Both my D and I absolutely loved oberlin. She ended up at vassar.
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These are wonderful updates, thank you for sharing them. 
As long as you are willing and able to visit schools, keep going. We did (iirc) 3-4 trips with each child to visit schools. Our thought process was we would rather spend some $$ upfront with visits than $$$$$ on choosing a school sight unseen. Yes, this is an extreme privilege. But, if you have it, why not use it?
All three of our children loved having the ājust for themā trips. Turned into really good bonding time.
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I love your updates! Better than Fiske!
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Iād cut Brandeis and WPI but thatās just my bias - I was super impressed with the resources at Brandeis but none of the kids I took cared for it - architecture is brutalist? WPI seems more niche than your son.
Love your recaps! Iāll give you food recs if you want for the spring break portion.
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I think this will be an easier trip in terms of driving distance, though Bates is definitely out of the way. If you go see Bates, might as well throw in Colby and Bowdoin as they are all pretty close to each other. Go straight to Maine from Boston, and then swing by Brandeis on the way to Worcester to see WPI, Clark & Holy Cross. Be aware that Holy Cross is also built on a hill with a lot of gothic architecture, though I havenāt been to Lehigh since I was a child so canāt really speak to whether they are similar or not. At that point you may as well go see Amherst as well unless heās really not interested. Union, Skidmore & Vassar are all close together, and I might add in a stop at Bard for an easier admit and a beautiful campus on the Hudson right on the way between Union & Vassar. Those 4 schools are all within maybe 2 hours of each other. If youāre then going to see Wesleyan Iād add in Connecticut College, also a slightly easier admit and similar. Love reading about your adventures - class of 2022 we got cheated out of most of the touring.
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I agree with cutting these two if youāre cutting (sorry I just added to your list above) and maybe Union - they seem less in line with what heās liking -
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Love the descriptions, you are a brave soul! On Dickinson and emphasis on PA Central Ballet, I think it is because the co-location creates the possibility for continuing with serious classical ballet within a āregularā college experience.
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I think you should cut the ones not in California because thatās what your son says he wants.
Iād cut out Brandeis. My daughter disliked it so much (campus, architecture, vibe, location) we sneaked off in the middle of the tour (not my proudest parenting moment, but I did learn the term āFrench Exit,ā so thereās that).
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I really like the idea above of adding Bard to Vassar, Union, and Skidmore. Just feels like a natural possibility given the Oberlin love.
And maybe you donāt want this, but I kinda agree if Lehigh was a hit, you should make sure to do Holy Cross:
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Oberlin: Vassar
If he didnāt like Macalester, Iād cut Brandeis, Clark and WPI
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Sounds like our spring break tripā¦Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Amherst, and Mount Holyoke.
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Itās interesting to read your comments about Denison. I have the sense they may sometimes be putting too much marketing emphasis on the career support they offer, leading people to conclude the school is kind of pre-professional. I suppose it is better than the old stereotype of Denison as a preppy haven, but it doesnāt really capture the academic nature of the school. I am pretty sure that my own son never set foot in the Knowlton Center, the career services office, and he is now on track towards a Ph.D. He was a tour guide, so I have to remember to ask him whether career services often came up on his tours. Also interesting to read your comments about Lehigh. I still remember when the older sister of one of my friends was admitted to Lehigh the first year they took women students - maybe the old all-male nature of the school still shows in some places? I had the feeling the opposite was true when we visited Connecticut College, which was a womenās school in the past (like Vassar). I agree with one of the other comments that, if your son liked Oberlin, Connecticut College might be worth taking a look at.
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The 75% identifying as LGBTQ seems high for sure. My straight daughter went there for 4 years, and had many straight (male and female) friends, music students, art students, athletes, etc.; a variety in general, on all fronts. I personally donāt think itās likely any different than many other small LACs with a creative/musical/artsy/intellectual vibe (Wesleyan, Vassar, etc.). Oberlin students are so chill and accepting that everyone just is who they are and youāll find music/art students at lax parties, etc.
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This is apparently the impression of Denison that many of the kids at our feederish HS have gotten, and I agree that is maybe not always serving them well among our more academicky kids. On the other hand, in the end quite a few of our kids do apply to Denison, and they are averaging around 1 enrollee a year (which is pretty good for a smaller college as we send kids all over).
So who knows, maybe this is all informed by experience. But personally I agree their academic excellence is maybe getting a little lost in the marketing.
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Probably the only school where you could conceivably double-major in data analytics and bluegrass. Career opportunities in bluegrass?
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It does seem high, but here are some sources as to where that may have come from:
71% LGBTQ cited here, (source says from Fire rankings, where I canāt find this chart): https://twitter.com/data_depot/status/1702107016876216511
2021 Student self reported sexual orientation here, at bottom of page (only 67% of students participated): 42% of students in Arts and Sciences report they are straight, while 60% in the Conservancy do. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/birdmanobie/viz/2021NewStudentSurvey/2021NSS
I can give you some color as my hetero S spent two years at Oberlin (recently) where he was an athlete. Some of his observations where Oberlin was lacking: relatively small dating pool outside of athletes, big athlete/non-athlete divide, low school spirit, cancel culture alive and well. Happy to talk via PM if that makes sense as your S continues through his process.
Separately, I have spent some time recently better understanding the Fire rankings, and encourage everyone who is in the college search process to use this resource, it has a lot of good information and is based on over 50K student responses across 250 or so colleges.
Summary report here: 2024 College Free Speech Rankings | The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Details by college here (free registration required): https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/college.pulse/viz/2024CollegeFreeSpeechRankings/2024CollegeFreeSpeechRankings?publish=yes
Some examples of questions in the second link:
Q7 How worried are you about damaging your reputation because someone misunderstands something you have said or done?
Q11 How acceptable would you say it is for students to engage in the following action to protest a speaker? āUsing violence to stop a campus speechā
There are noticeable differences by school in the answers to these questions. I havenāt looked at all the data but what I have seen is eye opening, and will help students do more research in the areas that are important to them, ask questions on visits, etc.
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My son is a sophomore at WPI and thereās a lot to love about itā¦ for the right student. Iāve gotten so caught up in the journey and reviews of different schools that I canāt remember, what is it your guy wants to major in? If heās really STEM focused, then WPI offers some things that not many other STEM schools have, but if heās not a STEM guy, then it wonāt be a great fit. They do have a surprisingly (to me at least) robust music program, so you get a decent mix of musically inclined science and math folk. The three campuses (WPI, Clark and Holy Cross) while all in the same city have very different vibes. Clark is really right downtown, feels like an urban school, integrated into the city. Holy Cross is up on a hill, feels like itās own thing, and does have some gorgeous architecture. WPI is sort of in the middle - itās on the edge of town, my kid has definitely walked to the train station to get the train into Boston - but itās still got itās own campus that just abuts the regular edge of the downtown city businesses. If your son wants more school spirit, Holy Cross is probably the best choice of the three, as we havenāt found that to be particularly robust at WPI. Lots of friendly kids, lots of ways to make connection and be involved, but no cheering on a sports team type events that really bring people together (there are sports teams, and they do reasonably well for a D3 school, but itās not a big thing).
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Isnāt FIRE very conservative? Itās fine to use as a resource, as long as you understand the skew.
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No idea, but the questions are the questions, and the sample size the sample size.