<p>There is nothing negative to read into this…but I wouldn’t go overboard and pin your hopes on Oberlin either. Many colleges have a process for signaling their intent to admit an impressive applicant in advance of the decision date. If that was your case – and if Oberlin uses the process (I don’t know whether it does) – you would get a so-called “Likely” letter that makes it clear, in unambiguous language, that you can expect an admission letter around April 1 (with provisos that you must maintain your grades, avoid felony convictions, etc.) Your e-mail communication is not a “likely” letter, so don’t start withdrawing applications (duh) or getting too emotionally invested in an expected admission decision.</p>
<p>Each year around this stage of the admission cycle, the parent of a recent Oberlin applicant who was not admitted visits this forum to warn about friendly gestures from Oberlin admission officers – much like this one – and how Oberlin is unique in making these kinds of connections with applicants and, in his opinion, needlessly getting their hopes up. I think it’s terrific that Oberlin admission officers do this and take an active interest in the applicants and what they’re doing. The problem is not that they do this as much as it is that most other colleges do not do this. It’s the uniqueness of this practice that (unintentionally, one assumes) creates a heightened expectation among applicants that would not exist if this was standard among Oberlin’s peer institutions.</p>
<p>I would expect and hope that regional admissions counselors don’t reach out to people that they’re fairly certain will not be offered admission…and that they only do so for applicants that bowl them over. But the decision process at Oberlin is a collegial one, so your regional admission officer has but one vote – and the other decision makers may not have any awareness of your application at this point. (I say none of this with certainty as to where the process stands, in general, or with respect to your application in particular.)</p>
<p>There’s a PBS video that’s linked all over this web site showing an inside look into the Amherst admission process from a couple years ago. One of the most telling moments is when the Dean of Admission is at the table with all of the other admission counselors. The Dean goes to bat for an applicant, outlining how impressed he is and how the Dean believes this applicant will be a great future member of the Amherst community. The other counselors – people who report to him – proceed to totally blow him off and vote him down. He doesn’t like the outcome, expresses his disappointment, and that’s that. They move to the next file and start over again. The applicant got a rejection letter that was presumably indistinguishable from all the other rejection letters that Amherst sent out. I’m willing to bet that there was no “…but the Dean of Admission thinks you’re the cat’s pajamas” message scribbled onto that rejection letter. And I don’t think it mattered if it was scribbled in. Who knows what “signals” or “vibes” the applicant had – from the Dean of Admission – after an interview or maybe other exchanges during the application process? Whether it was a big let-down or just your run-of-the-mill let-down, it was a let-down and even the Dean of Admission was powerless to stop it from happening.</p>
<p>If the point of interactions like the e-mail you received is to get the most easily identifiable successful applicants feeling vested in Oberlin before the wave of admission letters hits their mailboxes, then I would hope that Oberlin would also transmit letters to these applicants that are explicit and firm in conveying Oberlin’s intentions. Until you get a “likely” letter, you can feel upbeat that you may possibly have one cheerleader in the room when the time comes to make a final decision on your application – but, as the Amherst video should warn you, even if that’s true, that’s still a long way from anything you want to bank on emotionally.</p>