<p>is anyone familiar with both these schools? My son is trying to decide between them. We're familiar with COW because his older brother attends. Son #2 has liked OWU on his two visits there....and that school just leaves me cold, and I don't see what he evidently sees in it. Does anyone else have feelings about either of these two schools, and the differences between them? Frankly, I've felt that the answers I've gotten on any number of topics at OWU have been negative and cold....could it just be me?</p>
<p>The administration people I saw seemed somewhat cold and hardass, and a number of answers I got were negative. For instance, at a presentation about summer abroad opportunities, we were told that OWU scholarships would not be applied to those semesters aware from campus. This is different from other colleges' policies. And on another occasion, when asked about supports to help students who are struggling, the admin person went into a spiel about how the kids are on their own and have to seek help on their own, and that if they let homework slide, the effects would be cumulative and a student could flunk out. This was said in a quite cavalier way. After hearing that, I looked up the retention rates for OWU and COW, a 7% difference. I don't know how significant that is, statistically, but I'm worried about how seriously OWU tries to keep its students. I'm not looking for a "survival of the fittest" school; I'm hoping for a school that helps its students succeed.</p>
<p>the summer support is a matter of financial aid policy though my sense is that most schools' policies on annual financial aid do not transfer to summer school. the people who take summer school courses tend to be either the overachievers, underachievers or people who are stuck on campus anyway. </p>
<p>you are raising a good point about the retention rate. most of the people who left OWU up to 3-4 years ago reflected in the numbers that you mentioned had ben for academic reasons. and you are correct, the survival of the fittest had been the process through which OWU historically was correcting for its high acceptance rate. this has partly changed in the last two years. part of it is due to the school doing a much more careful analysis of who will be likely to succeed once at OWU and not flunk out. drastic decrease of the acceptance rate has been the result in the last two years. last year the RD was in the low 50s for US applicants and 20% for internationals. from numbers that used to be much higher. </p>
<p>the academics at OWU are challenging. for many students and prospectives though, this is its best selling point, not its turn-off.</p>
<p>I'm afraid my too-fast typing resulted in my posting misleading information -- it's not "summer abroad" that I was concerned about, but "semester abroad." Your explanation of OWU's history is helpful. I guess I should feel flattered, on behalf of my son, that he was accepted. Maybe I'm biased because of my older son's good experience at Wooster.</p>
<p>Hi! I'm a junior in HS and visited both COW and OWU in the fall. I also found OWU very cold, something about it just didn't seem to fit with me. I think it may have been because the campus was so spread out...sounds odd, but I just felt lost. Also, during my visit they didn't offer to let me talk to any teachers or sit in on any classes. I didn't specifically ask to do this, but at Wooster it was an automatic thing. I also, coming from a very religious family, found OWU to not support the religious activities enough. While Wooster has an active chapel and church close to campus, OWU had a small room dedicated to all religions and used the chapel as a concert hall.</p>
<p>We visited COW and OWU also. My D hated OWU. Felt campus was divided by large roads and facilities seemed old except for campus center and science building. Maybe we were just tired as it was our last stop.</p>
<p>OWU left us cold, too. Something about it ... just didn't seem inviting. Wooster, on the other hand, proved a perfect fit, almost from the moment we first stepped on campus.</p>
<p>COW is a great school and I highly recommend it. As far as OWU, I think there are other great small Ohio schools in addition to COW that I'd put ahead of OWU including Denison, Kenyon, and Wittenburg.</p>
<p>Yet, OWU seems to be doing something right in the admissions process as compared to COW. Its admit rate was almost 50% last year as compared to the 90% admission rate for the College of Wooster. Not that it is the most important thing, but popularity and selectivity have something to do with general attractiveness of a college.</p>
<p>For some reason, OWU has been more "selective" than COW for several years now. But if we're going to trot out statistics, how about these? Freshman retention rate: OWU 80%, COW 87%; 2006 graduation rate: OWU 64%, COW 73%; percentage of classes under 20: OWU 54%, COW 68%; SAT score mid-50% range: OWU 1080-1320, COW 1100-1320. Plus, COW is much the prettier campus. So, it boggles the mind that OWU's acceptance rate for 2006 was 63% compared with COW's 80%. (Even crazier with the stats you quoted, which I guess are from 2007.) If someone can tell me why OWU can be so much more "selective" than COW, please let me know, because I doubt it has anything at all to do with being the "better" school.</p>
<p>Hindo, OWU is fairly close to Columbus, which as you know, is a major city. So my guess is that they are probably better known and have a larger applicant pool. Location can be significant factor. But you are right that OWU does not present any qualitative advantages.</p>
<p>You're probably right. ... Though, it irritates the fire out of me when people look at Wooster negatively based on its high acceptance rate. My daughter, a sophomore, is receiving every possible advantage of a high quality, small liberal arts college, including professors who really know her and seem to care about her future and well being. My other daughter attends Carleton College, the #5 LAC (US News), and their experiences so far have been very similar.</p>
<p>My S and I visited both Ohio Wesleyan and College of Wooster during his college selection process last year. We both left Ohio Wesleyan with a distinct negative feeling. Part of it was the admissions rep who seemed very bored with the school. Part of it was the campus which struck us as undistinguished. Of the twelve colleges, my S visited, this one had the least appeal. My S ended up not even applying there. </p>
<p>On the other hand. we both loved College of Wooster. We saw the college the day after we saw Ohio Wesleyan. The people we met on campus were interesting and engaged. The campus was nice. The independent study approach for upperclassmen was interesting. If the college had been closer to home, my S might well have attended.</p>
<p>If it helps anyone here, I can tell you that I'm an alum from more than 20 years ago. I have not been back to the campus since graduating, but still speak to a few of my professors and advisors from time to time (of course, most are retired now). I was surprised after I graduated to get greeting cards from them each year. That was further confirmation that I was not just a student at a school, but truly a part of a community. I still feel it the same today as when I attended. I live far away now and my kids have other interests, which I understand. However, even after visiting dozens of other schools around the country I am still 100% convinced Wooster is top notch.</p>