Seminary options?

Ya like I said it’s a big mix but ya its not a lot of people who come in with it, and even the ones who do you may not know about it. People don’t make their movie and music status public…. It’s really fine!

So I applied to meohr as well, which I did get into, but I saw really wasn’t for me… I don’t really think it’s the type of place for you either. Have you looked into Seminar? A tun of girls from Ateres apply there too. Maybe look into Tiferes more it is a great place, I just don’t know you. If you want more academic look into Machon Raaya! Maybe Nachlas? Again since I don’t know you its hard ot say, but from your posts i think i really see you in Ateres, and if you are what they are looking for, you will be accepted without a doubt! I really think you should talk to people who know you who went to those places as well as teachers or seminary advisers! it’s very important! to have people who you can talk to especially from school. I know some schools especially on the east coast don’t always help, but try to take advantage of anything you can get!

Definitely helpful. For example, I would probably just say that’s “very frum.” To me, yeshivish is more the black hat type.

Tiferes is black hat type, and very very tznius. Like your questions about music are probably not even on their radar. bs, tiferes, mr, hadar (dont know about Ateres, but seems like youre getting enough information about that.)all have good solid girls, not jappy. As far as academics, bs and mr are known to be very academic, which doesnt sound exactly like what you want.

wishing you the best.

Hi! I am still here, have just been a bit busy with starting a new semester in college… So about the averages, I do not believe that they are looking for a specific average. They don’t want someone with straight C’s who cannot care less about class, but if you have lots of B’s but are motivated, determined, and have a desire to gain in seminary and grow higher, then you are what they are looking for!

Ok so Musical dignity instead of answering your questions in order, I want to comment on your last paragraph and tell you that Yes that seminary you are describing is a dream, but that is EXACTLY what Ateres is! It is a real dream that comes true! I seriously would have to think to myself during the year this is just too good be true I must be dreaming and then have to pinch myself to see that it is real!!! It’s great! So yes, it sounds like Ateres might be very much what you are looking for!!!

So I ended up choosing Ateres, because what you described is exactly what I wanted, and Ateres just seemed to be the one and only perfect place that would fit that need for me. Meohr is very different as you know!

Every girl in Ateres is challenged on her own level which seems impossible but they do such a great job.. just don’t know how lol. In High school I worked very hard, was very motivated, and really ended up getting half A’s half B’s probably. I do much better with deep hashkafa classes then complicated textual classes. So Ateres somehow mixes the two together. They take your love for hashkafa and bridge your skills to textual as well without you even realizing! So about memorizing your notes, I totally get that and hate it too. I believe you will have a little bit of that anywhere you go, but it is much better in Ateres probably then anywhere else. Even the textual classes have a lot of hashkafa it is very cool how they work it out! I really disliked navi my entire life, and in seminary it was one of my favorite subjects!!! So you will see it will be great in that way! It is work but you will enjoy the work immensly! I never thought I would ever think in my lifetime that I would enjoy studying, but in seminary I really did because the classes were so great and stimulating!

There are rules, but nothing that would effect you if you are not looking to do wrong. There is a strong sense of trust in the girls, something I needed as well. There are rules about certain things, but you will appreciate the rules because they are just the basics of being a bais yaakov girl. Will you be upset if there are rules about not going to places that are considered hangouts at night? I know I wasn’t because that and the few other rules I knew were for us! The few rules they have they have a no tolerance policy for, but if you are a good kid which you sound like you are, you would never even come close to thinking of bending on them. I almost forgot we had such rules! It really wasn’t a problem!

There are some tests, not just midterms and finals like meohr, but not an overwhelming amount, and again I really enjoyed studying for them, and even though I am not crazy studious or brillian I did much better in seminary then I did in high school.

I was in the middle track. The higher track is for a girl who is very fluent in reading and understanding all meforshim without help… there is more to it, I will have to write more later just because I gotta run, but I might have written about it on a previous post not sure. I will write more about it later. Shabbos was never a problem you always had it for relaxation and rejuvination! Never needed to think about school on shabbos except maybe during midterms and finals depending on what the scedule was! Feel free to ask other questions!

Thank you for your input not so sure if you can say such a thing without knowing that much about it… I did go so have the right to say that. I happen to agree that Bnos Sara is incredible beyond! I don’t know if you realize but it is a very academic place. Not all of us are brilliant enough to get in and survive there. Also some people like more hashkafa then bnos sara offers. For example an Ateres report would be on Ahavas Hashem with a lot of mussar sources while a bnos sara report may be on the travels of the shevatim in the midbar or the bigdei kehunah with more textual sources. I happen to love Bnos Sara too though! From this girl’s post it sounds like she doesn’t want such an academic place so that is why I mentioned that Ateres sounds more for her. I did go there so I know more about it and what they are looking for. It is nice to talk about other seminaries but there is no need to bash out others Thanks….

Hi again! You are doing fine it’s a really good thing to ask! I remember how hard it was for me and I am thrilled to do anything I can to help you!

So I wrote a lot in previous posts how Ateres compares to Machon Raaya so just go back and read a bit back on this thread.

About the academics, you will not feel unchallenged in the least bit! We had some very very brilliant and intelectual girls in our seminary! Girls that skipped grades ect… You will so not have a problem! There is hachana to do, There are great reports! Reports that you actually gain something from besides just a stack of papers written on, and the classes are deep and very intellectually stimulating! You will definitely need a good cup of coffee each morning! just kidding I hate coffee! You will not be overwhelmed with annoying busy work like writing out chumashim, but you will have enough to do that you will feel challenged, but will feel so rewarded and inspired at the end! Trust me! I don’t know how, but Ateres makes it really be great for everyone! They say straight out that their goal, and yes they really do this, they stretch your machshava and improve your skills immensely without getting you overwhelmed and overworked! I can guarantee you that such a thing will not be a problem in Ateres!

The dress code is just like most of the other seminaries, any type of button down like you can wear designs like stripes or anything and then you can wear solid colored sweaters either cardigans or pullovers or v-necks! It’s very flexible and then pleated skirts navy, grey, or black, short or long! you can wear belts, scarves, makeup, not much rules about that. You don’t have to get dressed up every day there is seriously no social pressure there, but there were plenty of girls who were more with it and really gave each day their all but only for themselves! No one cared! Chilled was fine too!

We had girls from all over! BY Monsey, BY Ramapo, BY Lkwd, Bais Sheindel, Bnos Bais Yaakov, BY Miami, BY Baltimore, Bnos Yisrael of Baltimore, BY Chicago, Hanna Sacks in Chicago, BY Denver, South Bend, Machon, I think they have Mesores girls this year, Dallas, Bruria, TAG, Ateres in Monsey, BY Detroit, Yaavne, Toronto, BYA, BY Johannesburg, France, BY in London, I think I’m missing a bunch I don’t know the NY schools that well… It’s very mixed, but the atmosphere is a very growthful one and although there are many girls on different levels they are able to somehow cater and reach out to everyone so that each girl is molded into the best girl she can be and get the most out of her year!

Every seminary I think has trips! We had a big trip at least once a month! We did it all! I really think almost all seminaries pretty much do the same stuff in that area except the half year seminaries where they do one a week to get it all in! It’s a wonderful part of the year and they make the trips beyond awesome the way they schedule it!

Hope this answered you somewhat!

Ty Very much! The only thing you didn’t answer was about men teachers

nanny that would be cool lol! Ive thought that Bnos Sara was more yeshivish but I dont know now. Somebody once told me that everyone there wanted to be true aishes chayils and although that is respectable its so not me. So can you describe exactly what type the girls are in bnos sara. Are they very wordly or more in a box.

Also nanny – where do you live because in brooklyn they dont give marks as a and b and c but number marks so thats so cool.

On second thought, I’m thinking that you interpreted “I don’t think it’s a dream seminary” to refer to Ateres, when it in fact referred to musicaldignity’s description of what she wants in a seminary. Am I correct?

Potpie- I apologize, yes, that is what I thought so got defensive because I love my seminary. Thank you for solving that. Really appreciate it and sorry again.

Musicaldignity – VERY MUCH SO!!!! My school is not all yeshivish, but I did have a more yeshivish grade. It always bothered me that they were not as deep and were doing things because their parents were doing and not really knowing why. I knew I wanted a place that was maybe a bit more mixed, but where all the girls were growthful people and where there was an atmosphere of growth. This is actually what I talked about a lot during my interview. But I do feel that is exactly what it was. They made your yiddishkeit become your own! They helped you understand why you are doing the things you do and why you will want to do it and pass it down to your children later in the future.

Instead of focusing on how many 15 page reports you can do in 1 year, they worked on instilling in us the tools to help us become better and have a love for what we do. They def focus on emounah a lot and all of those things similar. I needed that and really feel I got all I could have ever asked for. I think you will find the same. The teachers were ALL down to earth. That is one thing that they make sure. Everything taught is down to earth and applicable for your life, and every teacher is down to earth as well. They truly understand every girl and teenagers in general. They are extremely open minded, have been involved with teenagers for years and years, and you feel so safe and good with them because you find they understand you and your life challenges so well!

I understand your need to be learning with smart people whose minds work similarly to yours and who are on the same level learning wise. That is very normal. So although it is mixed like I said, there are 3 tracks for the textual subjects, and 2 tracks for the more hashkafa type of classes. The highest track was for girls like you! They were almost all brilliant! There were some girls who were so smart that I almost couldn’t talk to them about what we learned about in class. It was interesting. So I am more of an average student more like 80’s some 90’s but am a little bit more intelectual. I was in the middle class, which was the biggest my year, and I felt it was very good for me. The smart girls who were very smart were of course together in the highest track. I don’t think anybody in the entire seminary felt bad or not in the right place. They are able to cater to everyone so that everyone can feel like they are being challenged and that their minds are stretching. I had friends in the higher class, and I know they enjoyed it immensely because of that factor that they were only with smart girls on their level and as a class they were able to learn on a higher level and do more work on their level as a result. At different points there were girls who moved up and down in classes, but once everyone was put everyone was thrilled with where they were! So I don’t think that will be a problem for you at all! They are very into what you said, making sure that everyone is able to learn on a level for them and are with girls on their level learning as much as they can on the highest level possible with no other girls stopping them.

And no I am not in Touro, and not in the NY area B”H!!! (no offense to NY! 😉

I went to Ateres!! think i was there the same time as candy! just wanna say that all the amazing things you are hearing are true!!!! ATERES IS INCREDIBLE!!!! any more questions anyone? i’d love to give some info (if candy didn’t give it all!!!!)

hey and also is ateres the type of sem that ther arent major rules and you can kinda do whatever you want?

hodulashem- now you are getting me very curious! I guess you must know who I am. I’m sure I gave myself away a number of times already…

me@18- I’m gonna be direct and say it straight out that if you are going to seminary just wanting no rules and wanting to do whatever you want, then Ateres is NOT for you. Not a bad thing, it just isn’t the right fit. There are other places that would be better for you. If I am getting the wrong impression and that is not what you are trying to say then we can talk. 😉

musicaldignity i think youd really enjoy machon raaya over ateres. and dont worry about the work bec they have tonz of electives so you can choose alot of your classes so you can pick ones without alot of work.

me@18 you said that failed to get in the yr b4. are you looking for a shana aleph or a shana bet program? and how much of a bais yaakov would you want?

hmmm… hodulashem I feel like maybe we were not in seminary together….

Musical dignity, I also think Machon Raaya is a good choice for you- if you are academic. Its a real BY school, but not especially yeshivish. Lots of out town girls. There are four girls in every room- each girl from a different state/country. My daughter is there now. We did lots of research and it’s an awesome place. They just moved to a beautiful new building right in Geula. There are around 65 girls- not too big, not too small. She just left a week ago- but so far she’s thrilled:)

lol candy u did an awesome job!! VERY impressed!! u made me wanna go back!!!!!!!! should i do my own research now or will u have ur beloved source fill me in? lol! ur shanabetters were super!

hi….no im not the type looking for no rules….rather i heard that ateres is lax in rules and wanna know if that is true…..no didnt apply to israel yet ever only local sem which didnt get into but wld the principal really accept s1 that didnt get into an intown sem?!or is it not that type of sem? and how large is the sem?! im not sure how you define beis yaakovy? and im looking for more hashkofa and practical life stuff rather than text ie mephorshim etc…….. does all that make sense?

you applied to a sem last yr. that was instead of 12th grade or your already the age of shana bet?

and by bais yaakov i mean with the standard bais yaakov rules and tznius etc etc

So the last time I checked this post there were 80 posts and when I came back there were 97 and I was like: whoaahhh!!!!

Anyway, thanks all of you guys for your advice. I feel so much more at ease now since Im pretty sure that Im going to apply to Meohr, Ateres, and Machon Raya and then we’ll see from there! Machon Raya also sounds amazing although Im a little nervous about the work and the personality of the girls and then Ateres Im worried about the opposite: the caliber of the girls and the intellectual challenge. So we will see what happens. But it definitely helps to have all you online mentors – keep the advice coming! Also if there are any other seminaries I should know about – let me know! See my previous post for a detailed description of what I am looking for.

Nanny it would be awesome to cya next year – IYH we’ll see.

By the way just technically – when do girls start applying, when are interviews, and when do the acceptance letters get sent out? I am so anxious to finish high school that sitting through class is almost unbearable and its only the third day!!! Hopefully Ill survive somehow. Im thinking maybe I should clep this year since my school offers no college courses and there are a lot of useless subjects in English. (Dont get me started)

Thanks again!

me@18 what type of school do you wasnt academically? more hashkafik or more textual? like pninim would fit but so could meohr depending on which way you wanna go.

musicaldignity you apply in nov. i think maybe december and then the school sets up an interview and replies come in feb. the date use to be feb15th but i think they may have switched it to the 25th. and about clepping idk what college you plan on going to or what youre majoring in but its worth it to look into it b4 you clep bec some colleges wont accept more that a certain amount of cleps and if its a part of your major its worthless and you dont wanna waste time and money.