Urgently Need to Decide Between Vassar and Oberlin!

College Search & Selection
1

Hi. It’s June 4th, and I haven’t settled on a college yet. I had been accepted to Vassar RD, and after much research, ( I was never able to visit the campus), I absolutely fell in love with it. I’m absolutely in love with the beautiful campus (reminds me of Yale, which was my top choice college), the library, the strong artsy presence, close proximity to NYC and of course everything a top liberal arts college has to offer, especially the great professors, small classes, and community feel.

The only caveat was an annual cost of about 40,000.

However, on May 26th, I got off the waitlist of Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences. I don’t like their campus, and I don’t necessary have a strong desire to live in Ohio, but they have a fantastic science program, strong music program, and everything a top liberal arts college has to offer.

And they were also much more generous with their aid and it would cost my family 24,000 to attend (much more affordable).

I think it’s important for me to mention, that both colleges have a 3-2 engineering program that I am very interested in. Vassar with Darrtmouth, and Oberlin with Columbia (guaranted, assuming I meet the requirements), Caltech, and WashU.

Based on this, Oberlin seemed like the obvious choice financially, and academically, they are extremely similar so I called in to Oberlin and made my decision.

However, I didn’t know that my dad had called Vassar to negotiate a new financial aid package, and the cost of attending Vassar would be 30,000 now. So money is not the biggest factor anymore. But now, the Columbia engineering looks too good of an opportunity to pass up, and I am feeling extreme conflict between these two colleges. There is no guarantee that I can handle the math and science needed to have guaranteed admission to Columbia, and if I had to choose now which college I want to attend for four years, I would say Vassar.

Please help. I am out of time and freaking out internally.

2

Vassar is the clear choice going by your post. Making major decisions is part of “adulting”. Apparently this one will be your first step…good luck :slight_smile:

3

My DD has just been through one of these excrutiating decisions, so I feel for you. Like I’ve told her, you’re choosing between fantastic options and you can’t go wrong. Both are fine choices and once you make your choice, the biggest factor affecting whether you will be successful and happy with the decision is your personal attitude over the upcoming 4 (or 5) years.

I don’t know much about Oberlin, other than it has a great reputation generally. I have visited Vassar twice, and I can say that it is indeed a gorgeous campus. It is definitely very artsy. It’s also quite progressive, but I know conservatives who attended recently and felt very comfortable. It has easy train access to NYC, and some students arrange their schedules in order to do internships in the city. It has a very active and engaged alumni network. The admissions and financial aid people we met with while we were there were INCREDIBLY friendly and helpful. They told us their job was to make a bureaucratic process as easy and seamless as possible for the families. I was very favorably impressed (even though it ended up not being one of my DD’s final top 2 choices).

And by the way, NEPatsGirl is right. This is just one of many major decisions you will face in life. It’s not a “right” or “wrong” decision. There are lots of those and they’re usually a lot easier (or they should be). It’s a decision between “different” options and life will be full of them. Which major to pick? Which person to date? Which job to take? Which city to live in? Which house to live in? That’s life. We can’t second guess these decisions and think “what if” because there are a gazillion what-ifs and we’ll drive ourselves crazy and get ourselves nowhere. We can only decide how we’re going to handle our “now” and what our very next step will be.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide!

4

Freaking out won’t help you. It’s clear you prefer Vassar, but if your family is going to be burdened, choose Oberlin. You will find people you like at most colleges. Have a frank talk with your parents right away. If money is a big concern, there are other siblings, etc…do what’s right for,your family.

5

Both of these parents are right; the first of such decisions in your life, but not the last.
You put together everything you know, weigh the pros and cons, and make the best decision you can, given imperfect knowledge. Then do not second guess, do everything you can to help make that decision prove to have been a great one,. and move on.

One thing that might help you is, at each school there is probably a coordinator for their 3-2 program. find out who it is, contact that person and find out how many individuals have actually done the program in the last two years, and to what engineering schools. And what proportion of students make the required grades to transfer to what engineering college. When you do this, I think you will find that this program is, at the end of the day, rarely completed. At either school. In which case you might focus more on what school works out higher on your pro/con list on its own merits. Rather than focus largely on some subsequent engineering school that you may or may not ever attend. IMO.

6

Based on your post, Vassar.

Note as well that Vassar’s engineering has been arranged as a 2-1-1-1 program, which may be structurally preferable to a 3-2 option for some students.

7

Sounds like you prefer Vassar so, if affordable, go there.

8

I would choose Vassar. My mom went to Vassar and my dad went to Yale. They say the similarities are many, so if Yale was your top choice, I think you would be happier at Vassar. I think the Dartmouth program looks interesting, or you could just go to Columbia for grad school. Both my parents went on to (and met) at Oxford, so I know Vassar is reputable.

9

The number of students who actually do the 3+2 programs is much smaller than the number who think that they will, so I my recommendation would be to pick the college not the program unless you are 100% sure on the program.

I will say that my collegekid has found math and physics departments at Vassar to be strong, happy, and supportive departments.

10

Vassar’s new science center (which bridges over a lovely little stream) is really stunning.

11

Since OP has not been back, it sounds like the final decision has been made…but I was going to echo merc81. Vassar has a 2-1-1-1 program and while we have not explored Oberlin in any depth, I believe it is 3-2. Our son, who is interested in physics and wants engineering as an option, has said that he thinks a 2-1-1-1 is much more realistic than thinking he would want to leave his friends (those friends he doesn’t have yet!) just when they are embarking on their final year. He and his dad went to Thayer at Dartmouth to see it because they have the 2-1-1-1 arrangement not onlywith Vassar but several LACs. Ther were 9 Vassar students so they have a cohort.

Again, nothing against Oberlin, since I don’t personally know it. Normally I would say “follow the money” and that was my first thought until reading that your parents appealed for a better aid package. But a BS in engineering might make the extra investment worth it for you family, if you can afford it, and if you think you are serious enough about engineering. Only you and your family can know from a financial perspective how much is within reach.

But please do come back and let us know!

12

There’s an interesting article in the Alumnae/i Quarterly.
Of interest:

https://vq.vassar.edu/issues/2011/01/a-look-ahead/a-bridge-to-discovery.html

13

Some Oberlin input:
-International student body; only about 6-7% from Ohio.Many students from the coasts
-Friendly students, faculty, townspeople. No emphasis on how wealthy your family is or showiness of wealth.
-Very active campus with lots of things to do. Large majority have plenty to do on campus with no desire to go to Cleveland
-Close airport
-Excellent science programs with fairly new science center
-World-renowned music conservatory with 400-500 performances per year
-Winter Term and Experimental College

14

Oberlin has had 11 MacArthur genius award winners.

15

Since the majority of posts here have made the case for Vassar, I’ll just state the obvious, which is that an equal number of posts could be made presenting a strong argument for Oberlin. Since the OP has presumably already made his/her choice by now, I will just say that that Oberlin and Vassar are very different schools, despite their many similarities, and that I’d advise making a choice based on which you think would best fulfill your own individual needs.

16

I know this is a dead thread, but picking a college without visiting is nuts. Get on a bus and visit.

17

Another point to anyone who may be mulling over a similar decision: in many cases, it’s best to take the middle road between “go with your gut” and “write down absolutely every single pro and con you can think of.” With the latter approach, your reasons become less and less relevant as you progress; so it’s best to limit yourself (e.g. only fill half a page) to the first things you think of if you’re the kind of person who makes lists. That way, you’ll make a decision based on the factors that matter most to you.

Check out this book for more:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydn_CwAAQBAJ&q=darwin#v=onepage&q&f=false (scroll to Chapter 7 or click the first search result for “Darwin”)

Hope this helps!