<p>We have received materials to support your application to Oberlin College - but no actual application from you. We can see that you started your Oberlin application at the Common Application website, but you did not click "submit".</p>
<h1>If you remain interested in Oberlin, you must submit the Common Application prior to Friday, March 6, 2009. After that date, we will no longer be accepting applications.</h1>
<p>Note: This was from the College, not the Conservatory. But, still interesting.</p>
<p>not to be too cynical, but they are not need blind...and their endowment has been hit by the market debacle. Even the best endowed schools have been hit: Stanford has a hiring freeze in its music department this year (they had expected to hire 2 new professors but tabled it). I would be surprised if Oberlin is the only college doing this kind of thing right now.</p>
<p>DD has also received several of the same messages from Oberlin as well as other schools....I think he could still get into the college but the conservatory I doubt....but your son does seem to be exceptional so never know</p>
<p>Given the economic climate, it is not at all surprising that any expensive LAC would be doing everything possible to attract qualified students. That Oberlin is not need blind and that they meet 100% of demonstrated need without resorting to large loans makes it that much more important for them.</p>
<p>My son got a similar letter or two last year from different schools. I think it is becoming more of a standard thing as more students and schools are starting to make online applications the norm. The data is there just waiting to be used.</p>
<p>Oberlin Conservatory has been known to extend their application deadline some years when applications were running low. If the OP or anyone else is seriously interested, it would be worth a call to the Conservatory admissions office.</p>
<p>My D has received several of the same communications over the past few days and we were wondering what was going on! She's been handed scholarships since she was a junior, and it seems like any school that's ever heard of her is knocking on our mailbox or her computer- glad to know others are experiencing the same! Besides, it's great for their egos during this period of what seems like endless waiting!</p>
<p>My D got emails like that last year from the schools for which she created an application account but then decided not to apply. I had assumed they wouldn't see anything unless she submitted the application, but obviously they could and did.</p>
<p>I find this very surprising. Did any of these schools indicate that they had officially changed their admissions deadlines? Was anyone applying for admission as a transfer or grad student, instead of freshman? Normally freshman application deadline for Oberlin is Jan 15, but transfer applications are not due until March 15</p>
<p>Schools do what they have to do to attract the number and type of students that they need. Sometimes that involves relaxing deadlines either across the board, or perhaps only for an few very specific individuals. Oberlin Conservatory did officially announce an extended deadline for all freshman applications two or three years ago - it was posted prominently on their website.</p>
<p>Every year, about the second week of May, the website nacacnet.org publishes a list of colleges that are STILL accepting applications for their freshman class in the fall of the same year. While I have never seen Oberlin on the list, there are often some very good schools there whose nominal application deadline had passed months ago.</p>