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My daughter has her list of schools and isn't sure that ANY of them offer what she seeks. She would like a school with:

- strong Russian department
- strong Spanish department
-- currently wants to double major
- LAC (in case she changes mind about her major!)
- significant Jewish population or close enough to a city with significant Jewish population
- likes idea of women's college
- campus with green spaces (not all concrete!)

Ok stats (3.6 GPA: JR year mono brought it down; ACT = 30; all IB classes; high level, non-NCAA sport)

We would appreciate any and all suggestions!

By Pattykk (Pattykk) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 12:05 pm: Edit

Mt. Holyoke and Bryn Mawr spring to mind.

By Midwesterner (Midwesterner) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 12:42 pm: Edit

Beloit College has a very good language program. They have their own overseas study programs in Quito (Ecuador) and Moscow. The college is located on the Illinois-Wisconsin border, about 2 hours from Chicago and 1 hour from Madison. It would probably be a match or safety school for your daughter.

A member of my family went through the foreign language program at Beloit, studying two European languages plus Japanese. She was able to spend more than two semesters abroad in the college's programs, studying at universities and living with host families. Afterwards, she did her masters degree and taught at a competitve European university. She feels that Beloit gave her an excellent preparation, and they certainly bent over backwards to accommodate her needs.

By Reidmc (Reidmc) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 01:00 pm: Edit

Bard, Lewis & Clark; Goucher.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 02:17 pm: Edit

Add Dickinson and Middlebury to the list. (Goucher does not offer Russian).

By Reidmc (Reidmc) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 06:40 pm: Edit

Carolyn - Goucher does offer a full Russian program though some of the classes are at Johns Hopkins, with whom Goucher partners on a cooperative program.

By Mini (Mini) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 07:23 pm: Edit

Smith. Beautiful campus. Great language departments. Among the largest LACs, with most majors. Large Jewish population, complete with kosher kitchen. Large Jewish population in area -- with Julius Lester at the conservative synagogue in Amherst. Fantastic JYA programs.

Bard also has its own JYA program in Russia. but not anywhere close to a city, or even a town, or even a village. And it is small, even as LACs go.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 09:10 pm: Edit

Reid, You're absolutely right! Sorry about that.
Goucher would be a good fit for many of the original poster's requests - very pretty green campus right on the outskirts of Baltimore, extremely active Hillel organization (and a Kosher kitchen). The original poster's daughter would be eligble for a merit award with her GPA. My daughter loved Goucher when we visited last summer and so far it's still on the top of her list.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Swarthmore fits all of those requirements, including available Spanish and Russian majors. I don't know if their languages would be considered "strong" or not, but I don't think Swat has a lot of "weak" academic offerings.

By Boxmaker1917 (Boxmaker1917) on Sunday, October 10, 2004 - 10:20 pm: Edit

Thank you all very much for your suggestions! Mt. Holyoke is the only college mentioned that is on her current list. I know that Middlebury is tops in languages but I thought it was too rural to have much of a Jewish population. I'll have to check that out. We never thought about Goucher and I'm not familiar with the college at all. Thank you for the suggestion on that one, too!

By Girlinbraids (Girlinbraids) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 08:51 am: Edit

You could check out Oberlin. I'm currently taking both Spanish and Russian here and they're great. It is in a pretty rural area, and I don't know what your daughter would think about going to a school in Ohio (I love it!), but there's a healthy Jewish population here.

By Arcadia (Arcadia) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 11:51 am: Edit

Middlebury's new president is Jewish, and the college has an extremely active and sizable Jewish population. In fact, 10% of Midd students are Jewish. Here's a link to the Hillel website:

http://community.middlebury.edu/~hillel/

By Midwesterner (Midwesterner) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 02:27 pm: Edit

A few things to consider when looking at foreign language programs:

- whether overseas programs are the college's own program, taught by its teachers, or foreign-based programs that students from many different colleges attend. Try to evaluate who has control over what's offered, the consistency of teaching and the quality of the students. Certain programs stand out, and can make all the difference.

- whether the student lives with a host family when overseas while speaking in the native language, or in a dorm, where English may prevail.

- how successful the graduates of a program are.

- whether there is on-campus housing in a language/cultural dorm, where a foreign language is typically spoken.

Good luck with your search.

By Mikemac (Mikemac) on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 03:28 pm: Edit

take a look at Kalamazoo, a small LAC. They have one of the strongest foreign-language programs around (although I don't know if they offer russian), and their website says 85% of their students study abroad! see http://www.kzoo.edu/admiss/usnews.html I don't know about the jewish population in the area, though.