My DD is enjoying it very much. Lives in one of the coops and has a great group of friends and very interesting classes, uses the pottery coop, not in the conservatory but has gotten to play in alot of cover bands, and enjoys all of the quirky, "crunchy" aspects of Oberlin life. I think she is getting a rigorous education and many outlets for her creativity - music, art, etc.. Preprofessional it is not. I went to a SLAC in the '80s that was basically an IB feeder school and it is fascinating to see how different it is in some ways, but in others all part of the college experience. It is a great option for kids who it appeals to and a good value re: merit aid v.s other comparable schools in our experience

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the accepted student week about 90 percent of the families I spoke to all had the same list of schools, Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bates

Did they get in to those schools?

Yes most had gotten into 3 or 4. My DD was choosing between Wesleyan, Vassar and Oberlin. It’s a personal thing as to what she saw at Oberlin that she didn’t at the other schools and they did a great job with their accepted student program. For perspective we took some of her friend to dinner this year and they were discussing the final schools they were choosing between. I don’t know the whole list of where everyone applied but one chose Oberlin over UC Davis, one over Brown, one over Middlebury, one over Bates, one over NYU, one was planning to do a 3:2 engineering program with Oberlin and another school, and one over Northeastern.

This is similar to my DD and her friends, though the topic doesn't come up too often: Oberlin over Middlebury, Kenyon, U Michigan, Case Western, Wellesley, Colgate, Cornell, Carleton, Vassar, and Amherst. In some cases, the offer of generous merit aid certainly played a role, although campus culture, musical opportunities, and academic offerings also seemed important.

DS went with Oberlin over Wesleyan, Bates, Macalester, Haverford, and Dartmouth (applied there against his wishes as a legacy, but no way would he consider going), as well as a couple safeties. Modest merit aid at Oberlin and Mac, but wasn't a factor. Didn't get in at Yale or Brown. He and we believe he made a great decision.

Those schools are very hard to get into. I’m surprised he didn’t get more merit aid as he must have been a very strong candidate.

FWIW I think this is unusual. We know 6 students at Oberlin and they didn’t apply/get into these other schools.

I'm one of the above posters with a kid there. Yeah, this is definitely not the case with every student. Out of the handful of kids who applied from our area in PA, all but two applied ED. I think a lot of kids end up choosing between Oberlin and other schools like Kenyon, Wooster, Denison, Macalester, Reed, Occidental, Case Western, and their state flagships. But for those who do choose between more selective schools, merit aid and fit is often the decisive factor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the accepted student week about 90 percent of the families I spoke to all had the same list of schools, Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bates

Did they get in to those schools?

Yes most had gotten into 3 or 4. My DD was choosing between Wesleyan, Vassar and Oberlin. It’s a personal thing as to what she saw at Oberlin that she didn’t at the other schools and they did a great job with their accepted student program. For perspective we took some of her friend to dinner this year and they were discussing the final schools they were choosing between. I don’t know the whole list of where everyone applied but one chose Oberlin over UC Davis, one over Brown, one over Middlebury, one over Bates, one over NYU, one was planning to do a 3:2 engineering program with Oberlin and another school, and one over Northeastern.

This is similar to my DD and her friends, though the topic doesn't come up too often: Oberlin over Middlebury, Kenyon, U Michigan, Case Western, Wellesley, Colgate, Cornell, Carleton, Vassar, and Amherst. In some cases, the offer of generous merit aid certainly played a role, although campus culture, musical opportunities, and academic offerings also seemed important.

DS went with Oberlin over Wesleyan, Bates, Macalester, Haverford, and Dartmouth (applied there against his wishes as a legacy, but no way would he consider going), as well as a couple safeties. Modest merit aid at Oberlin and Mac, but wasn't a factor. Didn't get in at Yale or Brown. He and we believe he made a great decision.

Those schools are very hard to get into. I’m surprised he didn’t get more merit aid as he must have been a very strong candidate.

FWIW I think this is unusual. We know 6 students at Oberlin and they didn’t apply/get into these other schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the accepted student week about 90 percent of the families I spoke to all had the same list of schools, Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bates

Did they get in to those schools?

Yes most had gotten into 3 or 4. My DD was choosing between Wesleyan, Vassar and Oberlin. It’s a personal thing as to what she saw at Oberlin that she didn’t at the other schools and they did a great job with their accepted student program. For perspective we took some of her friend to dinner this year and they were discussing the final schools they were choosing between. I don’t know the whole list of where everyone applied but one chose Oberlin over UC Davis, one over Brown, one over Middlebury, one over Bates, one over NYU, one was planning to do a 3:2 engineering program with Oberlin and another school, and one over Northeastern.

This is similar to my DD and her friends, though the topic doesn't come up too often: Oberlin over Middlebury, Kenyon, U Michigan, Case Western, Wellesley, Colgate, Cornell, Carleton, Vassar, and Amherst. In some cases, the offer of generous merit aid certainly played a role, although campus culture, musical opportunities, and academic offerings also seemed important.

DS went with Oberlin over Wesleyan, Bates, Macalester, Haverford, and Dartmouth (applied there against his wishes as a legacy, but no way would he consider going), as well as a couple safeties. Modest merit aid at Oberlin and Mac, but wasn't a factor. Didn't get in at Yale or Brown. He and we believe he made a great decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the accepted student week about 90 percent of the families I spoke to all had the same list of schools, Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bates

Did they get in to those schools?

Yes most had gotten into 3 or 4. My DD was choosing between Wesleyan, Vassar and Oberlin. It’s a personal thing as to what she saw at Oberlin that she didn’t at the other schools and they did a great job with their accepted student program. For perspective we took some of her friend to dinner this year and they were discussing the final schools they were choosing between. I don’t know the whole list of where everyone applied but one chose Oberlin over UC Davis, one over Brown, one over Middlebury, one over Bates, one over NYU, one was planning to do a 3:2 engineering program with Oberlin and another school, and one over Northeastern.

This is similar to my DD and her friends, though the topic doesn't come up too often: Oberlin over Middlebury, Kenyon, U Michigan, Case Western, Wellesley, Colgate, Cornell, Carleton, Vassar, and Amherst. In some cases, the offer of generous merit aid certainly played a role, although campus culture, musical opportunities, and academic offerings also seemed important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the accepted student week about 90 percent of the families I spoke to all had the same list of schools, Vassar, Brown, Wesleyan, Middlebury, Bates

Did they get in to those schools?

Yes most had gotten into 3 or 4. My DD was choosing between Wesleyan, Vassar and Oberlin. It’s a personal thing as to what she saw at Oberlin that she didn’t at the other schools and they did a great job with their accepted student program. For perspective we took some of her friend to dinner this year and they were discussing the final schools they were choosing between. I don’t know the whole list of where everyone applied but one chose Oberlin over UC Davis, one over Brown, one over Middlebury, one over Bates, one over NYU, one was planning to do a 3:2 engineering program with Oberlin and another school, and one over Northeastern.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ha! your daughter sounds like mine. so where will she consider?

Brown and Skidmore are the only ones she’s been positive about so far! Her college counselor is pushing Macalester but she doesn’t sound excited about that, either. Last year she was really excited about Fordham (we have lots of family in NYC and she loves it there), but something also soured her to it reading the bad reviews on Niche.

Skidmore doesn’t give merit aid so will be almost as expensive as Brown.

I think you need to take her on more visits even if she resists. She is being narrow minded (and my kid didn’t like Macalester or Oberlin that much so I am not pushing these schools). But if you need merit aid and she wants a private school, she needs to see more of what is out there and affordable. The schools in the northeast are going to be expensive and hard to get into.

Also, Niche is going to have negative reviews of all schools. It’s like reading Amazon reviews where even the products with almost a 5 star rating have negative reviews. Read the Fiske Guide instead.

+1

If you want merit money, look to the Midwest.

100%
My kid and niece got generous merit from Oberlin, Grinnell, Macalester, Wooster, Kalamazoo, Denison, St. Olaf, Centre College, etc.

That’s great! How much from Oberlin and Mac and with what stats?

Sure, so my DD had 33 ACT and 3.9+ UW GPA, both had average ECs like sports, summer jobs, volunteering, etc. and received 23K from Mac and 30K and 34K from Oberlin, respectively (I think my nice had closer to a 4.0 and 35 ACT which resulted in a few K more). This was in 2020, so things may have changed slightly. Every admitted student gets a 10K commitment scholarship or tuition reduction of that helps. Good luck!