The only concern is my High School grades; they don't accurately represent how "book smart" I really am. There was a period during my Sophomore-Junior year where Mark Twain was my hero: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. I was a B average, sometimes even C average, student. I'm just terrified about those grades. How can I reassure Oberlin that I am the right choice?
My grades might not represent me properly, but I have an outstanding political and social standing my community! Please help me; I live, breath, and dream Oberlin. I have 1. Posted by: Conley on June 16, PM. Thanks so much for the info! I'm planning to apply for the Fall of , and I was wondering about what constitutes "high school" classes. What I mean is, I took some high-school level classes when I was in 7th and 8th grade, but chose to drop an honors math class last year because I was doing too many other things and couldn't juggle it.
I'm really afraid that this will hurt my chances of being accepted, although I'm taking a number of other AP and honors classes. I am still going to be in an advanced class this year pre calc II Your thoughts? Posted by: Marissa on August 24, PM. Remember that it's not just your transcript we are looking at. Your extra curricular involvement, background, recommendations, essay, everything in the application helps us learn who you are. And, hopefully, it will come across in the overall application that you are indeed more than your grades may let on.
However, work hard this year to show that you have turned over a new leaf and can succeed in a rigorous curriculum. It's great that you got a jump on the high school curriculum, however, we do prefer to see four years of math classes during your high school years. But, we also like to see that a student has gone at least through precalculus, which is sounds like you are doing.
So, we won't see you as deficient as mentioned in the first point above. Humanities may be your interest and strength, but keep pushing through those science and math courses for one more year to keep all academic areas strong.
Posted by: Jesse on September 3, AM. Hello Jesse! All of your posts are extremely helpful for those of us trying to navigate what feels like the labyrinth that is the admissions process. I am only a junior, but ever since taking the ACT the first time, college has been constantly on my mind. Much like Conley, I am completely and utterly in love with Oberlin. My parents have a four hour radius limit for my college choices, and the fact that Oberlin is so close makes me feel like I am meant to be there!
What my excitement about knowing my dream school brings doesn't combat the nerves I have about being accepted. I have three questions. First, when is the earliest that I could overnight as a junior? Second, does the admissions dep. How can I show that I really am inspired by Oberlin? Third, I have held an unweighted 4. How much will this hurt me? Oh, and I plan to apply early. Thank you :. I'm glad that you are so excited about Oberlin, and are considering applying ED.
Being so close to home can definitely be a plus! We offer overnight visits to students after May 1 of the Junior year. I believe we are planning a couple of overnight visit programs for Juniors this spring, but I currently don't have information on that. If you are on our mailing list, you will be notified when info is available. We do make note of contact you've had with our office, be it a visit to campus, meeting a representative at a college fair, requesting an interview, etc.
That is one way to demonstrate your interest, however, we also understand that sometimes students are unable to connect with us in so many ways. That's one reason we have our Supplement to the Common Application; it has a short essay that essentially asks why are you interested in Oberlin?
You can also feel free to contact the admissions counselor responsible for your area and introduce yourself and express your interest. Our contact info is available on the admissions site. Regarding your classes, in the end we just like to see that you are pushing yourself in all areas, and have a reason for taking the courses you have especially if you end up not "covering your bases" as outlined above.
Taking higher level classes is a plus, but each student needs to find their own course load balance that pushes but doesn't overload themselves. Posted by: Jesse on January 3, AM. That helps! And thank you for replying so quickly, the Ohio winter can seem to make time move much more slowly. This information was extremely helpful. I'm a junior in high school, and I'm definitely considering applying to Oberlin in the fall. I'm just curious though, do you take into account the available classes at a particular high school?
I've moved several times, and this is my third high school. Also, the highest math class offered at my current school is AP Calculus, and I'm taking it right now.
Will having only two years of French and three years of math on my transcript be detrimental to my application? Posted by: Isobel on February 13, AM. Sorry for my delayed response. We definitely consider not only what a school offers, but what situational elements may have limited a student's ability to take certain classes. In your case, we will definitely see the change in schools and understand that can sometimes be a limiting factor in terms of scheduling.
However, if it is something that concerns you, feel free to write a short paragraph explaining it all and submit it in the application as additional or supplemental info.
With all this in mind, your taking French only to level 2 shouldn't be an issue, and AP calc is a fine level of math to have gone through. Posted by: Jesse on March 8, AM.
Hello Jesse. Thank you for the helpful information. My own college search, if you want to call it that, was to choose a school my parents could afford, not too far from home, with the major I wanted.
We visited after I was accepted. I received a Pell Grant, a work-study assignment, and graduated debt free. But during my four years there, I don't believe I had the thought that the school "felt right" or even that the school was right for me. I just made it work for me. Though foreign to me, I've passed along this "feel right" concept to my daughter, as we narrow our search. Maybe I am over-thinking this whole procedure. Is there really such a thing?
Can you truly know a school is right for you beforehand? Look, internet readership: I love Oberlin, and it's hard to imagine having gone to school anywhere else. But that's sort of like how it's hard for me to imagine growing up anywhere except Maine. I grew up there, and it was great, but it's just one place of many. Obviously many people disagree, and I may be risking my blogger soapbox in posting such a thing, but that's how I feel about it and that's more or less how I went about applying.
I haven't looked back since. Posted by: Will on December 15, PM. I'm definitely in the Oberlin "felt right" camp. I didn't actually visit until after I had already been accepted.
Once I knew which schools would have me, I took the time to visit a few that were at the top of my list and that I hadn't had a chance to visit before applying. I made each visit an overnight a couple nights, actually and did my best to feel as though I was a student.
I visited classes and socialized with students. I asked myself, "Can I imagine doing this every day and being happy about it? Posted by: Harris on December 15, PM. After I did an overnight visit at Oberlin, I distinctly remember telling my father that I needed to go here because it "felt right. Posted by: Alicia on December 15, PM. Turning on the news when I can actually find a TV or opening Twitter often leaves me annoyed, upset, or enraged.
Each day brings the defamation of a particular social group by public officials. News notifications on my phone alert me to another morally deplorable deportation. Lilah recently inspired me with her quote from Dr. You are the entire ocean in a drop. There was an obvious nautical connection, but what the quote really brought me back to was the spring of I was an eager soon-to-be high school graduate. Having experienced the shock and anger that came with the evolving Black Lives Matter movement, I was just beginning to develop a serious sense of social philosophy and a voice to express it.
I was also tired. People really had a lot of time on their hands, come to think of it. But around that time I was really starting to understand that I wanted to change the world. I needed to change the world. Back then, I needed inspiration. Very concisely, the poster explained to me that I was the first step in my process to change the world.
Just one person.
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