Oberlin RD 2024

@luca2fish Yup, pretty darn close to a lottery. Just thought I’d give some rejected stats to put your waitlist in some “perspective”. Good luck!!

Son got in with some merit scholarship. Not his first choice but still in the running. I’m not really in the loop here. Did the “Gibson scandal” die down a bit or are people still making decisions based on that?

My daughter was accepted. Excellent aid package. International student.

DS got in! He is really excited! Loves that it is a LAC with small classes, great professors, nice midwestern town with access to a large city. He didn’t apply to the conservatory but does play the guitar and piano and is excited about everything the conservatory adds to the LAC. He thinks it will be an excellent undergrad experience and prepare him well for grad school.

DS was admitted. He also got into several other LACs, so I don’t know what he will decide. We need more aid than what everyone is offering so we are a bit worried because we will need to appeal for a bit more.

I have a daughter who is a sophomore at Oberlin. The Gibson scandal was before she started, it was in November 2016 and my daughter started Fall of 2018. The school was found liable for Gibson’s Bakery’s lost revenue from student protests and there was a huge judgement for pain and suffering of the owners. The judgement is in the appeals process now. I don’t think the scandal has had any affect on the programs and educational experience at the school as far as we can tell. If they lose the appeal and they have to pay a huge judgement then it could affect some of the merit scholarships and financial aid to kids with financial need.

As of now the financial aid seems fine. My younger daughter was just accepted with 27K merit aid! Although she’s not sure she wants to go to the same school as her sister and she thinks she wants to be in a bigger city than Oberlin, which is tiny.

My older daughter really loves Oberlin, she’s in Arts and Sciences and applying to be a Creative Writing major. She is supposed to do a semester abroad in Copenhagen this Fall, we will see if that will happen or not in a few months. She has been very happy with her classes and professors. She loves the friends she has made and enjoys the frequent music and other performances on campus. Everyone pretty much stays on campus, Cleveland is only 40 minutes away but there is always something fun to do on campus.

Good luck to all the seniors making their decisions!

Does anyone know what Oberlin’s gap year/defernment policy is?

Thanks for sharing jugetyjig. My daughter is weighing her decision. She wants to doublemajor in Creative Writing and Psychology

In general they are VERY open about taking a gap year. Of course you should check with them directly.

Thanks.

My daughter is also at Oberlin and loves it. She’s a double major in Creative Writing and East Asian Studies and was in Japan this spring until she was called home for Covid-19. Both departments are strong. She’s had an excellent experience at Oberlin and is very hopeful they will be returning to school in the fall (her senior year). She’s in frequent contact with her friends but it’s not the same as being on campus.

FWIW, I think Oberlin is doing a lot of things well right now and the atmosphere on campus is not impacted by the Gibson’s situation as far as she can tell. Many students work in town (my daughter did) and spend lots of time frequenting the businesses so there is not a town/gown issue that I can see. I really hope things calm down in the media and the school can move forward like it seems to be doing. I think incoming students will really enjoy some of the new opportunities around business and music!

Oberlin handled well the closure of the campus due to COVID. It covered emergency flights for low-income students, arranged for packing and shipping stuff from the dorms, continued to support students who were unable to go home in the short term, etc. And it created this learning opportunity for prospective students free of charge:

https://www.oberlin.edu/admissions-and-aid/for-accepted-students/virtual-visits/covid-19-course

I think that Oberlin’s president has provided sound leadership during the crisis and the Gibson’s drama has largely faded into the background.

@BrighterDays Both Creative Writing and Psych are strong programs at Oberlin.

Thanks for the feedback @mamaedefamilia . My daughter has accepted the offer to enroll at Oberlin.

Welcome! Please ask any questions you might have.

Thank you @oberlin_dad .She has applied for deferred enrollment so we are waiting for a response.

Hello! My child was just accepted to Oberlin and is planning on being a creative writing major. What Do you think the chances are of getting into the dept? He is an excellent writer, but we hear that it’s really competitive and he didn’t realize you have to apply just to get into the major. . .

If he’s a good writer I don’t think it’s a problem to be accepted to the major. They have to submit a portfolio which they will have a lot of opportunities to accumulate with all the writing they do in their classes! My daughter is extremely happy at Oberlin, as a junior she was off for the fall and will now be there through the summer term (they wanted all the kids in single dorm rooms so they could not have everyone there at the same time, so they added the summer term for this year). There are a ton of excellent writing classes and they fill up but the students can ask permission to attend a filled class and it is up to the professor. She has taken many interesting classes outside of writing also. She missed taking a semester abroad due to covid and she does not want to be away during her senior year next year, but it’s all good, the classes abroad may not have been as interesting as classes at Oberlin anyway. Good luck to your son! Hope he loves Oberlin!