How To Choose Your College - OU-JLIC

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Through its website, resources, and high school visits, JLIC is dedicated to assisting students, parents, college guidance counselors, rabbis, and anyone involved, to do the proper research and make informed college decisions.

Here is the place for Orthodox Jewish high school students selecting college options that meet your academic ambitions and will accommodate your Jewish lifestyle, so you can have a great college experience AND grow as a Jew. These pages will inform you about many of the challenges and opportunities for Jewish students at secular college campuses, open your eyes to the questions you should be asking and provide much of the information you will want to know.

Additionally, JLIC sends staff to many Jewish high schools throughout North America and yeshivot and seminaries in Israel to educate students about various issues and to connect them with relevant programs on campus.

Read 4 Things To Do Before Choosing Colleges

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Campus profiles

These are verified profiles about Jewish life on various college campuses. They include information about the size of the Jewish community, kosher availability, Shabbat and weekday prayer services, Shabbat meals on campus, if there is an eruv, student clubs popular among Orthodox students and other information you may want to know.

View campus profiles

Arrange visits

Visiting colleges is a great way to learn more about the schools, form an unbiased opinion, hear what current students have to say and if they are happy, and get a feel for the Jewish community. We recommend visiting over a weekend so you can see what Shabbat is like on campus. Either way, if you are planning on visiting an OU-JLIC campus in the next few months let us know and we will connect you to an OU-JLIC educator on your campus.

arrange a visit

OU-JLIC

Your connection with an OU-JLIC educator will make key aspects of Jewish life, such as tefillah, kashrut, Shabbat, and chagim easier to observe and more meaningful. At OU-JLIC you will find opportunities to learn Torah, get answers to your Jewish questions and become a more mature person while attending college. If you are looking for a Jewish community on campus, OU-JLIC can be your place to hang out with friends and meet new people.
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FAQ's

Browse through our frequently asked questions to find answers to your college questions. You might even learn about something you never would have thought to ask about.
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To Consider

What do college students and college professionals think you should know before you commit to a college (or even begin your search)? Find out here, with multiple perspectives on various important subjects.
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All About
Campus Housing

There can be many difficulties associated with living in college housing as Jewish student, and at least for your freshman year you may be required to do so. Difficulties can include walking up several flights of stairs or electric keys on Shabbat, sharing a kitchen with students that don't observe kashrut or sharing a communal bathroom with students of the opposite gender. While many colleges will accommodate your religious needs, you want to make sure that is the case before you get there and not after - you don't want to be stuck in an uncomfortable or impossible situation. Here are many of the difficulties you can face and should be asking about before you decide on your college.
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Know What's Important

Use this checklist to help you evaluate what Jewish resources and other criteria are important to your college experience and formulate the questions you want to ask about each school.
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All About
Meal Plans

The availability of Kosher food on campus and how you get it varies by school and can be confusing. What type of kosher food and if it's part of a meal plan are some of the questions you want to ask. Plus you want to make sure the food is good before you sign up to spend four years eating it. You don't want to be stuck eating Oreos for four years (or do you?). Read this article and use the checklist of questions to learn what you need to know and should be asking when factoring Kosher food into your college decision.
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More Tools

These are more tools to easily find out practically everything you need to know to make your college choice, including national school rankings, campus resources and minyanim charts, a map of Jewish resources and kosher food on campus, and information about anti-Jewish sentiment on campuses.
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