Anonymous wrote:DS is interested in Oberlin, Wooster, and Kenyon. We’re visiting this summer, but hoping to get info on recent experiences with merit aid and impressions of students and diversity on each campus. He’s interested in environmental sciences and maybe an art history minor.

DD is about to finish her third year at Oberlin. Art History & English double major. High SAT score, lukewarm GPA. She got great merit aid. Says everyone is super smart and laughs that most of her classmates claim to also be “Vassar rejects”. The curriculum is pretty open so she explored a couple different paths before settling in on Art History and English. The Allen Art Museum is her home away from home and she’s giving object talks this semester. She’s not political at all and neither are her friends. There is indeed music everywhere and that makes it a pretty special place. We are so glad she chose Oberlin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd throw Ohio Wesleyan in the mix. Nice campus set in a cute town with actual stuff. Not as quaint as Dennison or as remote as Kenyon. Wooster was also pretty solid. Oberlin is flakey. Kenyon and Dennison are probably the best two from an academic perspective. If writing is your kid's thing, Kenyon is the best choice.

Any idea why the graduation and retention rates are so low at Ohio Wesleyan compared to the other schools being discussed? Fewer than 60 percent of the 2018 entering class graduated within six years. That's atrocious. The most recent freshman retention rate was 84 percent, which isn't great either. It looks like a solid school on paper otherwise.

If I had to guess, economics. The 2018 entering class went through a pretty crappy few years in the middle.

Yes, and that crappy time is reflected by lower grad rates at many schools, including Denison, which dropped from 83-84 percent to 80 percent flat. But sub-60 percent is another level of bad, and Covid also doesn't explain why OWU's freshman retention rate from '23 to '24 was subpar. It feels like there must be something about the school or the campus experience that is driving students away.

Anonymous wrote:Are you new here? Denison is the new Oberlin.

I don’t think so. Oberlin definitely appeals to certain students and the world-class conservatory alongside the liberal arts college is very unique. Music infuses everything at Oberlin in a pretty distinct way (we even experienced this during an admissions tour).

Anonymous wrote:I think you have some super bright kids at these schools who for whatever reason (eg some transcript imperfections) didn’t make the cut at Top 20 SLACS. Also those who opted for merit given the quality of education is basically comparable.

A lot of kids there, including mine (1600 SAT, 4.8 WGPA, 10 APs/all 5s) are qualified for higher ranked schools and their parents cannot afford them.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for the feedback. We will add Denison to the list too. Do you find it easier to fly to/from CLE or CMH for visits or to drive the whole way?

If you can fly into one and leave from the other that would be ideal, but if not it will still work fine.

Anonymous wrote:Dennison is the new king of Ohio SLAC's.

Will you ever learn to spell it correctly?

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Anonymous wrote:My kid’s friend at Wooster is having a hard time with it being so isolated. Socially it’s tough if you don’t have a core group of good friends because there’s nowhere else to go if you need to get off campus and be around people who aren’t your classmates. At least that’s what we are hearing. It also has Greek life which seems kind of crazy for such a small school. All the more socially divisive.

We live in Michigan. My kid's friend transferred out. She did not find her people and was unhappy there because it was an isolated, small town setting. I would express caution about this as well.

My cousin's family went there and he has donated a reasonable amount of money there. So I'm not an anti.

My dd transferred out too. Granted, she was there during Covid but it seems like the reasons she loved the school during pre-COVID visits no longer existed. That was several years ago but I’m not sure the school has sufficiently recovered as dd and I occasionally check the school newspaper online.

The athletes at Wooster are NOT intellectual. The NARPs, maybe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd throw Ohio Wesleyan in the mix. Nice campus set in a cute town with actual stuff. Not as quaint as Dennison or as remote as Kenyon. Wooster was also pretty solid. Oberlin is flakey. Kenyon and Dennison are probably the best two from an academic perspective. If writing is your kid's thing, Kenyon is the best choice.

Any idea why the graduation and retention rates are so low at Ohio Wesleyan compared to the other schools being discussed? Fewer than 60 percent of the 2018 entering class graduated within six years. That's atrocious. The most recent freshman retention rate was 84 percent, which isn't great either. It looks like a solid school on paper otherwise.

If I had to guess, economics. The 2018 entering class went through a pretty crappy few years in the middle.

Another interesting thing about Ohio SLACS is that they are among the best colleges/universities in the Midwest and a lot of students from the Midwest prefer to stay in the region to be closer to home. On the coasts, top students have many more options. The point is they have good access to the regional talent pool. The best students can stay in the region and even get merit aid instead of heading east for the SLAC experience.

Oberlin is bigger than many other SLACs - big enough that it can be a lot of different things. Both environmental studies and art history are fabulous programs and it would be a terrific place to do both at the same time. The Allen Art Museum has an excellent collection and is well integrated into the curriculum.

Behind the storm and drang of the 2010s press notoriety and the disaster - for everyone in town - of the Gibsons case, it’s always been academically serious and home to intense students with a wide range of interests.

How your kid feels about the small town thing is up to them, of course, but it’s pretty and actually not far from Cleveland (or the Cleveland airport). The new BA/BFA program, partially based up there, will make the connections stronger.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an anti-Trump Dem. And I think Oberlin is a woke, virtue-signaling progressive commune. Read about the bakery incident - they will deny it but when I read about it I was just nodding my head because that is exactly what Oberlin is.

Though it isn't 100% that way - there is a decent number of more normal kids who end up there for whatever reason.

Denison is great. Kenyon is also a nice school.

Just curious if you have a current student at Oberlin, or have toured it in the past couple of years? If not, your input here is irrelevant. The bakery incident is almost a decade old.

I recently toured both Oberlin and Kenyon with my D26. Found them both to be lovely, intellectual schools with great kids leading our tours and info sessions. Oberlin is definitely liberal, the overall impression I got was diverse, engaged students who were involved in a wide variety of activities, clubs, etc. but not in-your-face about politics (honestly, I saw a more politically outspoken campus culture at Wesleyan U) A great fit for musical kids, obviously- even those who are non-conservatory have access to lessons, groups, concerts, etc. Ranking doesn't reflect what a fantastic school it is, IMO. It's towards the top of my child's list. Kenyon is a beautiful campus, but fairly remote. The students and staff were VERY nice- my kid commented on how friendly and welcoming everyone was during our visit. Definitely less diverse, you can tell there are lots of affluent east coast kids by just walking around and chatting with people. My child commented that it seemed less diverse that what she's looking for. Denison we did not visit- a friend's child is currently there and had a difficult time fitting in as a minority due to lack of diversity. I think my kid wants a very diverse environment, so that's one we didn't research based on my friend's experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd throw Ohio Wesleyan in the mix. Nice campus set in a cute town with actual stuff. Not as quaint as Dennison or as remote as Kenyon. Wooster was also pretty solid. Oberlin is flakey. Kenyon and Dennison are probably the best two from an academic perspective. If writing is your kid's thing, Kenyon is the best choice.

Any idea why the graduation and retention rates are so low at Ohio Wesleyan compared to the other schools being discussed? Fewer than 60 percent of the 2018 entering class graduated within six years. That's atrocious. The most recent freshman retention rate was 84 percent, which isn't great either. It looks like a solid school on paper otherwise.

It’s not quite at the level of the other schools. Academically, Kenyon Denison and Oberlin are in the same zip code, then Wooster, then some of the other ones

Ohio has lots of great SLACs. If you can, make time to visit Denison. There are lots of useful Denison posts on here like: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/75/1169744.page. Besides the strong academics and close-knit community here are a few other reasons why you might want to consider it:

Fantastic Location: Denison is in Granville, a charming college town just 30 minutes from Columbus. Granville was recently named one of the 10 Best Small Town Food Scenes in the U.S. by USA Today, and Columbus is the second-fastest-growing city in the country.
https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-small-town-food-scene/

Strong Leadership: President Adam Weinberg is fantastic.
https://denison.edu/campus/president/speeches

Top-Ranked Career Services: Princeton Review ranks Denison’s career services #4 in the nation.
https://denison.edu/news-events/featured/157769

Admissions & Merit Aid: Don’t let the 17% acceptance rate scare you off. Denison attracts a wide range of students and is known for generous merit scholarships.

Quick Facts & Stats: https://denison.edu/fast-facts

Anonymous wrote:I'd throw Ohio Wesleyan in the mix. Nice campus set in a cute town with actual stuff. Not as quaint as Dennison or as remote as Kenyon. Wooster was also pretty solid. Oberlin is flakey. Kenyon and Dennison are probably the best two from an academic perspective. If writing is your kid's thing, Kenyon is the best choice.

Any idea why the graduation and retention rates are so low at Ohio Wesleyan compared to the other schools being discussed? Fewer than 60 percent of the 2018 entering class graduated within six years. That's atrocious. The most recent freshman retention rate was 84 percent, which isn't great either. It looks like a solid school on paper otherwise.