Anonymous
09/18/2025 17:44
Subject: Oberlin admissions
This is a really interesting trend. Good for Oberlin and your students!
Anonymous
09/17/2025 18:09
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Trust - he will be absolutely fine for Oberlin. My DD's boyfriend was accepted with only two years of Spanish, far fewer advanced classes. a 3.5 UW GPA and average EC's. Oberlin's gender imbalance is significant (6o% female / 40% male) and they (like most SLAC's) are trying to address this. You are correct that the lower admit percentage for boys on the CDS is simply a function of boys in general having much lower stats then girls.
Anonymous
09/15/2025 09:34
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Anonymous wrote:Thanks! He will 9 APs total after senior year and only 80 percent of his HS is college bound. Very few leave the state, so...it is really his immediate friend group w/ the grind culture. No course data in CDS but the admit rate for men is 28 percent and for women it is closer to 35 percent--not what I expected. But I wonder if the women applying, overall, had higher grades...
Check out C.5 in the CDS. For Oberlin the school reports that 3 years of foreign language is recommended but not required.
Anonymous
09/15/2025 00:55
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Thanks! He will 9 APs total after senior year and only 80 percent of his HS is college bound. Very few leave the state, so...it is really his immediate friend group w/ the grind culture. No course data in CDS but the admit rate for men is 28 percent and for women it is closer to 35 percent--not what I expected. But I wonder if the women applying, overall, had higher grades...
Anonymous
09/14/2025 22:50
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how hardcore they are on their language expectations? Our son took through Spanish 3 in 10th and is taking 11th grade off from Spanish at school with our support because he just wasn't learning ANYTHING...his junior schedule includes AP Lang AP CALC AB, and APUSH but also regular physics, Choir and PE. He's worried that Oberlin won't think this is enough rigor. Math is hard for him, and he's consistently a B student in math, 28 on math ACT (35 English)
so we wanted him to have space in his schedule to get extra help as needed to get through calculus. If Spanish 4 is THAT important I guess he could pick it back up senior year if he doesn't take another science. Or he could try to do a summer course before senior year. He did ask the admissions counselor and heard back that taking Spanish 2 and 3 only counts as 2 years so he's def. got less language than they want. It is highly likely he'd take AP Lit and AP Stats and AP CS as a senior which would mean no lab science and no history--again, that might also be...not great. I took a far less "rigorous" HS schedule and now have a PhD so...I am convinced he'll be fine, he's just very stuck on schools like Oberlin and Macalester, and that may just be unrealistic.
My kid was also one of the early RD admits on this thread. They ended up getting into their ED school the following day so we had to say no to Oberlin’s generous offer. My kid’s situation was a little different because their DMV area charter is very AP forward. Students must take and sit for at least 6 APs, one of which must be Calc AB or BC and one lab science. Students aspiring to selective colleges must take 10 plus APs to be competitive from that school. Most if not all students take AP language or language IV in 11th and a language capstone in 12th. I suspect this is more than what most schools are looking for. Oberlin’s CDS should give some insight into which courses they think are required for admission.
Anonymous
09/14/2025 21:08
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Thank you! He was saying "I don't want them to think I'm lazy..." I hate living in a world where a kid taking APUSH and AP Calc is worried about that, (or any kid!)but he does have friends taking 5 APs and no lunch, early bird classes etc. So grind culture does breed anxiety...
Anonymous
09/14/2025 13:49
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how hardcore they are on their language expectations? Our son took through Spanish 3 in 10th and is taking 11th grade off from Spanish at school with our support because he just wasn't learning ANYTHING...his junior schedule includes AP Lang AP CALC AB, and APUSH but also regular physics, Choir and PE. He's worried that Oberlin won't think this is enough rigor. Math is hard for him, and he's consistently a B student in math, 28 on math ACT (35 English)
so we wanted him to have space in his schedule to get extra help as needed to get through calculus. If Spanish 4 is THAT important I guess he could pick it back up senior year if he doesn't take another science. Or he could try to do a summer course before senior year. He did ask the admissions counselor and heard back that taking Spanish 2 and 3 only counts as 2 years so he's def. got less language than they want. It is highly likely he'd take AP Lit and AP Stats and AP CS as a senior which would mean no lab science and no history--again, that might also be...not great. I took a far less "rigorous" HS schedule and now have a PhD so...I am convinced he'll be fine, he's just very stuck on schools like Oberlin and Macalester, and that may just be unrealistic.
My kid, who was one of the early admissions on this thread (is not attending) took 2 years of one language in HS and 2 of another. Got her worst grades in language classes (languages were just not her thing).
Anonymous
09/14/2025 13:46
Subject: Oberlin admissions
Anonymous wrote:Anyone know how hardcore they are on their language expectations? Our son took through Spanish 3 in 10th and is taking 11th grade off from Spanish at school with our support because he just wasn't learning ANYTHING...his junior schedule includes AP Lang AP CALC AB, and APUSH but also regular physics, Choir and PE. He's worried that Oberlin won't think this is enough rigor. Math is hard for him, and he's consistently a B student in math, 28 on math ACT (35 English)
so we wanted him to have space in his schedule to get extra help as needed to get through calculus. If Spanish 4 is THAT important I guess he could pick it back up senior year if he doesn't take another science. Or he could try to do a summer course before senior year. He did ask the admissions counselor and heard back that taking Spanish 2 and 3 only counts as 2 years so he's def. got less language than they want. It is highly likely he'd take AP Lit and AP Stats and AP CS as a senior which would mean no lab science and no history--again, that might also be...not great. I took a far less "rigorous" HS schedule and now have a PhD so...I am convinced he'll be fine, he's just very stuck on schools like Oberlin and Macalester, and that may just be unrealistic.
My Obie had 3 years of French when she applied but one of her friends only did one year of Spanish, so I'm not sure it's that strict.