So, my STEM DD was just awarded Oberlin’s John N. Stern Scholarship - one of 24 students and at $30k/yr it’s quite the honor.
While Oberlin is a greater distance from home than she wanted and she wasn’t sure about the cultural fit (too alternative?), how is the STEM program regarded as compared to her other choices?
Oberlin’s last graduating class was comprised of over 30% holders of STEM degrees and that wasn’t including Environmental Studies.or Psychology. It’s also been a leading per capita producer of science PhDs for as long as anyone can remember.
@Chembiodad congrats to her! That’s a huge amount of money. My DD will be a freshman this fall at Oberlin and is definitely not alternative, though she is very open minded and leans liberal. I think there are all types at Oberlin these days and my daughter felt that it was a very accepting place when she visited. Good luck with deciding! Is she going to attend All Roads to see what she thinks?
@LMC9902, thanks for the feedback. May I ask which other schools she was deciding between? The great news is her twin got a $23k Frederick Oberlin Scholarship to study history and poli sci and would also be a xc/track athlete if she attended Oberlin.
@Chembiodad my DD actually applied ED to Oberlin so she’s been committed since December but she visited more than 14 schools including Bates, Bowdoin, Grinnell, Hamilton, Dickinson, Barnard, Denison and Kenyon. She is a double legacy at Bates and would have honestly had no trouble getting in there if she tried - and it was a strong contender. Her second choice was Hamilton and she had stats that made her a very strong candidate for there too. In some ways it would have been “fun” to see where else she got in but she really just loved Oberlin and they gave her merit money during the ED round so we are happy. She and I are headed up for All Roads on April 21 because I’ve never seen Oberlin so I’m interested to check it out!
@LMC9902, thanks, sounds like a lot of overlaps. At this point, her favorite is Hamilton, but a trip out to see Carleton and Oberlin is probably in order. I think she ultimately holds out to see if she gets off the waitlist at either Middlebury or Wesleyan, but she does need to pick one of the others by May 1st so it should be quite a ride…
Her twin loves Bates and she needs to pick as well, but as she’s also going to be a xc/track athlete she’s already got it down to 2 (3?) schools.
Congrats on all the acceptances @Chembiodad and @LMC9902!
Yes, Oberlin is topnotch in STEM, as you’ll soon find out with a little looking around. https://new.oberlin.edu/events-activities/science-symposium/
“Currently, 23 members of the National Academy of Sciences earned their undergraduate degrees at Oberlin. It is astonishing for a school of Oberlin’s size to produce so many top scientists. No other liberal arts college comes close.”
Something that came up on another thread - Oberlin has also produced 11 MacArthur genius grants, i.e. about the same # as Yale.
I am a physics professor at another college, but I know several of the science faculty at Oberlin. My daughter graduated from Oberlin, so I have become very familiar with the quality of the sciences there. The science center is a terrific modern facility. Don’t let the stereotype for Oberlin deceive you. It has a wide variety of students and faculty, so most students will find kindred spirits there. Oberlin is an excellent choice for a student with serious academic interests.
@Fifty, thanks so much for the insight as a physics professor. Do you have familiarity with the STEM programs at Carleton and Hamilton, understanding that Carleton is overweighted STEM and Hamilton is more balanced?
@Chembiodad, I hesitate to comment about Carleton and Hamilton because I know them only by reputation and have not spent any time on their campuses. I would not worry however about the sciences being “overweighted” at Carleton. More than half of Carleton students major in the social sciences and the humanities, so it should have a healthy balance of disciplines. If anything, the large number of students in the sciences indicates that the sciences are thriving at Carleton.
Incidentally Oberlin has a very large fraction of students whose parents are academics. That might account, in part, for the substantial number of Oberlin graduates who go on to earn PhD’s.
I don’t know much about those schools, but I’ll relate one anecdote. My younger cousin attended Oberlin on a full ride. She is STEMmy. Fast forward a few years, she now is getting her Physics PhD at MIT. Oberlin worked out well for her.
In terms of an observation regarding Carleton, they’ve been one of only five schools to have been ranked in the top three of USNWR’s LAC category. Though this accurately seems to attest to Carleton’s quality, as a selection criterion it should be regarded as one of only many factors, and as less significant than most.
Unfortunately DD, who is interested in studying STEM at an LAC, didn’t get into any of stretches with Brown as her dream school, but was waitlisted at Middlebury and Wesleyan and so while she’ll take a shot at both she knows it’s a slim chance.
So, of the seven great LAC’s that she was accepted at - Bates, Carleton, Colby, Colgate, Hamilton, Kenyon ($15k/year scholarship) and Oberlin ($30k/year John N. Stern Scholarship!) which are the top 2 for her intended path of the STEM fields with initial focuses on Biology/Neuroscience, Computer Science and Math?
Culturally, she’s a small school kid (thus the LAC selections) who is politically liberal (a Bernie kid, but not a crazy activist), socially down the middle (not preppy at all, but not alternative either), and was a student athlete in HS and will stay active with intramural sports, or club if they have it, in college.
Appreciate any insight - thx
If your daughter hasn’t done so already, she should probably look into the bioinformatics opportunities and course elements at all of her choices.
Just to highlight another school that might be an option:
My daughter and I just got back from a tour of Ohio Wesleyan and we spoke with a Neuroscience professor during our visit. They recently got a large endowment specifically for the Neuroscience department and they have hired three professors and have lots of money for research opportunities. They have revamped their program and now have a computational neuroscience track.
https://www.owu.edu/news-media/details/ohio-wesleyan-expands-neuroscience-program/
My junior and I toured last week and there were several seniors there for tours. I heard them say they are still accepting applications.
@Chembiodad good luck with the waitlists - you never know! I actually got into Bates off the waitlist at the last minute and I’m so glad I did (many years later) since I met my husband there. If your other DD has Bates on her short list I would highly recommend, it’s a great community.
@LMC9902, thx. Regarding meeting your spouse while at Bates, I heard that happens a lot there - wonder what drives that??
An acceptance off the Middlebury wl may mean a Feb admit - something to keep in mind as you mull over the options
@wisteria100 yes, it may mean a Feb admit, just as an acceptance in the regular course of admissions may mean a Feb admit, but you are no more likely to be a Feb by coming off the wait list.
@Chembiodad, that question was actually addressed here!
http://www.bates.edu/magazine/recent-favorites/su-2010-60-percent-solution/
I think the bottom line is that at small schools kids develop close relationships with their classmates. The fact that they see them often on campus probably helps as well.
-Sue22, another happily married “60%er” (although the real statistic is that around 12.5-13% of Bates students marry classmates.