I’m trying to decide between going to a higher ranking university like Oberlin or Grinnell and be graduating with about 25,000 dollars of debt or going to Denison and graduating debt free. I also don’t like some aspects of Denison like the Greek life and “preppy” student body. I’m very into art and theater and feel as though I would fit in better at Grinnell or Oberlin. I was wondering what other people’s impressions of those schools are.
@catlady17 My D is a sophomore English/theatre major at Denison. She was also accepted to Oberlin. Grinnell was never on her radar. She is not a partier, not at all preppy, and shuns Greek life (although she has friends who are Greek). She is thriving socially and academically. Graduating from Denison debt free sounds like an attractive option…good luck!
I’m a HUGE Oberlin backer and I’m quite a fan of Grinnell as well. That said, Denison is a great school and the few people I know who went there really thrived. Frankly, if you are loaded with money and the cost really doesn’t matter to you then I’d choose Oberlin with GrinnellI a close second. However, if you are like most people to whom $25,000 is a good chunk of change then I’d go the debt free option. Not only would you be debt free but you’d have bragging rights about getting a full ride. That sounds like a sweet deal to me.
Have you seen the Bryant arts facility at Denison? My kid was recently back on campus, and the non-preppy, artsy/alternative culture is significant and thriving at Denison. What he likes is that, much like Grinnell, there is no discernible typical Denison student.
The financial issue is personal to each family, but for us, that kind of financial difference between Grinnell/Oberlin and Denison would not make sense.