But I do have to say that I really liked the acceptance Youtube with just the very cool president talking straight to the camera, no goofy mascots or chipper student welcomes or drone camera overviews. I really like this guy and would love to have my daughter attend the school he describes and represents.
Financially it’s a not-even-close. Oh, well. Lots o’ love elsewhere! Their loss…right?
@bobo40 we are living parallel lives. 
@bobo44, sometimes the merit aid plus Federal/Stafford is such that the remainder is in the EFC range, so there is no need-based aid on top of it. Essentially they are substituting a merit award for need-based aid, which works in your favor as it means you could get more in future years if your income drops, but you won’t get less if your income goes up.
Current Denison parent, happy to help with questions!
@Midwestmomofboys My daughter got in and is excited but we won’t be able to afford it. Have you heard of them offering more scholarship help later on. There are several other schools that have added scholarships recently to their packages.
@NiagraFalls16 I don’t know anyone who “appealed” or asked for more merit award. If there have been changes to your financial situation which affect the need based aid determination, then I think it is absolutely worth checking with financial aid office about that. If your daughter had merit from other peer-type schools that are higher, and she would go to Denison over all her other choices, then it could be worth a communication to your admissions officer, explaining that she would attend Denison if the money worked, and Denison could match other merit offers. The worst that can happen is they say “no.”
I found this Adam Weinberg, Denison’s President, to be very helpful for learning about Denison’s strategic plan: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y27ldfxrG0
Adam Weinberg really shapes the culture at Denison, and I encourage anyone considering Denison to take a look at his Huff Post (or social media presence). https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/adam-weinberg
@Midwestmomofboys , do you know where the link is to his welcome address to the accepted 2022 class is?
@frutsun darn, no I don’t see it on Adam Weinberg or Denison’s Twitter, or on the Admissions page, sorry!
Anyone receive a full tuition scholarship?
Waitlisted
@appalachymom, I’m also wondering. When I was looking through them on their website it seemed that they all had either diversity, central Ohio, or science provisions—none of which my daughter had.
On the full tuition awards, we met several of those kids at an Admitted student event the spring of my kid’s senior year – one was deciding between full pay at Stanford and full tuition award at Denison. Another was making the same decision between Columbia vs Denison. The first one chose Stanford, the second one chose Denison. My kid is friends with another full tuition award kid, turns out that student was admitted to Yale but took full tuition award at Denison. Those full tuition awards are very very competitive!
@Midwestmomofboys thank you for answering these questions and those links to Adam Weinberg. I watched his description of the strategic plan, and felt it was a good overview of the school and their intentions.
Could you comment on the “tone” of the student body from your family’s perspective? Is there another school that resembles Denison’s vibe? From reading I get “sporty, pre-professional via liberal arts” and our summer visit showed a lot of school spirit. Just curious if we were reading correctly or if we need to visit again when class is in session. (My S is interested in English and creative writing).
I called today to ask about appeals to the tuition my son was accepted but still out of our range. They said they put a al lot of thought into the offers before they go out and they don’t have an appeal process, that it is the number in the offer.
Accepted with 57k in aid not counting work study,unsubsidized loan and book grant so pretty pumped!!
Congratulations, @Welljess2022! That is wonderful!!! Woo hoo!
@chippedtoof Sure, let me try, on the “vibe” – though I really can’t think of another school we saw that is an easy comparison. What my kid (and we) appreciate is that there is not a dominant vibe or group – if you want fratty lax bros, there is that. If you want bearded, flannel wearing folks living on the organic farm and playing bluegrass, there is that. If you want artsy, creative kids, making music, film, art, there is that. And plenty of other “slices” too. Everyone co-exists pretty well – I’ve heard Adam Weinberg talk about steps taken to create an environment where the students solve problems themselves, not run to the administration every time there is conflict. The overarching culture is one of respecting difference. I ran across an article a few weeks ago talking about how Reince Priebus and the plaintiff in the same sex marriage case, Jim Obergefell spoke on campus on back-to-back days. There were no protests, walk outs, demands to disinvite anyone. Another example – post 2016 eletion results – there was spontaneous meetings by the flagpole outside the student center, and both pro Trump and pro Clinton (and others) spoke, and were listened to (some of it wound up on FB live).
For point of reference to other places we visited, which he liked well enough, but didn’t love – Oberlin felt like there was a forced quirkiness, Kenyon was too small at 1600 some kids, and felt too self-conscious about its “specialness,” Dickinson, St Lawrence and Conn Coll were less diverse. Bates had a similar lack of pretension as Denison, but felt more concentrated wealth and New England. Also, for us in the midwest, Maine was too darn far away, especially as it meant we’d never see him compete live. At the end of the day, the pretty, enclosed campus, with the adorable village down the hill, all 25 minutes from internships, music, art etc. in Columbus, made Denison the “just right” (for my kid) school.
@Midwestmomofboys Thank you, that was very helpful. I’m impressed! Another visit might have to be worked out 