The Arts & Sciences Admissions Office is celebrating today, because decision letters for this year's applicants are finally being mailed out. For us, this represents the culmination of months' worth of work reading files and making difficult decisions. This year we had our largest application pool ever, with over 6000 applicants competing for spaces in Oberlin's class of 2014. This was the most selective admissions year in the history of Oberlin, and we have sent offers of admission to a third of our applicants.
Each file was read at least twice. We scrutinized your transcripts, read your essays, and gave careful consideration to each and every one of you. We talked about you in committee, and got really bummed when we realized that we didn't have spaces for all of the fantastic students we wanted to accept. (Seriously. There were some tears around the table.) We also got really excited to admit a fantastic group of students--congratulations, all of you!
My loyal blog readers (all two of you, right?) know that we use a holistic review process, and don't make decisions exclusively on the basis of GPAs and test scores. Nevertheless, our admitted class still has some record-setting statistics. The average unweighted GPA is a 3.71. The average SAT scores in each sub-section were: Critical Reading--712, Math--693, Writing--709. This is the first year we have had a Reading/Math score average above 1400. The average ACT score for this year's admitted class is a 31. For those students who have schools that report class rank, over 80% are in the top 10% of their class. Those are impressive statistics, and you should all be proud of your accomplishments.
However, what gives us the most warm and fuzzy feelings is not the statistics, it's the stories. We've admitted an incoming class not just made up of great students, but one that is comprised of many very interesting people. They have a wide variety of accomplishments demonstrating their intense commitment to everything from science research to community service. They have started their own businesses and achieved national recognition for their artwork. Like true Obies, they have obtained academic excellence while still intently pursuing all of their passions.
Welcome, Oberlin's Class of 2014, and please be advised: now is the time to start obsessively checking your mailbox.
