<p>I really love the idea of going to Oberlin, and it's one of the two schools I know I want to apply to. Obviously, I need more colleges on my list, so what other schools are very similar to Oberlin? What schools are strong in the liberal arts and have great academics but no overwhelming workloads? What other colleges have students who aren't competitive and open to all people, regardless of their political or religious beliefs?</p>
<p>Here's one person's (partial) list. I don't guarantee these schools meet all your criteria, but you might check them out:</p>
<p>Oberlin
Carleton
Macalester
Pomona
Vassar
Brown</p>
<p>Some others she didn't apply to but you might want to check out:
Bard
Skidmore
Occidental
Scripps</p>
<p>(less sure about the last two)</p>
<p>other possible overlaps, based on what I've seen on CC, are Wesleyan, Grinnell, U of Chicago, Reed (though reputed to be very demanding), Swarthmore (ditto). (Of those schools, I've only visited Wesleyan -- which seemed rather similar.) There is also some overlap with Williams, Amherst, Smith, perhaps especially Smith. Bard and Skidmore are a cut below Oberlin academically, from what I have gathered.</p>
<p>By reputation, there might be some issues with reconciling U Chicago, Swarthmore and Reed with the "no overwhelming workloads" specification. That's actually among the reasons my daughter didn't apply to these three schools. Not real sure about Grinnell.</p>
<p>Whether they would actually be any different than the others in this regard, once you got there, who can say.</p>
<p>In post #2 I listed schools with a range of selectivity, deliberately..</p>
<p>As someone who looked at a lot of schools like Oberlin, and liked Oberlin a lot, monydad's list is the schools that come to mind for me. Some other schools to check out:</p>
<p>Wesleyan (lots of people here also liked Oberlin a lot)
Haverford
Grinnell
Colorado College
Pitzer
Hampshire
Bennington
Lewis+Clark
Goucher
Dickinson</p>
<p>I would second Hampshire, there is a lot of overlap in applications with Oberlin.</p>
<p>As a current Oberlin student, here are some schools that I applied to/would have applied if I hadn't gotten in ED/had thought about applying to at some point</p>
<p>Beloit
University of Vermont
Warren Wilson College
Evergreen State
College of the Atlantic
Prescott College
Earlham
Pitzer
UC - Santa Cruz
Humboldt State</p>
<p>There were probably some more in there, but that's what comes to the top of my head as someone who was more interested in finding a student body that was basically the complete opposite of who I went to high school with and interested in environmental fields and activism. I will say though that Oberlin is probably the most academically intensive/rigerous out of any of the schools that I was looking at. And I stayed far far away from Wesleyan for some strange reason (you'll find some rivalry between the student bodies of the two schools. Each school thinks it's better than the other) and also Reed because they felt too centered around "classical/traditional" education/majors/disciplines.</p>
<p>Oberlin students work very hard, they just also have a sense of humor and know how to play.</p>
<p>Where did you get the idea that Oberlin workload isn't ovewhelming?</p>
<p>Most often Oberlin compares itself to Swarthmore, except to characterize Swarthmore as a bit more "pressure cooker" because they don't ever put it down. </p>
<p>At Oberlin people will stop a project to run out and hear the steel drum band, but they have plenty of work! Reading courses are heavy. When my D came home for an extra weekend to audition for a summer job, she felt the impact for many weeks that she had taken off two days unexpectedly.</p>
<p>The collaborative culture includes a recognition that everyone's working very hard at the things they love to learn. People often don't care to ask each other about grades. That's different than not having an overwhelming workload.</p>
<p>The colleges I think of in same breath as Oberlin are: Swarthmore, Wesleyan, Grinnell, Carleton, Reed, Amherst, Vassar, Macalester</p>
<p>Yes, we do work hard. I'm currently kind of stressed because of the amount of work I have, but that's because I didn't do any over the weekend. Procrastination is bad.</p>
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Where did you get the idea that Oberlin workload isn't ovewhelming?
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<p>It really isn't something that's brought up when people discuss Oberlin, like it is with Williams. I don't believe that Oberlin is an easy school, but from what I've heard of other schools the workload doesn't seem as intense</p>
<p>This might sound similar to what a lot of people have said, but here's my perspective. For me when I think of places similar to Oberlin I think of Vassar, Swarthmore, Macalester, Reed, Grinnell, Carleton, University of Chicago, Wesleyan, Brown, and Kenyon. These schools, from my understanding, all have a similar type of vibe (liberal, artsy, a bit fringy) as well as a high caliber of intellectualism.</p>
<p>If you're looking for schools that would be "easier" to get into, some other places to try that have a similar liberal, artsy vibe would be Bennington, Bard, Skidmore, Goucher, and Hampshire. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Are there, by contrast, schools with a low "caliber of intellectualism"?</p>
<p>BalletGirl, there definitely are. I won't name names so as to avoid controversy, but last year I visited a small, elite, non-Oberlin LAC ;) and sat in on multiple classes where students seemed completely disengaged. Think dozing off, text-messaging, responding to questions with blank stares. These weren't dull classes or dumb students; I've heard that the workload at that school is intense, and their graduates go on to do great things. But watching them in class, they didn't seem curious or passionate about their studies. Prestige and a reputation for academic intensity do not necessarily mean "intellectualism".</p>
<p>People go to college for a lot of reasons. Many communities expect that students who finish high school will go on to college, regardless of maturity level or future plans. So there are schools that cater to students who want to kick back, have a good time, and do just enough studying to keep their parents happy. And because a bachelor's degree is, for most Americans, a prerequisite for a secure middle-class lifestyle, there are schools - some CCs or online universities, others highly respected, "name-brand" colleges - that cater to students who want or need a degree, rather than craving the knowledge that comes with it. Not that this is a bad reason to go to college - but you probably won't find a high "caliber of intellectualism" at those schools.</p>
<p>I visited a couple of classes at Oberlin recently and found the level of engagement by the students to be very high -- these were literature classes, and everyone talked, everyone had done the reading, the students were engaged and respectful of each other and the professors. It also appeared the students were regularly writing papers and giving presentations. That is something of what it means to have a high level of intellectualism. You could not "hide" in such a class or come in unprepared without it being noticeable. Taking four or five such classes in a semester would be quite demanding.</p>