Oh for god’s sake. The General Tso’s chicken issue was raised by a handful of students two years ago. It was a momentary blip, and most people on campus knew nothing about it. Then some national media outfits picked it up and made it seem as though it was an important issue on campus, and two years later people (not in Oberlin) are still talking about it. It is in no way a reflection of the mood and concerns of the campus community, and the fact that it’s an issue on this website, as I see it, demonstrates the degree to which the college has been caricatured by people who don’t really know much about the college.
I wonder if the drop in enrollment is 1) a random blip or 2) a function of cost. My daughter applied to several LACs in and universities in the Midwest and when her acceptances came in, Oberlin was the most expensive of her options. She still ended up attending because it is a great fit for her. I can report that she is finding her classes challenging and serious and has to apply herself to keep up with the workload. The learning curve has been steep and gratifying. She is thrilled with the social, cultural, and volunteering opportunities on campus and in the broader community, first and foremost the superb musical offerings.
The new president and director of admissions presented well at orientation and I hope they are able to attract more students to the college.
I think an article in the Oberlin Review dated November 6, 2015, triggered the avalanche of negative press coverage. I wish the writer had titled the article: “Students complain about food”, and we never would have heard anything more. Dave 72 is correct.
I can see The Food Channel doing a whole series on whether the cultural appropriation was reversed.
But the whole food fiasco did hurt Oberlin’ s reputation and that concerns me. It is as good a school today as it was when my son entered two years ago, but I’m concerned that its tarnished reputation may devalue his degree.
Washington Times is a very right wing paper.
Massmomm,
If your son is applying to professional or graduate schools, Oberlin will only help, because it is highly regarded in academia. Most graduates of Oberlin have excellent writing, analytic, and speaking skills thanks to fine professors like Dave 72, which make them very marketable…
@hannuhylu Not all LAC’s are shrinking. The Claremont Colleges, Smith, Wellesely, Barnard, Amhest, Williams, Brown, Dartmouth, etc., continue to experience record-breaking application numbers. They also offered some of the best financial aid in the country, so that it can cost less to attend them than a state university.
@Massmomm I think it very doubtful it will affect the school’s reputation. Indeed, protests have been common across universities. It’s reputation certain remains excellent along the Coasts, where Oberlin is one of the few midwest colleges considered to be a peer of Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, the Claremont Colleges or the 7th Sisters.
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@exlibris97 I agree the top schools will be around, but in the end LACS are shrinking.
Not sure politics have anything to do with it.
This year the conservatory got the most apps ever and A&S went down only from last year which was also the highest # of apps ever. 2017 is the third most apps ever.
Seems more like a math problem - they screwed up the formula for acceptance and yielded too few.
I think it was a temporary dip, but I don’t think it was a yield management problem. In 2017 the school accepted 229 more students than the year before but yielded 34 fewer. That’s a pretty big drop in yield for one year and I wouldn’t be surprised if it had to do with some of the negative news stories which painted Oberlin students as politically extreme. Had the school experienced the same yield as the year before it would have had a class of 835. Instead that number was 728.
Yields for 2013-2017 were 34.5%, 33.7%, 34.6%, 31.9%, and 27.8%. The yield drop in 2016 can be explained by the fact that Oberlin saw a big leap in applications that year, but I can’t imagine admissions forecast a drop of 4% from 2016-2017.
I’m glad to hear that admissions are rebounding. Oberlin’s a great school.
I think Oberlin is taking all the right steps to change course in the face of these challenges and President Ambar, the new president, is wonderful. They acknowledge there have been some missteps but are making changes and looking to the future. People should not be worried about sending their student to Oberlin, it’s a really special place and will continue to be a strong institution.
What steps has President Ambar taken, specifically?
The endowment in October grew to over $840,000,000.
Thanks. Anything else seems to be happening?