Good for you. As I said we had opposite situation due to Covid in the area. People got paranoid… Kid needed help and did not get it. Lesson learned. You can count on other people but need to be as close as possible.
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When a person wants a strong Hillel or jewish life - that’s different than a school is welcoming to all.
They actually want the large cohort, programming, services, weekly celebrations.
So as wonderful and welcoming as many schools are, they wouldn’t fit the “robust” criteria for Jewish life.
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But last minute emergency flights can be very costly. Ask me how I know!
The good news is there are a lot of options within the geographic area the OP has defined. They just need to be very open minded, and look into the strengths of each…and understand there will likely need to be some compromise made.
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I still think the most robust Jewish life place recommended on this thread is College of Charleston. It’s very LAC like in practice. Right in the downtown so walking to do things is easy. It’s within the 8 hour driving radius. Great social opportunities. Wonderful and strong academics. And very well could be affordable.
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This looks like fairly robust programming (and yes, I’m Jewish),
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I love St. Olaf’s for a lot of reasons. BUT this family has stated their preferred distance. And St. Olaf’s isnt in that. Plus, I doubt it will be affordable.
Visiting more is certainly nice! I have one student in college in our city, and another across the country, so I certainly understand that!
Nope they hired some Rabbi after several complaints (you can google). But anyway it is too far and not affordable.
I woudlnt’ agree - it’s more - but forgetting that, we can both agree that OP won’t look to MN 
although if she can handle cold, she should but that’s a different topic.
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I mentioned Clark, St. Olaf, and Trinity less because I think OP and her family will be seriously interested in them, but as a view into the types of compromises that might need to be made.
The love list schools are coming in between $32-$38k (U. of Richmond was not on the original love list and would certainly come in higher). They meet the criteria for the family, except for the budget.
There are schools within the geographic zone that are going to hit the budget, but they’re not prestigious/selective/private enough for OP’s family.
There are schools that have strong similarities to the love list schools and that will come close to the budget, but they’re too far away.
OP’s family wants:
- East coast school within 8 hours drive of Maryland
- A university with at least 2,000 students, but not a big school
- Jewish body and no theological classes in the core
- Sufficient merit aid to get the price to $25k and that is not super competitive (i.e. only 2% get it)
- Strong premed advising
- Opportunities for hospital work and research
- Small classes
- A specific (unnamed) foreign language
- A 50-65% acceptance rate as 70+% acceptance rate is not giving the desired vibe
If they don’t find a school that meets all of the above then OP’s D will be going to UMD which Mom doesn’t particularly like and doesn’t think will be a good fit for her D (even though D has yet to visit College Park).
I just want to know, what if they only get 7 out of the 9 things? Is that preferable to UMD? If so, what one or two things would the family be willing to compromise on?
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It would depends of the school. Ursinus is less than 2000 and has higher acceptance rate - chosen as safety. Rhodes is more than 8 hours away. Both are on the list. But they are outliers.
As I mentioned before, Muhlenberg hit every single line -plus located not in rural area. It is at the top of the list. DD will be very happy there.
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And I stand corrected…Charleston is about 9 hours away…not within the 8 hour radius. But I do still thin’ it’s worth consideration.
But it’s about the same distance as Furman from MD…and Charleston will likely be affordable, and also provides walking access to things to do off campus.
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What language is your daughter wanting to study?
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What about York College of PA? It’s well within your driving radius. And would most definitely be affordable in my opinion.
Here is Hillel info.
And the college site. Just under 5000 students.
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Can’t say. Otherwise I become identifiable. Too much personal info already there.
Seriously - I mean, no one has any clue who you are - nor would they know if you said a language.
But if that’s a must or want to have, how can we help if we don’t know?
Sorry - that’s a ridiculous thing to say (in my opinion)…help us help you.
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Is hospital work a “must have?” Does the school really need to be near a hospital or have one on campus (my opinion- no).
My D’s school has a hospital on campus. She volunteered there but did all of her shadowing hours at home during school breaks. Teaching hospitals in our city were happy to have her (pre Covid) and it took a few weeks during breaks to get 100 hours. Most did not shadow at school.
And- if your D is deciding between various healthcare professions, she can shadow them as well during breaks. Mine did this.
It’s really not necessary to have a hospital on campus. Nice- but not necessary.
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Adding to my York College of PA info…
https://catalog.ycp.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=4&poid=559
Foreign language can be fulfilled by all of these courses…not necessarily a language at all.
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Muhlenberg’s average merit package would bring your cost in around $32k. Would your family pay for this? If so, great! But if not, because it’s not around $25k, then we need to find additional alternatives.
Ok, I don’t know about the Jewish life at any of these and I don’t know if (what I assume are) the Catholic schools have religious course requirements or what Jewish life might be like at them. But they have undergraduate enrollments between 2,000 and 5,000 and acceptance rates between 40-70% and seem to be in the desired geographic zone. Also, I suspect these might hit the desired price point, but don’t have time to run through the prices.
• Anderson (SC): 3000 undergrads
• Point Park (PA ): 2800 undergrads
• Saint Francis (PA ): 2300 undergrads
• Saint John Fisher (NY): 3600 undergrads
• Springfield (MA): 2200 undergrads
• Thomas Jefferson (PA ): 3800 undergrads
And YES to @thumper1’s mention of York. I think I may have even mentioned it upthread myself!
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Lets put it that way. This language is available in almost every school that we looked over with population around 2000 (except Denison). It is not usually available in schools with less than 2000. Ursinus will most likely would allow work around according to admission. St. Mary’s will not do it, since they are public and do not care. We need to check with Juniata during visit.