Oberlin for Premed

Mwfan1921
Tue, 20 Jan 2026 14:47:47 +0000

IME Oberlin is highly rigorous. Classes tend to be quite challenging in terms of curriculum and pacing. The student body is really smart, talented, and competitive. In many ways it’s similar to Reed college…was that on your S’s list?

Your S should talk with the pre-health advisors. It would be interesting to know what proportion of prospective MD/DO applicants they support/don’t support with a committee letter. It’s important to know that if a student does not get a committee letter, their MD/DO app won’t be competitive (if they still chose to apply.)

Your S can also ask about opportunities for clinical experience in the local area (relatively more important than research, but your S will be able to get research at oberlin without a problem….he will just be limited by what the profs are working on.)

Oberlin is a fit school…you didn’t say your S has visited but that is a must in order to assess the fit. You also didn’t say if your S is LGBTQ+ (and you don’t have to say here.) But, if not, I generally caution a non-athlete non-lgbtq male about the social atmosphere at Oberlin. That’s why a visit is a must.