<p>So I received an e-mail about this all expense paid trip to Oberlin for a weekend and I was pretty excited. Oberlin is in my top 3 for school choices and the chance to spend 3 days there struck me as too good to be true. Then I saw the application...So before I start to get all excited at this opportunity I was wondering if anyone knows how hard it is to be accepted to this program? Is it almost a given if you're a strong student or is it as competitive as the admissions process?</p>
<p>I think the “competitiveness” of MVP is anybody’s guess. I know someone who applied for that program, was rejected, almost decided not to apply to the college as a result (after all, if you can’t get into MVP, how can you expect to be admitted to the college?), decided to apply to the college RD anyway, was accepted and given a John F. Oberlin merit scholarship. To this day, this student still doesn’t understand why she was rejected for the Multicultural Visit Program. Was she “overqualified” for MVP? Was it a different group of administrators that selected MVP versus the regular college admissions committee? Was there some other reason? She still doesn’t know.</p>
<p>I would assume, then, that admission or rejection to MVP is, at best, a marginal influence on the regular admissions process.</p>
<p>Definitely apply for the MVP program! I’m not involved in the selection process for that program, but it does depend on a wide variety of factors. Being a good student is important, but decisions are also affected by considerations that are not part of the regular admissions process, such as whether or not you have already visited campus (preference is given to those who haven’t), and if we can get you here with a reasonable flight schedule. Also, competitiveness really depends on how many others have applied for that program date.</p>