<p>i'm choosing between wesleyan vassar and oberlin. they are so similar, i'm having trouble deciding? which would you choose?</p>
<p>Well, I considered and liked all three, but I ended up applying to Wes ED. Here are some of the reasons I chose Wes over the other two (which could also be reasons to pick one of the others, depending on your POV):</p>
<p>–Size: Wes is slightly bigger than Vassar (about the same as Oberlin, I think).
–Location: Oberlin being in Ohio was definitely a strike against it for me. This mainly had to do with driving distance, wanting to be able to get to NYC, etc. Also, I like the slight East-coast vibe at Wes and Vassar more.
–Towns: Both Oberlin and Middletown seemed a lot better than Poughkeepsie, which was definitely me least favorite college town I saw. I preferred Middletown’s urban-ness to the more small-town feel of Oberlin.
–M/F: I preferred a 50/50 M/F ratio, as opposed to Vassar’s 40/60.
–Campus: Many people are drawn to the idyllic beauty of walled off Vassar. I preferred the more eclectic feel of Wes’s campus, as well as the fact that it bleeds into the streets of middletown a bit. Oberlin’s campus was too flat for me.
–Foss Hill. Is the best.
–Feel: In the end, the biggest thing for me was the gut feeling I had. I liked them all, but I loved Wes. If you can visit, it’s worth it.</p>
<p>Other things to think about:
–Strength in your area of interest. I wanted to do Film; all three are good, but Wes clearly took the cake there. What do you want to do?
–Oberlin has the conservatory. This means super-awesome music, but I’ve also heard it makes it hard to get into some music related things if you are a non-conservatory musician. Not sure how true that is or how it would effect you. Oberlin also has an awesome museum on campus.</p>
<p>very fair post.</p>
<p>I applied to and was accepted at all three of these schools. while superficially they are very similar, I think there are certain nuances that I didn’t appreciate until I visited all of them within a week. </p>
<p>things that I think you should consider: </p>
<p>the student bodies --Oberlin I thought was a little more laid-back with a stronger hippie contingent, Wesleyan seemed the most diverse and intellectual, though your judgments may vary. </p>
<p>academic opportunities – while they’re all liberal arts colleges, Oberlin has the conservatory/exco, Wesleyan has the interdisciplinary ‘colleges’ </p>
<p>the differences in location – Vassar is the easiest to get to a real city, Oberlin is in a tiny town surrounded by farms and was also the furthest from home for me.</p>
<p>housing – Oberlin has coops, Vassar pretty much only has dorms</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>To expand on housing (I don’t know much about Oberlin’s):</p>
<p>Vassar has some house/apartment type things for seniors. In terms of dorms, I think they have the kind of system where people live in the same dorm for their first three years, for the most part. Some people really like that kind of experience, others want more variety. </p>
<p>Wes tends towards the variety end. Freshmen year you live in dorms (doubles, two-room doubles, some singles). Sophomore year you can live in dorms (mostly in two-room doubles and singles), or program houses (we have a TON:[Residential</a> Life - Wesleyan University](<a href=“http://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/ugrad_housing/programhousing/programhouses.html]Residential”>http://www.wesleyan.edu/reslife/ugrad_housing/programhousing/programhouses.html)). Juniors normally live in apartments, seniors in apartments or woodframe houses. </p>
<p>Smaller differences like that might be the deciding factor for you, among these otherwise similar schools. Also look into their distribution and major requirements to see what appeals, academically.</p>
<p>Weskid, thanks for your input… I think I’m leaning towards wesleyan, but I’m going to wesfest to confirm my gut feeling. </p>
<p>Ohio is probably too far from home (NJ), but I really did like the coop option there… but I’m sure program housing would also be cool.</p>
<p>Yeah, program housing is awesome. I don’t know that much about the Oberlin co-ops, and I suspect that they have a bit more autonomy than program houses, but in general, program houses have a lot of control over what kinds of events they throw, selecting residents each year, etc. And there are SO MANY options! Also, to clarify, people don’t just live there sophomore year – many juniors live in program houses (and a lot of people live in the same one sophomore and junior year), and some seniors who really like it do too, though that’s rarer, because senior houses are awesome. </p>
<p>Also, although Wes doesn’t have any co-op living situations, we do have some co-op groups, if that kind of thing appeals to you (the fruit+veggie co-op and the film co-op are the two biggest ones).</p>