If you want to increase your child’s chances of getting into an elite university — and you can afford it — it certainly doesn’t hurt to start donating major cash to schools as early as possible.
But some wealthy Jewish families who have done just that at schools like Harvard and Columbia, sometimes starting when their children were in first grade, now consider it a loss.
Following the explosion of pro-Palestinian rallies and anti-Israel sentiment in the Ivy League, some families of high school seniors crossed the school off their application lists.
“They’re not paying a dollar more to the school,” college admissions consultant Christopher Rim told The Post. “They don’t want to be associated with these schools. They really came out.”
Rim, who is the founder of Command Education, says people change their minds at the last minute of this application cycle.
“It’s the most important thing for current seniors,” Rim said. “They are asking to edit and refine their list of colleges now.”
Jewish families leave Ivy League schools that have been followed by pro-Palestinian rallies and anti-Semitism. AFP via Getty Images Students at Columbia University have rallied in support of Palestine, raising concerns among Jewish students and faculty. Getty Images
The trend is a response to viral displays of campus anti-Semitism — from Jewish students mobbed by pro-Palestinian protesters at Harvard to Cornell students making anti-Semitic death threats.
“The biggest concern of Jewish families is how the administration is not responding to protect all of their students,” Rim told The Post. “Private schools in more conservative parts of the country, like Wash U [in St. Louis]Emory [in Atlanta]SMU [near Dallas] and Vanderbilt [in Nashville] is a popular choice as a Plan B.”
One of her clients just dropped their dream school in Columbia from the application list after three and a half years of negotiation.
Since the war broke out in Israel, pro-Palestinian supporters have taken to the UPenn campus to protest. fox29
“That’s the only school the student wants to go to,” Rim said. “But now, after everything that’s happened on campus, this family is like, ‘You know, we don’t want to go to any Ivy.'”
Instead, they have chosen to apply to Emory and the University of Washington, although Rim said he fully expects these students to get into Columbia or Harvard. The change of plans was so last-minute that Rim and the student had to scramble to write a completely new essay before the initial application deadline of November 1.
The move comes after a video of Columbia Business School professor Shai Davidai warning Jewish families about campus anti-Semitism went viral online.
College consultant Christopher Rim said Washington University in St. Louis is among the schools experiencing a surge in popularity. Alamy Stock Photo
“I want this message to reach every parent who sends their children to Columbia University and entrusts their children’s safety to us,” Davidai said during a pro-Israel rally on campus. “I want you to know one thing: We cannot protect your child.
“If my amazing 2-year-old daughter were eighteen now, I would never send her to Columbia.”
Rim said that another Jewish client from California threw away their dream of studying hotel management at Cornell in favor of the local UC system.
Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, is newly popular with Jewish families looking to leave the Ivy League. Alamy Stock Photo
He also had former clients resurface, asking him to help them move schools after experiencing anti-semitism on their campus.
One student, whom Rim helped secure a place at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business last year, is now applying to transfer next semester and is considering the University of Southern California. The move came after anti-Semitic messages were projected onto campus buildings at UPenn.
“Wharton was a dream school just a few months ago. He was prosperous and happy. But now it’s not worth it,” Rim said. “He can’t stand being there. He doesn’t feel comfortable.”
College campuses across the country have experienced a wave of anti-Semitism this year. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images College admissions consultant Christopher Rim said that Jewish families are abandoning their Ivy League ambitions because of administrative failures. Command Education
The boycott of Ivy League schools is so severe that parents are increasingly concerned that this new slate of “Plan B” schools will be more competitive than ever, Rim added.
He said the unprecedented rush was ultimately the result of administrative failure: “Part of the university’s job is to provide a space where all students can thrive, even if they have disagreements and different views.
“But when it comes to something anti-semitic or something dangerous, universities have to step up and say something. But so many have not.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
