E-mail from seminary

B'Syata D'Shmya

Mon, Feb 19 2024, 9:38 pm

chestnut wrote:

No, registration documents that get sent once accepted, via email.

I always called and gave to secretary with an explanation that my husband doesn't allow me to send any cc or financial info via an email....they always agree and cooperate.

amother

Thistle

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 12:36 am

amother OP wrote:

as far as I know all the girls in DD school who applied got this e-mail

But if they send this mail to all applicants, there will be a risk that there will be more responses than spots, and then they still will have to reject applicants who were ready to pay.

If paying is a pre-selection, and your daughter wants to go, this situation looks very much like it's better to pay to get the spot...

amother

Strawberry

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 3:59 am

This is a golden opportunity since it’s your dd’s first choice. I would ask your Rav asap if you’re allowed to do it, and if he says yes I would hurry up and do it before other families chap arein.

amother

Marigold

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 4:09 am

Let's not ignore the obvious. The sem and yeshiva systems in Israel can only operate with the infusion of American dollars and with the socially imposed worries of deviating from communal norms. When you decide to sign your kids up for sem and yeshiva, you are also helping to support the families who teach and run these programs. Israeli students simply cannot and do not pay the prices that Americans do. This is just an observation. I'm not debating the value of sem or yeshiva for anyone. That is a very personal family decision. However, in a year where the Israel culture, economy, and fight for existence have been universally affected by the war, the operators of these programs are deeply concerned with non Israeli parents being spooked and pulling their kids. No one can predict what this fall will look like and IYH, there will be peace and safety in Israel. They are eager to fill their classes and have parents make large deposits that will deter them from rethinking sending their kids. It's not a surprise that during Covid when Israel had one of the strictest entry policies in the world for visitors, 10,000 students were still approved for visas. I view this as forcing you to commit now.

amother

Viola

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 8:17 am

You keep mentioning the Vaad. What is that? Who are they? My DD is in seminary this year and last year through all the application and acceptance process I never hear anything about a "vaad".

amother

Viola

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 8:19 am

amother Strawberry wrote:

I find that even if a sem is a girls first choice at application time, once all acceptances are in that first day, they often change their mind due to where friends are going.

amother

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 2:17 pm

they sent a clarification, but sounds more like a walk back to me:

For clarification purposes, as there seems to be a lack of proper understanding of the email that
was sent on February 18:
If one does not send in the form ahead of time, they do not lose their opportunity to be
accepted to SEM NAME. For applicants who are certain that SEM NAME is their first choice and
will attend if accepted, returning the form now will alleviate the pressure of the process later
on.
Hatzlocha.

amother

Mocha

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:07 pm

amother OP wrote:

LOL - it sounds like they are trying to cover up by insulting the parents' intelligence!

amother

Begonia

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:19 pm

amother OP wrote:

They say that, but the difference is that the email wanted permission to charge the card for $4500 on Friday, March 1st, the day before acceptances go out. Thus not even giving the students a chance to find out where else they were accepted, and where their friends were accepted, before the deposit is charged.

amother

Lightgray

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:23 pm

This makes no sense. They basically sent out a mass acceptance letter based on financial ability.

What if 80% of applicants respond but there is only room for 10%?

Sems just need to be normal. Accept who you want and hope to get those girls. The same way the girls have to suffer and wait for their acceptance or rejection letter, so to, the sem should enjoy the waiting game after the acceptance letters go out. Not every girl who they want will want them back. Tough luck.

amother

Pear

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:33 pm

amother OP wrote:

Hah. That is not what they were saying and we all know that LOL

Nice try, nice try.

amother

Burntblack

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:34 pm

As noted above, every girl who applied to seminary X got this email. Seminary X is a very popular, very competitive seminary in Eretz Yisrael.
If you didn't get the email, it's not at all relevant to your daughter and she didn't apply there.

UQT

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:43 pm

So unfair to the girls. Imagine this is your daughters second choice. She’s hoping to get into her first but is now worried that if she doesn’t reply to this she’s getting bumped down to her third choice. The girls are stressed enough as it is.
This is basically making acceptance easy for them. No trying to figure out who they want. No going through multiple rounds. Take who wants to come if we liked them enough and done.

chestnut

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:47 pm

amother Viola wrote:

You keep mentioning the Vaad. What is that? Who are they? My DD is in seminary this year and last year through all the application and acceptance process I never hear anything about a "vaad".

I'm so confused about it as well. I'm pretty sure there's no vaad for Israeli seminaries

amother

Moccasin

Tue, Feb 20 2024, 6:48 pm

Just want to add my two cents. Maybe I'm more cynical than most parents here but it actually sounds to me like the seminary's goal is to put parents in a position where they have no room to negotiate tuition once accepted.
Let's face it once you give them $4500 you aren't going to back out, so now they have the upper hand when you try to negotiate a price with them.

(We actually experienced something similar when we applied to yeshiva for my son many years ago. The yeshiva told us at the interview that we should sign a form agreeing to pay tuition "just in case" he's accepted. We could gladly negotiate later. My husband refused to sign and that was that. We bH were accepted to a different yeshiva and are thrilled that the other one "wouldn't accept us" without a signed tuition form.)

Personally I would never allow my child to go to such an institution because they sound obnoxious and not yashrusdik. But that's just the opinion of this random stranger on imamother.