Hey there,
So I’m coming on to the scene quite late, it would seem, but I just wanted to throw out there that a girl who went to Ateres my year also applied to BJJ and was accepted. I think in the end she chose Ateres for reasons similar to what yours would be, Musicaldignity, that she didn’t want to work away her entire seminary year.
I was in class one and it is very intellectually stimulating – I loved it! I did find it challenging at the time… and boy, do I miss it now! We had some great conversations, very deep, very interesting. Class one was definitely a great atmosphere for me.
I just want to say one thing though. Ateres is full of great girls. I’m also the type that likes having discussions with people I consider intelligent, but just because someone was put in class 3, it doesn’t make them of lesser intelligence. Some of the girls in class 3 were really close friends of mine and honestly, it’s very hard for me not to have deep, intellectual conversations! Class one basically means that you have a really good average and that your textual skills are very good, granted, every girl in the room was someone I would feel more than comfortable to sit down and have a conversation with! Just wanted to throw that out there…
Also, there are 2 classes given which are optional for all the classes but class 1. Class 1 has to be there – attendance is taken. Both of these classes are given by very brilliant rabbanim and all the girls in class 1, as well as all the others who went, LOVED the classes. I think there are around nine or ten rabbanim who teach at Ateres – a very nice ratio of men to women. Each of them is brilliant… I feel so lucky to be able to say that I sat through their classes.
Hatzlacha with your decisions!
Just know that no matter what, you will wind up where you were meant to go!