported students who respond to a Hillel survey. Does that mean there are 675 active students who get together regularly at Hillel? I have no idea.</p>
<p>I am just a bit put off by the sentiment that a journalism student should be looking for an environment in which she is surrounded by "like-minded fellow students". Comfy, maybe, but it doesn't sound like what a journalist should be looking for--at least not in my old-fashioned, romantic opinion. </p>
<p>Good luck to the OP sorting it out.</p>
<p>It isn't that its like minded students, but just not the students there...i think the OP Wants different kinds of students, and that is the issue</p>
<p>You couldn't have paid my D enough money to go to college in MO...she needed a truely city school and wanted to be around people that wanted to be in a city school as well</p>
<p>Wisconsin has a great Journalism program, an active Jewish population and is just outside Illinois so lots of Chicago kids. I'd say UW or Illinois would both be good but there is more going on at UW.</p>
<p>LISTEN MIDMO,
I AM VERY ACTIVE IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY and im not going to get too violently angry but lets just say I know a lot more about the Jewish community than you , buddy. Im on the JSO board. One of about 4 members. 650 jewish students? Hah, i go to every shabbat and its hard to get 10 people. I plan and organize events, no one comes. There have been hate crimes against jews right by my dorm. I got harrassed for posting hannukah deccorations on my door. </p>
<p>dont believe everything you read</p>
<p>pf2jay, I just reread your initial post and I see that you mentioned you are active and don't get a good turn-out. I'm sorry I overlooked that.</p>
<p>I'm also very sorry to hear about harassment for hannuhah decorations and hate crimes. Have you reported those incidents? To anyone? The newspapers would love to hear about it.</p>
<p>Please do not get violently angry. If you are miserable and you have options, take them. </p>
<p>I'm not a buddy, by the way. Just a mom with a college freshman of her own (not at MU), and a good deal of experience with both MU and Columbia. Sorry my observations didn't help.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>Post #8 by Huskem55 offered great advice to you, in my opinion. Northwestern University and Syracuse University are well suited to your needs and interests.</p>
<p>Transfer to the University of Michigan. Biggest Jewish community ever.</p>
<p>pf2jay, I am sorry you are so unhappy where you are. You need to weigh your options, make a list of the pros and cons, and decide what to do. You're the only one who knows the whole story and can evaluate what is best for you.</p>
<p>As an adult, I'll say this, though: I think it's important for all of us to move outside our comfort zones and get to know people who have other backgrounds and other perspectives. If you hang out only with people who spend all their time mocking those who are different, then that's not a good thing. You should absolutely not tolerate antisemitism, and if someone gave you a hard time about your decorations, I hope you talked to the RA or someone about that. If you are a "vibrant liberal," this is your chance to take serious action. But I'd like to suggest that you take a look at your friends who sit around trashing other people all the time because they aren't as smart, urbane, politically active, or whatever. Do you really want to be like that?</p>
<p>It's highly likely that my son will be going to the Missouri j-school next fall. He is a city kid, and I admit that I worry he won't find his liberal niche there. But he is an adaptable person--this is my worry, not his. He wanted a big school, he wanted journalism, and because we have Missouri relatives and friends (and not a single conservative among them) it is not a foreign country to him. And it's an election year, there IS a campus Democrats club, and I am confident that he'll be part of it.</p>
<p>There are many opinions about whether and where to go to j-school, and of course, on CC, no one is shy about expressing opinions as fact ;). My S had a HS internship at a major newspaper and encountered many successful professionals who went to j-school and many who did not. It's a choice--and one choice is not better or worse than the other. It's what you do with the results of your education that matters. Writing well is just one piece; there's a lot more to any career than the technical skills.</p>
<p>Good luck, and I hope things work out better for you wherever you end up.</p>
<p>Everyone's responses have been great. I especially appreciate the ones from the moms, I think a mom can always sense the more deeply rooted issues. Maybe I'm just homesick? Well, coming from my bed on a nice weekend visit home, Im going to continue to work on my assimilation in missouri and keep everyones thoughts in the back of my mind while I do so. midmo, im sorry for lashing out.</p>
<p>pf2jay
Thanks for the compliment! I guess I'm practicing for next fall, when my only son spreads his wings--and remembering my own adjustment, back in the dark ages. If it doesn't work out, then at least you'll know you gave it your best shot.</p>
<p>I'm questioning WHY you want a big Jewish community. Isn't college the time to press boundaries, an opportunity you'll probably not have in your life ever again. I'd say stick with it, it's got a great journalism school and it's not as if the other students will prevent you from practicing your religion, privately at least.</p>