Oberlin’s new efforts to boost racial diversity seem to be bearing fruit, following last year’s disappointing showing.
That is one of the few highlights of an uneventful year in the annals of Oberlin admissions. SAT and ACT scores of accepted students were slightly higher overall than last year. The 4,927 applications received just barely beat last year’s record-setting 4,924. The admit rate inched upward, because more students were accepted.
The big news in next year’s class is its racial diversity. A record number of Latino students and more Asian students than in several years applied. According to Senior Assistant Director of Admissions Jill Medina, this is largely because more students who began their applications completed them.
“Our efforts this year focused on a higher rate of completing applications,” Medina said. “There was a higher rate of student of color completion of applications.”
While Asian-American and Latino enrollment showed the largest gains, according to Medina, about 30 more African-American students applied to Oberlin than did last year.
“I think this was the best year I have seen for student of color recruitment,” she said.
Nonetheless, she admitted that Oberlin is finding it difficult to compete for students of color.
“We are challenged by a number of factors,” she said. “Talented students of color are highly recruited by similar minded institutions. We’re essentially competing with similar institutions for the same students.
“I would like to improve upon our current yield of students of color,” she added. “We can always do better on that front, but that’s one of those things that we don’t have direct control over.”
Still, she feels that Oberlin has made progress in its efforts to build diverse classes and that it will continue to in the years to come.
“One thing I believed as a student, and believe now, is that the potential for growth and development and student involvement is huge,” she said. “No matter what you talk about, whether it’s diversity, access to class, dining, the flower care on campus — there are always ways to improve no matter what. One of the things I always appreciate is that we do talk about it. We do try to make constant improvements. Nothing is stagnant here.”