Why do you think so? Ithaca has a 70% acceptance rate and offers merit. This student would be in the top of the admit pile.
Israeli - Palestinian political conflicts tend to get nasty generally, since loudmouth bigots end up dominating the conversation and driving everyone else away. This has been the typical pattern for decades.
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I think she could get merit at Ithaca, but the awards do not seem large enough- the biggest one I saw was for $10,000 a year. Maybe there is a larger one that I didnāt see or that isnāt posted?
You have lots going on here. Outside the Jewish piece, I think you and your daughter need to have some honest discussions about her goals, plans and academic abilities. Iām not referring to how smart she is, Iām really talking about how she learns. If she goes to a large school, your daughter will need to be much more self sufficient. When you are in a class of 400 kids, there is no hand holding. You need to be able to self teach, advocate for yourself, proactively email professors and TAs etc. No one will care if you go to class or not. Especially if she wants to go to med school, she needs to be honest about her learning style. My daughter is a freshman at Pitt. She is doing very well (all As) in her first semester, but itās not easy. We did a lot of research before she scheduled her classes to make sure she chose the right professors and created a schedule that worked for her. She is also a self learner and prefers to study independently than in groups. Conversely, on the parent Facebook page there are loads of posts from parents whose kids are not doing well in those same into science classes. Many of those kids had high scores on AP tests and excellent high school grades. Some kids just picked poor professors, some just canāt synthesize and apply the material and some just canāt handle being in that big of a class. Many donāt know how to communicate with professors or TAs, visit during office hours and there just arenāt tutoring services to meet all the need. To be honest, if my daughter was determined she wanted to go to medical school, I would have steered her to a smaller LAC where she could be a ābig fish in a little pondā and do all the things needed to make her med school application stand out. Fully 50% of the freshman class at Pitt want to go to med school. Maybe 300 will make it. Thatās a huge number of kids that need to change goals. Pitt specifically tries to weed out kids with chem, bio, Ochem and calculus. I would imagine UMd would be similar. Your daughter will need to advocate for herself and work to create the connections she needs at a larger university. Is she able to do that? It was honestly my biggest worry about my daughter choosing Pitt. She tends to not want to stand out and work to create the relationships she needs to. (Itās just not her personality) I keep gently reminding her how important those connections are. The other piece of going to a larger university is that the student needs to be much more on top of communicating with their advisors. At Pitt, she has a generic advisor for DSAS, but she needs to independently work with the Nutrition program advisor to make sure she is meeting her requirements. I will say that if medicine isnāt a 100% definite choice a place like Pitt is awesome. They have lots of medical related majors that arenāt premed that students can transfer into. That is something you wonāt find at a small LAC. Have your daughter pick a few of the colleges and start emailing the department heads or advisors of programs she is interested in. My daughter learned a lot this way and itās how we narrowed her choice of schools down to 3. She would have been happy at any of the three because of the connections she made with the program advisors. I know she is busy, but this is the work she needs to do.
On a separate note, Juniata offered my daughter basically full tuition aid. We would have had to pay room and board. That did include Pell grant aid because we are $0 EFC, the rest was merit. I do believe that had she really wanted to go there, we could have gotten more. We just didnāt ask because it was really just a COVID safety school in case everything go shut down again. Juniata would be an excellent choice for a premed school. Itās a great program and my daughter has several classmates who are having a great freshman year there. One school to look at might be Delaware Valley University in Doylestown. It is a Jewish founded school (though I donāt know if they have strong Hillel presence). She would get lots of aid and be a top student. They put many students into vet school each year and lots of very caring professors.
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Great thread on student abilities. You are so right on kids and office hours - if they even go - if theyāre not scared off. Everyone is different.
Just as an fyi, while you are correct on the history of Delaware Valley, there is not an on campus Jewish presence other than the founders ashes. And Juniataā¦again, youāll be one of few Jewish studentsā¦so if the goal is to feel included, etc. there are much better choices.
Denison was mentioned earlier but didnāt get a lot of traction. Seems like a strong choice ā supportive faculty, good merit money, decent but not impossible admissions (28%), strong sciences and student research programs. Also, from what we hear, a vibrant Hillel presence. 25 min from Columbus airport, so straightforward travel.
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Iām going from memory but Kansas? I donāt picture a large Jewish community in Kansas. Wake and Duke, especially Wake. Southern and Greek. There were also a couple of Catholic schools like Fordham and DePaul. Both of my kids liked them. S20 probably wouldāve gone to Fordham if he received a little more merit. DePaul probably finished 2nd or 3rd with S21.
Consider schools in cities with direct flights from your home. S20 is at Georgia Tech. Tons of nonstop flights and less than 2 hours from our home. Beats a 12 hour drive both ways.
You really need an SAT score to start refining the list. TO is fine but then merit becomes an issue. You could look at lower rated schools for merit but would she be challenged by her peers? Itās a trade-off.
Pitt would be nice but probably OOS full-price. Same with South Carolina. What about UConn or Delaware? Are Catholic schools out, even the Jesuit schools?
With a 3.95 UW, theyāll get merit at U of SC - not a huge Jewish life but enough.
Kansas - believe it or not - top 60 Hillel school. Like Alabama, but even more Jewishā¦good costs/scholarshipsā¦but Lawrence 40 miles outside of a city. So yes for good Jewish life and a top Honors college.
I do agree the OP needs to apply to schools where they overachieve - thatās how you get merit. Wooster, Allegheny, etc.
No, theyāre not in cities and I suppose theyāre driveableā¦but if you want the dollars, you have to be open.
KU would be good from a dollar and cents POV - but itās your typical big state school and will be more regional than say a UMD. Nothing wrong with it thoughā¦
What about Hobart and William Smith Colleges? They have a pretty strong Hillel presence, especially for a smaller school. There are also some generous merit opportunities. IIRC, there was also the opportunity for pre-health advising. It may be a bit rural but the lakefront campus is absolutely gorgeous. It was one of Dās favorites.
Duke has immense resources for Jewish life, including 2 buildings devoted entirely for activitiesā¦
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Not really. She will not go to Alabama, Kansas etc. We will stay with east cost and within 8 hours.
I think the only exceptions that would be considered Tulane (16 hours) or Rhodes -14 hours.
All other schools we will consider max 8 hoursā¦ I would say North can go up to level of Massachusetts. West - Ohio. And south - Georgiaā¦
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Duke is out. No way to get merit there.
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Thanks. It is on my list now. We will visit.
Georgia Tech is not for premedā¦ Older child is thereā¦
You will die to get high GPA at Tech.
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Duke is a reach school and will be too expensive.
How about Oxford at Emory? Not sure the cost will work out but it might be worth a look.
Tulane fits the criteria. Itās also reachy for regular decision but might be worth checking out.
Quinnipiac is also a good choice. She might like Miami but Florida is too far.
We will visit Denison.
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Doubtful the OPs daughter would get merit at Oxford Emory. Plus, itās a reach. Plus itās full of premeds.
One of my sons went there and it was a great fit for him, but it is TINY and QUIET, which isnāt a lot of college studentsā cup of tea.
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You are right about the merit, and I just realized that this student is very social and Oxford is too quiet.
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I think I might have been the one who suggested Denison upstream. Itās a very well regarded small college on Ohio. We know grads from a generation ago, as well as recent grads. Iāve never heard a negative thing about the school. Nice small town, beautiful campus. Coursework challenging and good.
Iāll be interested in hearing your opinion.
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Was it noted (too many messages) that the OP wanted to be in or near a city - because Dennison is anything butā¦