<p>dave72, where is your info from? By the look of some of these results, I would have assumed Oberlin isn't entirely need-blind.</p>
<p>Too many students applied this year to too many places muzicgirl89 and tht is the problem especially the Ivy league applicants. It is hard to compete with thm. Many students applied to over 20 places and tht kinda sucks whn it messes with our chances. Oberlin is a small LAC and can't accommodate every qualified applicant, I sound like an admission officer here but it IS true. And I made the mistake of applying to only LACs, bad timing now because of the application trend. I just realized tht. The smaller the college we apply, the more selective it is. (Maybe I should hv applied to 20 schools as well!)</p>
<p>Muzicgirl, I can confirm Dave72's statement. Need does not play a role in admissions, aside from Early Decision, and the waitlist during the summer. Really, I would say that one of the core things is the "Why Oberlin" essay--you can be a great or good candidate, and that's one of the most important factors.</p>
<p>I must now agree with Dave72 (although I had made a post about LAC's and financial aid that he questioned in another thread). Oberlin has just offered D a very large grant and offered her more money than Grinnell, Reed, or Lawrence in her package. The only offer that matched Oberlin in terms of need and relative expense of the school was Case Western (who offered a large scholarship and a grant).</p>
<p>Skygirl,
You sound like a great student and person. Don't beat up on yourself about applying only to LAC's. The whole application thing is confusing. D got into all of the LACs (Oberlin, Grinnell, Reed, Case, Lawrence) but was waitlisted at our big state school!</p>
<p>Aww, SkyGirl, let me give you a virtual ((hug)). I've got to hand it to you. I know this is a huge disappointment, but already you're able to step back and look at the situation and to be thankful for the full-ride. I'm really happy you have that. Please do let us know how the rest of your applications turn out. Whatever school you attend will be fortunate to have you.</p>
<p>Excuse me, but Oberlin IS need aware in admissions:
Partner</a> Schools: Oberlin College</p>
<p>Just to reiterate: Oberlin is need aware, but ONLY at the level of waitlist admissions, not at the level of regular-decision admissions. It's an important distinction. The assumption that need played a role in the decision about skygirl or any other student in the current round is incorrect. Sorry if I wasn't clear before.</p>
<p>ACCEPTED! And with the John Frederick Oberlin scholarship for $15,000/yr!
I was surprised I was accepted, so the scholarship blows my mind. I never expected any merit aid from any of my top choices.</p>
<p>Stats:
GPA (uw): 3.8
Rank: ~7/360
SATS: 730V/740M/730W
SAT IIS: M2690 UH690
EC: MSPCA volunteer, President of JSA Chapter, Mock Trial, AV Club (morning news), smaller contributions to literary magazine (an editor & contributor), book club, NHS
Recommendations: Relatively, I don't know. They seemed alright.</p>
<p>I'm a hardworking kid who loves to learn, but I don't think I'm a very unique applicant.</p>
<p>accepted by email a few days ago! Got $16,000 grant--not merit as far as I can tell and $7,000 loans/work study. On the good side of what my family was expecting, so Oberlin remains a possibility! Basically it's the only school I've gotten into that I wasn't entirely expecting to get into, so that's nice. I can certainly see myself there...</p>
<p>it's so weird to actually be on this end of admissions, only one school left to hear from...Tufts--rejection, probably.</p>
<p>I got in yesterday plus 15K a year (merit based). I'm pretty happy about it, I hadn't seriously considered Oberlin until now. I expected to get into most of my schools, but I got waitlisted at Vassar and Wesleyan. That only makes me more apprehensive about the schools I'm still waiting on (including Cornell...).</p>
<p>...it's between Reed and Oberlin I think.</p>
<p>Congratulations everyone who got in, and good luck to everyone who's waitlisted or rejected.</p>
<p>I'm happy to answer any questions you might have :-). Send me a PM.</p>
<p>I got the 15k merit scholarship as well. But I'm curious to know if that is separate from the other financial aid (grants, loans, work-study,etc...), or if that is all I am being offered?</p>
<p>You'll receive your financial aid in the next few days/weeks, if you applied for aid, and that scholarship will be listed in the award letter along with other components.</p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who got in!! Our daughter has not heard yet...is this the case for anyone else?</p>
<p>Financial Aid 101:</p>
<p>Scholarships are not need based. They are usually awarded for 4 years. (Take the amount stated and you will get that amount each year for 4 years.) The amount of the scholarship will not change regardless of your financial situation.</p>
<p>Grants are need based. The amount given will likely change each year depending on your financial situation. They may go up or down or be completely eliminated. When you are awarded a grant it is a gift of money for that particular year. </p>
<p>Loans are need based. The primary types of loans are Stafford loans which are guaranteed by the government and are capped at a certain level depending on what year you are in school. The caps rise each year. A subsidized Stafford is one where the government pays all of the interest on the loan until you graduated. An unsubsidized Stafford means you are responsible for the interest accrued from the beginning of the loan. You do not need to begin repaying a loan until 9 months after you graduate. If you attend graduate or professional school payments are deferred until you complete that schooling as well. Plus Loans are loans available to your parents and are not awarded through the school although they may provide information about them.</p>
<p>Work study allows you to earn money while in college or over the summer. The money comes from the federal government but is directed by each individual school. If you get a work study job the money you earn is given directly to you. You can decide if you want to do work study or not. The amount of money you are awarded is the maximum that you can earn in a year from the work study program. There are also jobs available on campus that are not work study related. At Oberlin, I think many of the food service jobs are not work study related and there is no cap on how much money you can earn. Work study should be thought of mostly as providing for your spending money, books, and travel expenses to and from home. </p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Sorry to intrude guys. I really want to ask this question, and it has been eating me even after I discussed it with another CC member. Obviously, I got rejected by Oberlin as you all know. Suddenly I noticed before finding out my decision, there seem to be one or 2 Oberlin admission officers are CC members. I was really surprised. I want to know did you guys reject any students after going over their CC threads or posts after recognizing their stats. Other CC people say its ridiculous, but I am still wondering.
Probably because one of my threads on financial aid in February was taken over by some of the vocal CCers who kinda got out of control there. I didn't even say anything mean. They just went crazy as the thread continued.
So I am worried that could threads like that wrote my rejection. Since a couple of times I had said Oberlin was my 1st choice in that thread.
If that is really the case, I will be kicking myself that some stupid thread caused all my hard work to be undone. I could accept any reason but if it is really because of that CC thread or any other of my posts, I can't believe I really did this to myself. I will be blaming myself for ages.</p>
<p>Oberlin admissions officers are CC members?</p>
<p>I found an Oberlin tour guide who was posting - not an admissions officer.</p>
<p>Skygirl- Oberlin's rejection of you was their loss, it has nothing to do with your posts or your stats as far as I can tell. Although I'm 99% positive no admissions officers looked at that post, you said nothing wrong on it and so it couldn't possibly have been held against you (unless the admission officers are REALLY stupid, but I rather doubt it). I know people say Oberlin is need-blind, but one can never really know was goes on behind those close doors; in this case it really looked like the your need for aid played a role in the decision.</p>
<p>Anyhow, don't feel bad about yourself just because of the rejection; you're a very qualified candidate and will probably be successful wherever you go. So best of luck, and relax!</p>