<p>@GTalum
Wow, we had a totally different experience with Oberlin.
It was the only school where we got status updates from the admissions officer during the admissions process (and an offer to contact him personally if we had any questions).</p>
<p>The admissions offer came with a tee-shirt (nice) and a big unexpected scholarship (very nice).</p>
<p>He also got a phone call from them and the parents also got a letter from the President touting Oberlin and how it would be a good choice.</p>
<p>Aside from the scholarship money, I just assumed all the other stuff they did for everybody.</p>
<p>The only other schools that really personalized the acceptance letter was Rochester who actually mentioned specific things in his application essay and Wes which has a little handwritten encouragement written on the bottom.</p>
<p>soze - your experience seems typical. I was surprised since Oberlin was the least selective of the schools she applied. We did get the tee-shirt But certainly no scholarships, phone calls, or letters. She is going to Williams. Congrats on Wes, D loved it.</p>
<p>Soze, the only school we looked at in the Boston area as BU. My daughter wanted no part of Harvard. It’s funny her father convinced to apply to Princeton because of the good financial aid. On April 1st, admittance day for the Ivies, she logged onto her computer and said I’m doing Princeton, Yale & Brown in that order because I’m not getting in the first two. Well she was right about Yale. Prior to that day, she was set on Oberlin. Emory was in the mix to but it’s a plane ride away. Once she was accepted at Princeton, well who turns down Princeton. Oh I know all those CCers who were cross admits to HY & S.</p>
<p>@ronib321
I know at least one person you picked Princeton over Harvard (but honestly, you can’t go wrong either way).
I also know at least two people who picked Yale over Harvard (but one of them was because he would get more football playing time, so he doesn’t count).</p>
<p>About Oberlin – I think a lot of it has to do with who your area admissions person is. Some are more industrious than others. Or maybe they thought her stats were too high and she wouldn’t come.</p>
<p>I don’t know about Princeton, but my son turned down Harvard for Carnegie Mellon. He agonized about it for the entire month, but has had no regrets. He’s interning at Google this summer.</p>
<p>I know lots of kids from our high school who choose Yale over Harvard.</p>
<p>OK. DD fell in love with Brown during her visit this summer, but didn’t fill out their on-line form in the admissions office because she doesn’t want junk mail. Should she get on their mailing list now, or doesn’t it matter? How else (other than ED, which we won’t let her do) does she show interest, and does it matter? (Brown didn’t have a sign-in for their tour, etc. . . )</p>
<p>Pitzer seemed to care. S went down to D.C. to interview, having decided to consider Pitz too late to get an interview in NYC. The alumni/interviewer was impressed at his gumption (although he really just needed a better taste of a school that was too far away for us to visit since we were in the NYC suburbs at the time). Of course, his demonstrated community service involvement didn’t hurt either so it’s hard to say which factor did the trick.</p>
<p>I am surprised at how many folks seem to be saying that they won’t visit schools until after acceptance. S’s list of applications would have been very different if we had not visited all the possibilities but the west coast schools. He found that actually seeing the campus and talking with students put him off in some cases and convinced him he liked several schools that he was nbot attracted to on paper. Then he re-visited the schools to which he was accepted before making a final decision.</p>
<p>Brown’s admit rate is now down around 9 or 10%. I think the only reason they’d care about demonstrated interest at this point is that they don’t want to waste offers of admission on a bunch of people who are cross-admits at HYP; but they surely can’t determine that from who signs up for e-mail updates. The only way they can tell your D loves them the way they want to be loved is if she applies ED, and I believe Brown fills a pretty large percentage of its entering class with ED applicants. </p>
<p>To an elite college, nothing says “I love you” like that ED app. And like diamonds, EDs are forever.</p>
<p>Wow. I don’t know where to start. Oberlin’s campus center building is old not rundown and nowhere close to being “a dump.” That’s just ridiculous. Some people love old buildings.</p>
<p>My D did the Amherst, Wesleyan, Swarthmore and Oberlin visits and was most impressed with Swarthmore and Oberlin, including the classes. So, yes, people do see things differently. </p>
<p>As for the 4-1-4, i.e., Winter Term, it is hugely popular. Students use it not only to earn a credit or two but to do so in extremely non-traditional ways. Like using the Winter Term to learn an instrument they don’t know how to play, or to go on a dig in Yemen, or a cave project in Hawaii. You are totally misinformed about Oberlin’s famous January Winter Term. No one uses it to sit through a traditional class.</p>
<p>Did you ever consider the Wesleyan kid might’ve been biased toward the northeast? Or that the OBerlin kid might’ve preferred a certain kind of campus culture and didn’t care about the northeast? A lot of people can’t see west of Philadelphia. </p>
<p>I’ve met several kids on Oberlin’s campus who turned down Wesleyan, Middlebury and other northeast LACs for Oberlin. My D turned down Cornell for Oberlin. For you to conclude that one school has a higher caliber of student (another post) based on the fact that they are attending a particular school is open to serious debate. No offense, but you seem to make a lot of snap judgments.</p>
<p>Everyone has a story or knows someone with a story but in the end it is all a crapshoot as someone said. Each school has it’s own unique personality and looks for kids who match that best. Someone getting into Princeton would not, in my opinion, be right for Brown - structured environment vs non-structured. My daughter got into Yale and Dartmouth but was waitlisted at Northwestern (she got in and is beginning her Sophomore year, she also is the only Freshman to have ever won a particular award so, it shows you what they know!) </p>
<p>Our high school has never gotten anyone into Princeton but Brown LOVES us, admitting 3 - 7 kids each year out of a graduating class of 120! This is a public high school with a very loose, creative, and liberal philosophy which matches Brown much better than Princeton. We have had admits to all the other Ivies and top schools.</p>
<p>Yes, some schools like to be liked by applicants but artsloversplus has it exactly right - visiting and researching schools is to see if you, the applicant, wants them much more than if they want you.</p>
<p>I agree, it is important to know which schools love YOU. The best indicator is Merit Scholarships. Worked well for D. for both private HS and public college. Giving you money means that they want you The same is acceptence to extremely selective program (like one with 10 spots for freshmen).</p>
<p>Amherst does not track demonstrated interest. The AO explictly said that multiple visits during the busy season may not be the bext use of the students time.</p>
But certainly no scholarships, phone calls, or letters. She is going to Williams. Congrats on Wes, D loved it.</p>