Help with Ohio Visit Decision: Denison vs. Ohio Wesleyan vs. College of Wooster (or something else?)

College Search & Selection
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These are very good institutions – my son visited all of them – CWRU, Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin, OWU and Wooster. He is interested in music and environmental studies. Of the six schools, he liked Kenyon, Oberlin and OWU the best. Since you are already decided on visiting Kenyon and Oberlin, let me focus on what my son liked about OWU.

In his meetings with professors at OWU, he felt they really took an interest in his academic goals and aspirations … even as a prospective student. Some of the professors gave him quick tours of the facilities.

The music department has its own separate building close to the residential area which is convenient. There are
many opportunities to participate in ensembles, singing groups and bands at OWU so it should work out well for you.

He felt that for a school of 1,850 students, OWU offered a lot of academic offerings and facilities. I agree with my son; having attended a NE LAC, just slightly smaller than OWU, OWU has a wide range of departments, classes, buildings and equipment for a school of its size. Small class sizes, grant efforts supporting student studies and for facilities, such things as an electron microscope, a geothermal energy system that heats the pool, one of the largest stadiums he has ever seen at a division 3 school, etc. Plus a wave of efforts are about to launch for new buildings and renovations funded by alums – always a good sign that they are very active and giving back.

It’s a very active student campus life and professors are involved in that aspect too. There’s enough to do at OWU that the students he interacted with rarely felt the need or wanted to leave the campus; if they do, Columbus offers a lot and is under 30 minutes away.

These are the comments that he made about OWU which come to mind. He is definitely considering it.

Hope you have a great time during your visits to these schools.

22

The two really fixed points are CWRU and Oberlin. Beyond that, it was bit of a toss-up which three of the other four (Kenyon, Wooster, Denison, OWU) to visit, though I’ve narrowed that down to a choice between Denison and OWU, just because of where they fit in the trip.

My admittedly rather slender logic for omitting OWU as opposed to one of the others was that it seemed like the most sports-oriented of the schools (not his bag) and possibly the easiest to get in to, at least in terms of raw numbers, which gave the others more weight in terms of prioritizing showing up.

At the same time, I’m getting the sense that OWU might actually appeal to him more than Denison. Again… Looking for good science, ample music, opportunities, a certain geeky/quirky vibe, unpretentious open-minded kids … Hm.

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This is interesting: http://collegeboundmentor.com/institutions/ohio-ohio-wesleyan-wittenberg-college-of-wooster-oberlin-denison-and-kenyon-2/

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Because I live close to it, I have commented a lot about OWU, but I actually know much more about Kenyon than any of these four schools. My father is a Kenyon alum and I have visited numerous times (and always eat on campus when there).

Comparing OWU and Kenyon is very much one of contrasts. Among those contrasts is the fact that only about 50% of students at Kenyon get financial aid while 95% of those at OWU do so. This is clearly because Kenyon students come from more prosperous families. Indeed, it seems to me that most Kenyon students, although marvelous and wonderful, also appear somewhat pampered. Perhaps this also explains why they seem so well adjusted and lacking in quirkiness. I do not know OWU students as well I do Kenyon’s, but they do seem quirkier and probably rarely have felt pampered.

One obvious contrast is that Kenyon is quite difficult to get admitted to, but Ohio Wesleyan is not so hard. 25% admissions rate for Kenyon, 74% for OWU. I can vouch for the fact that Kenyon students are very bright and very well read; it is a cerebral campus.

I have visited Wooster once and Denison twice. My impression is that Wooster would be more similar to OWU than it is to Kenyon, while Denison is a bit more like Kenyon than it is the other two. In fact, Denison and Kenyon are sports rivals, which is a tacit acknowledgement of similarity.

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OWU has had more athletic success than most other Division 3 schools but that’s not a bad thing; it just means that part of the student body excels both in the classroom and in athletic competitions. Second, not all OWU students are focused on athletics; instead, a sizeable portion of the OWU student body excels both in the classroom and in the arts. It’s a diverse and multi-talented student body.

Along the same lines, I wouldn’t suggest a prospective student rule out Oberlin just because of a dislike for music. Oberlin offers a lot even if music is not your bag (I know; not an issue for us).

With the visits and through the application process, school preferences will come through.

OWU has a great science and music reputation so, based on your son’s interests, I would definitely keep Oberlin and OWU in the mix.

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Thank you again! On the strength of this discussion, I believe we will be swapping out the visit to Denison for a visit to OWU, which increasingly sounds more like my kid’s cup of tea. I really can’t wait to see how he reacts to each of these schools, all of which sound terrific in their own way.

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Just FYI: Our son is in the midst of making a decision about some of these schools and has return visits (for admitted students) to OWU and Wooster scheduled in the next few weeks. His first visit to OWU (just for the day, last year) was fabulous–a faculty member from the theater department took him (with his dad) on a tour of the whole theater facility (including up on the catwalks) and then went to lunch with them. Really impressive. On these second visits he is sitting in on classes, staying overnight in the dorms, etc. I should add that our son is not at all sporty, preppy, or interested in joining a fraternity, but is instead very quirky, bright, artsy, and a little bit nerdy. He also loved his first visit to Wooster, but has subsequently found out that it doesn’t have quite as strong or well-suited a department in his major field, plus OWU has offered him slightly better funding (both have been very generous!), so going into the visits OWU is his likely choice. But we all feel that either one would be a lovely place to go to college.

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@profparent we just returned from Ohio for the exact same reason: two overnight visits, attending classes, etc at both OWU and Wooster. I was certain that we would have a decision…instead I have a child who is even more confused! There were pros and cons to both schools (and these were repeat visits for us, too - six months ago, to the day!). I think this will still be up in the air on April 30th!

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Oh no, janjmom! You must be going crazy (I know I am) waiting for a decision to emerge. I’ve been hoping that these visits would clarify our son’s decision, though I think in his case there is enough of a difference between the two (in comparative strength of majors and comparative financial packages) to make the decision (at least going into the visits) clearer. But one never knows… Feel free to send me a private message (not quite sure how those work on CC, but it seems there is a method for it?) if you want to commiserate or swap impressions more. It is going to be a nail-biting April!

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@profparent I sent you a (probably too lengthy) private message. You should see a little envelope shape at the top right of this page with a little arrow pointing toward it. Click on that to read the message and then, if you want to reply, you’ll see a reply option at the bottom of the message.

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No such thing as too lengthy when processing college decisions! I’ll go look at it right now. :wink:

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@janjmom We were at Wooster yesterday for the admitted students day(s). There were tons of people there. Just wondering how your visit went.

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@midwestdad3 I’ve been meaning to come back and post an update - so busy catching up after being gone all week!! He had a great visit at both CoW and OWU. There are pros and cons to both schools (for him) and he is really conflicted. His last comment was “I had a really great time at both schools and I’m not sure I want to attend either. Can we revisit Dickinson?”

So, ugh! Off we go to Dickinson two weeks from now (earliest we can get there).

I tried to get him to articulate why. He says that the students at CoW seem a little too intellectual and at OWU they don’t feel intellectual enough. In his opinion, Dickinson is in between the two.

In my opinion, CoW is the middle ground with Dickinson being more rigorous (although maybe that’s not the same as the students seeming intellectual…who knows?).

But the price difference between Dickinson and the two Ohio schools is huge for us (+$20K per year difference) because both Ohio schools were much more generous with merit aid. I’m really pushing Ohio.

I think the real reason he wants to go to Dickinson has to do with proximity to the college his girlfriend will be attending…

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Girlfriends (and boyfriends) are notoriously unreliable reason to attend a school.

Dickinson is great. Denison would also be “between” Wooster and OWU for feel, too.

You have no bad options here.

Good luck!

35

Totally true. Choose the school on academic fit, cost, and social fit (to the extent that it can be determined).

For what it is worth, my freshman roommate broke up with his girlfriend half way through our freshman year. He did not return for sophomore year. She was the only reason he went to our college. In fact, he waited a year to attend because she was a year behind him.

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OP, probably too late, but I’ll add my 2 cents. My D visited Kenyon and Denison on the same day in the fall of 2013. For some reason, she crossed Kenyon off her list…she simply didn’t like the ‘vibe’. She loved Denison. The students were impressive, but what struck us both was how friendly and helpful the school employees were. They went above and beyond. We saw Oberlin on a later visit, and she liked it enough to apply. So decision time came one year ago, and the finalists were (with some merit at all four) Denison, Oberlin, Dickinson and Muhlenberg. Cost was the same at Denison and Muhlenberg…Dickinson was $10k more, Oberlin $14k more. She’s now a freshman at Denison and loves it. She’s an artsy, liberal, English major who also dabbles in theater. She is anti-Greek, anti-drink/drug, and definitely not preppy. She has found her niche. We talked about OWU and Wooster early on, but could not find time to visit, and she was against applying to any school whose campus she didn’t physically step foot on. Best of luck, and I hope the final decision is a stress-free one!

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OP, I just posted on another thread that Kenyon had 7,077 applications this year and admitted 1,689. Their admit rate was 23.8%. They have suddenly become much more difficult to get into than most of the other Ohio LACs.

Denison’s apps were up as well, over 6,000 for this year I have heard. I don’t know what their admit rate was. I think the huge demand for the top LACs is starting to spill over into increased apps for the Ohio colleges, so many of which are very good and have been a bit underappreciated.

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Just based on random college literature we’ve seen, I’d say Kenyon has been vigorously recruiting (and outside of its core score zone), which might partly explain the uptick in applications.

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Wittenburg and Ottobein also worth checking out. Some good merit money might be available. But with these smaller schools that are not as well known, it’s important to visit for the vibe, check out what is offered in terms of courses and degrees, and also make sure you get a good idea of how secure they are financially. Antioch was in my list of these schools, and it has since tumbled due to financial problems. Checking out the endowments and stability is a good idea as rough times are a coming to many private schools, IMO.

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^Kenyon is living through a “John Green” effect :wink: … and since it’s propelling it to the top of the ranking charts, the rankings will then anchor it there for a while.