Happy Hanukkah! 

During the National Association of College Admission Counseling Conference earlier this fall, I attended a session titled "College Counseling for Jewish Students & Families." There were some great takeaways from this session and hope you find them helpful as well as you celebrate the final nights of the holiday.

First, if you are a Jewish student or parent starting your college search, or in the thick of it, it is worth considering how important Jewish life is to you and how active a role you want take in Jewish life while going to college. 

Here are some introductory questions you might want to ask yourself:

• What type of Jew are you? 
  
• What is Jewish life currently like at home? At school? Outside of school? How much do you want it to change? Stay the same? 
  
• Do you participate in Shabbat?
  

Second, you may want to think about the food and the role that plays in your life. For example:

• What will the dining hall and residence life experience be like? 
  
• Will there be food you can eat every day of the week (not just select Kosher options but full meals)?
  

Lastly, you may want to think about life inside and outside the classroom. For example:

• What about Greek life? (some organizations focus specifically on Jewish members)
  
• What about Israel Studies or Jewish Studies on campus?
  
• Are there clubs and/or organizations for Jewish students?
• Is there Hillel?

The presenters at the session also identified some "up and coming" schools for Jewish life. Their list included: U of Richmond, Elon, Virginia Commonwealth, Northeastern University, and College of Charleston. In addition some "hot schools" on their list for Jewish students included: Bradley University, Franklin & Marshall University, Muhlenberg, Colgate University, Ithaca College, Dickinson College, Lehigh University, Trinity University and Michigan State University. 

For more resources on Jewish life in college here are some helpful websites to check out.
www.hillel.org
www.chabod.edu
www.campramah.org
www.jlionline.org
www.cajue.org

P.S. Are you an admissions counselor?  Here's a tip for you. You might want to be ready for questions during your recruitment travel about Jewish life, especially if you are visiting a Jewish high school!

A recent article in Inside Higher Education explains how some colleges are using the FAFSA against students and families. Make sure this doesn't happen to you when you file your financial aid forms this winter!

Essentially, the article suggests that when students list the colleges they are thinking of attending on the FAFSA, the U.S. Department of Education then shares all of the information on the FAFSA with the colleges on the list. Some colleges have discovered that the order in which students list the institutions corresponds to students' preferred colleges. So, some colleges are using this so called "FAFSA position" when considering the student's application for admission. 

This is very concerning because not only could this impact admission decisions for students but some college officials may actually offer smaller aid packages to those who list their school high on the list, assuming that the students are more likely to pay whatever it may take to attend his or her top choice college.

This is an article that is definitely worth a glance now and maybe again as a reminder closer to when you file the FAFSA in a few months. 

It's a rainy day here in Boulder, Colorado. The streets are flooding and schools are cancelled. We hope that everyone is staying safe, warm, and dry. That being said, here is some light reading while you are stuck inside today. 

Each year, just in time for the start of the new school year, Beloit comes out with their annual Mindset List. The list is intended to give a glimpse into this year's generation of incoming college students. The list is a great way for college administrators and professors to have a sense of who will be joining them on campus in the fall. It is also a great reminder to college counselors like myself of who we are interacting with on a daily basis!

The list for the Class of 2017 was released recently and you can check it out here. 

Some of my favorites from the list include:

- Gaga has never been baby talk.
- With GPS, they have never needed directions to get someplace, just an address.
- They have never really needed to go to their friend’s house so they could study together.
- Their parents’ car CD player is soooooo ancient and embarrassing.
- Their parents have always bemoaned the passing of precocious little Calvin and sarcastic stuffy Hobbes.

Have fun reading the rest of the Mindset List!