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Real Orthodox? These are college students eating exclusively kosher, praying with a minyan three times a day, and doing their utmost to observe the 613 commandments and YOU get to decide if they are real or not?
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Your own life experience may help or hinder you in making a college decision for your own child. That is your prerogative. But to state as fact that there are no ārealā Orthodox Jews at Yaleā¦when other parents may read this thread and cross Yale off the listā¦is not fair. Yale has had an Orthodox Rabbinic couple on campus for over two decades(they move on, then get replaced) specifically to support yeshiva educated kids and those returning from seminary or a religious educational program in Israel. Yale has supported the kosher kitchen for decades. Yale works with students and religious leaders to make sure that exams donāt conflict with holidays or that commencement is not scheduled on Shavuotā¦ something that happens at dozens of campuses ever year
These are verifiable facts, not my opinion. You donāt want your kid at Yale? Fortunately she has other fantastic options.
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My Jewish (not Orthodox) d22 is at Columbia, and she has a lot of Orthodox friends, some who attend Jewish Theological Seminary and some who are just Barnard or Columbia students. Coming from Alaska where she knew every single Jewish kid in town, she has loved being somewhere where she does not have to explain or be a poster child for Judaism.
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A reminder that CC is not a debate society. Please move on from arguing about the orthodox community at Yale. Future posts that arenāt back on topic will be deleted. Thank you.
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This is what Vanderbilt did in the early 2000s. It worked.
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Has this student heard back from all of her schools? It seems to me that once all affordable options are identified, it will be time for this mature student to create her own list of pros and cons, and choose a school. In other words, the parent needs to step away and trust that this student will choose what is right for her.
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Can you let us know whether you or your daughter oppose any āGreat Booksā or ācoreā programs or colleges that mandate a āWestern civā type of class?
No matter the college, there will be mandatory classes and discussions - further, whether classics or religious traditions, African American studies or womenās studies, med schools will expect broad knowledge in addition to topnotch science performance.
As a future doctor, she will be expected to know about various life experiences in the US, religious, ethnic and/or cultural; to be fluent in a language spoken by an immigrant group (including their culture); to have shown care and interest in people different from herself - depending on her situation, urban or rural impoverished families, homeless, migrant, addicted familiesā¦ by being an EMT, participating in a campus or regional RAMā¦; sociology and psychology are mandatory to apply to med school but other courses that allow her to understand peopleās backgounds or communication styles are advisable. These are the low bar to be considered for med school (MD or DO). She needs to understand that sheāll be put through difficult experiences and if lucky enough to get to the interview stage will be interviewed about them.
It IS daunting for a 17 yo but med schools want people who are both very fast at learning AND very good with people.
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We are in shock. Apparently, I seriously underestimate my DD. She not only got into UMD into Honorās college (that was kind of expected), but she also got Deanās scholarshipā¦ And this is test optionalā¦That is when most of her classmates consider being lucky to get to UMD and many were not accepted. She said āit sucks that I do not even consider itā¦ā Other students would run for itā¦
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Should you reconsider? Or at least give it a closer look? Perhaps the Gemstones group?
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It is in the daughterās court, but I do not think so. The range between the cheapest and most expensive is 10k. At this point, the 2 cheapest schools are Rhodes and NSU (but both require quite a lot of $ for transportation since they are far away.) The most expensive that she is accepted with finalized FA is H&WS (like by 6k a year more from the middle of the range, and I am trying to push my daughter to eliminate it, but she still wants to visit itā¦) Given money, the fit is more important. Interestingly enough UMD is in the middle of the pack. Deanās is only for 2 years and tuition will go up. This is not that much about money. We were genuinely surprised that UMD gave her a scholarship given the level of competition this year and since she was test optional. UMD was always safety and never a real target. It turned out to be her real safety in addition to 4 other āsafeties.ā She also has not heard from 7 more schoolsā¦ So we are going to run this marathon until the end of Aprilā¦
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I donāt think the cost to a couple schools a few x a year would be impactfulā¦worse case itās a few thousand a year and likely less to Nova.
I forgot about NSE - that still seems - the best bet to the end goal.
UMD is very hard to get into - and you said it was a safety and some of us expressed trepidation as itās gotten tough - but you did it - or rather your little girl did.
Congrats to the family.
Having choice is good. It makes it tough but it is a good thing.
Thanks for keeping us informed.
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And it moved up to the middle of the pack! That just goes to show you how unpredictable things can get.
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Reality makes college decision-making a little less peremptory. Sometimes, cold hard facts make a truth easier to accept.
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Considering how little financial difference there is between HWS and Rhodes, Iād look carefully into both.
In particular, since the āGreat Booksā program at Rhodes seemed to be a problem, check to see what sort of core curriculum/general education requirements there are at HWS.
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I forgot to ask this upstreamā¦but isnāt Nova way outside of the distance you would prefer from your home? And that would be for 7-8 yearsā¦
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Correct. And Rhodes too for at least 4 years. That is why we are still considering other optionsā¦
There are exactly 10K per year difference between Rhodes and HWS in terms of COAā¦ Given that Rhodes said that they will index scholarships with the cost of attendance and we do not know about HWS, everything is open at the moment. If HWS will match Rhodes or at least will meet it halfway, it will be among the contendersā¦ And my daughter is like āoh, my lakeā¦are you sure we should not visit?ā She is a lake person, so all schools near lakes are good schools 
(Juniata and H&WS.) She is not a beach person and hates sand, but NSU gets a plus for āpalm treesā. 
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