Earlham College - Seeking tips for campus visit/interview

<p>My wife and I are taking our son to visit Earlham College next week. He graduates next year, and would potentially enter in the fall of 2011.</p>

<p>We will be doing the usual visit stuff (taking the tour, my son will sit in on a class, we will meet with the admissions staff). In addition, my son will be interviewing.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is there anything unique to Earlham that we should make sure to see, ask about, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>My son has read up on all of the standard interview questions for college interviews. Can anyone give us an idea of what they will ask in the Earlham interview?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>I am not an Earlham student, but there is about a 50 percent chance that’ll be there next fall as a transfer. (I’ll still be considered a freshman until I complete the fall semester)</p>

<p>I’ve visited a couple times and had an interview. Unless the interview changed, it was the most laid back interview I had. I didn’t feel like I was being interrogated at all. It was much more of a question and answer session, but between the student and a counselor. I don’t even remember being asked that many questions. </p>

<p>As far as other aspects of the visit, I don’t really know. I’d try and set up a meeting with a professor that teaches an area of study that your son might be interested in. Also, sitting in on a class will give you a decent feel of how some classes are run. I would suggest an overnight stay to get a better feel of the student body, but if you don’t go that route, make sure you talk to students instead of just school officials.</p>

<p>Hi Mich Dad (think I got that right)</p>

<p>My son loved both interviews he had at Earlham - the interviewers (admissions counselors who strike me as more mature than most) worked really hard to reach him by finding common ground with his interests - if your son hasn’t done many interviews yet, I’d suggest that he be ready to talk about his favorite books or activities. And they definitely will encourage him to sit in on a class. </p>

<p>I wrote a review of our visit on Jan 20 in the Earlham Class of 2014 Applicants thread - search around for that; will give you a little more flavor.</p>

<p>My son was accepted, and it’s in his top 3 - I will be very happy if he chooses Earlham.</p>

<p>MichDad,
I am a freshman at Earlham College.
Don’t sweat the interview, I know the admissions staff, and they are all very nice people. The goal at Earlham is not to scare off students, but to bring in as many as the school can. Enrollment is down a considerable amount, and Earlham is hurting for students. Two things to consider as your son applies though: first, enrollment and retention rates are both suffering at Earlham. For the past 10 years or so the retention rate has been falling and it is currently around 80%. This is very poor in comparison to other similar institutions. Secondly, Earlham is adopting a “need aware” approach to admissions. The fund for financial aid here is down a considerable amount, and the school is struggling to meet the need of its students. I have heard that after the first year, Earlham has a tendency to cut one’s aid a considerable amount. As a current student, I can attest to the frustration experienced by anyone trying to deal with the financial aid office. If financial aid is an important issue for you, I would tread carefully around Earlham. Anyway, enjoy the visit, we are having lovely weather here, and it should be a fantastic visit.</p>

<p>MichDad, please be aware that EarlhamTransfer is engaging of something of an anti-Earlham campaign on this forum. His/her postings are lacking in balance, at best.</p>

<p>Just to address one of his/her complaints: Our dealings with the Financial Aid Office have been uniformly constructive and pleasant. Despite what ET has “heard” about FA after the first year, this is Earlham’s policy, from the website: </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[Earlham</a> College | Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.earlham.edu/financialaid/content/applying-faq.html]Earlham”>http://www.earlham.edu/financialaid/content/applying-faq.html)</p>

<p>Earlham has suffered from the economic downturn. They are hardly unique in this respect, and I’d hazard a guess that virtually all LACs are facing enrollment and retention issues. IMO it is to Earlham’s credit that they were one of the last holdouts on need-blind admissions, and I have no doubt that even in the current environment, they are doing everything they can to make it possible for students to attend.</p>

<p>I’m not on FA, so I can’t speak to that, but I wouldn’t be shocked if there was some downturn in FA offered. The economy has hit everyone, and Earlham is no exception. On the other hand, I really haven’t heard too many complaints about FA on campus, so I don’t think that I would be as concerned as ET is (although asking about that during the visit isn’t a bad idea at all). </p>

<p>ET is also correct that retention is an issue here at Earlham, but the retention question is one that deserves some careful thought. I think that there are three issues that contribute to Earlham’s relatively low retention rate; the economy, student dissatisfaction and (perhaps most overlooked) fairly lax admission standards. Earlham admits like 75 percent of all applicants, they take a lot of risks on who they let in. For example, I almost failed out of HS on several occasions and graduated with about a 2.2 gpa (but with some pretty good SAT scores). They let in tons of HS underachievers. For some people (like me), Earlham is a great place to turn it around and start taking academics seriously (and I think makes the academic culture far more interesting than a school who only lets in HS over achievers or w/e), but other people are simply unprepared, unwilling or unable to keep up with Earlham’s academics. Thus, I’ve seen a lot of people drop out because they just weren’t taking classes seriously. Letting in people like me is something of a double edged sword, I think it makes Earlham a more interesting place to learn, but it also leads to a lower retention rate.</p>

<p>Las Ma,
Before you slander my posts, allow me a chance to support them.<br>
Your quote from the website is, unfortunately, outdated. In a recent article, Earlham president Doug Bennett explained that the admissions process is no longer need blind. </p>

<p>“A year ago in February, the board of trustees approved a new financial aid strategy. By that new strategy, we are no longer “need blind” in admission.”</p>

<p>The complete article may be found here:
[Admissions</a> growth, diversity key to vitality at The Earlham Word](<a href=“http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/op-ed/admissions-growth-diversity-key-to-vitality/]Admissions”>http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/op-ed/admissions-growth-diversity-key-to-vitality/)</p>

<p>Here is an article about the history of poor retention at Earlham:
[100</a> studies, no fix for poor retention at The Earlham Word](<a href=“http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/news/100-studies-no-fix-for-poor-retention/]100”>http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/news/100-studies-no-fix-for-poor-retention/)</p>

<p>And finally, and article about the initiatives being taken to acquire more “low-need” students at Earlham:
[Admissions</a> works to increase enrollment at The Earlham Word](<a href=“http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/news/admissions-works-to-increase-enrollment/]Admissions”>http://ecword.org/index.php/2010/03/news/admissions-works-to-increase-enrollment/)</p>

<p>As much as you think you can gain a good amount of knowledge about a school from visits and the website, only current students can give a true perspective of what the college is like. I would advise you to be more cautious about writing off the comments of a current student, however biased or slanderous they may be, there is truth behind what they say. Moreover, you will never have the wealth of information and experience that they have as a current student. It is sad that you are so quick to write off legitimate concerns and critiques about the school as slanderous and factually untrue. Just because someone says something that you do not agree with does not mean that they are inherently wrong or lying.</p>

<p>You’re correct, admissions is now need-aware, as of the incoming class Fall '10. This is hardly headline news in the world of college admissions. Perhaps I read your post incorrectly, but you seem to imply this is unusual skulduggery on Earlham’s part – quite the contrary. As I mentioned, Earlham was one of the few remaining need-blind schools, and it seems even they have been forced by economic circumstances to make the change. </p>

<p>I’d be interested in your source for the comment “I have heard that after the first year, Earlham has a tendency to cut one’s aid a considerable amount.” You seem to imply that they lure students with large offers for the first year, and then leave them high and dry for sophomore year on. I only wanted to point out their clear policy about FA for returning students, just in case MichDad was wondering. The policy states that future aid will be administered under the guidelines in place when the student entered, without substantial change unless there are changes in financial/family status, or academic progress. So I don’t know what may happen with students entering next Fall, but since you entered in the need-blind era, the change in admissions policy shouldn’t affect you.</p>

<p>And you’re right, I’m not a student at Earlham or anywhere, but my D is a first-year there, so I hear quite a little bit about the place on a regular basis. I’m not arguing that it’s perfect, and D has had some problems for sure; some self-inflicted, some caused by unrealistic expectations. It’s a great fit for her in some respects, and a poor fit in others. My comments are merely to offer balance; when for example, you say that you’ve had terrible experiences with the FA people, I feel compelled to note that our experiences have been 180 degrees different. </p>

<p>I wish you the best in finding a school that works better for you for next year.</p>

<p>Our son is a junior at Earlham and we could not be happier with the fit for him. </p>

<p>You should check out the stables if he has any interest in horseback riding. </p>

<p>Also their off campus study programs (typically the second semester of the junior year) are truly amazing, diverse, well run, and (from thankful parent’s point of view) safe and well managed. I am amazed that for the same cost as a semester at Earlham our son is in Northern Ireland and having an incredible experience. So I would check those out while you are there.</p>

<p>It is worth the time to consider the variety of dorm offerings as they can be quite different and offer some really fun things. One year our son was in a “quiet” dorm, the next year a “co-op” where the students basically run the dorm hall by consensus as per the Earlham model. The Quaker values are not at all preachy but provide a great grounding.</p>

<p>If you son has an idea of his major, you might be able to set up a chat with some professors if you ask early in the visit. (our son had absolutely no idea when we were in the college selection phase- another reason we love Earlham as he has settled on psychology/international relations and loves it).</p>

<p>The campus has a great vibe- intellectually curious and socially motivated students - so enjoy!</p>

<p>Thanks for all of the informantion. We had a great visit last week and the interview went well. My S has a lot to think about over the next few months. Thanks again.</p>

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<p>This is another thing I found very interesting at Earlham: Almost every student we talked to was a double-major. Not sure whether this is typical at LACs these days, or if this is something unique to Earlham. Double majors were rare back when I was in school.</p>