About two thirds of each senior class at MTA takes one or more courses at YU each semester, as part of their elective options. The students just completed their spring semester, and built on their fantastic success from the fall, in which as a group they earned a 3.69 GPA. Although that was a tough act to follow, this group surpassed it in the spring, earning an unbelievable 3.90 GPA! The students earned all As except three A-s and only one B+. It was an incredible performance.

These students did not earn their grades in easy courses. They took courses all over YU’s many departments—from Architecture to Theories of the Mind at Yeshiva College and from Principles of Marketing to Statistics for Business at Sy Syms School of Business. They took everything from high level math courses such as Multivariable Calculus and Probability Theory to areas of personal interest such as Music Theory and Political Leadership—and they aced them all.

One particularly interesting way in which the students took advantage of their YU opportunity was classes at the Belz School of Jewish Music, where some learned nusach ha’tefila and others learned safrus. These courses, while highly demanding, also have immediate payoff in teaching skills that the students can put to use.  hese students, over the course of a semester, have become sufficiently skilled to be able to lead their local shuls this coming yamim noraim or to write their own mezuzos.

The benefits of these courses go way beyond the immediate payoff, or course. These high school seniors have learned that when they return from Israel, they are not only well prepared to succeed in college but have the experience of success already under their belts.