Oberlin College Overview

Oberlin College is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Oberlin, Ohio. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Oberlin draws many to the area.

What Is Oberlin College Known For?

• Oberlin has an impressive student to faculty ratio of 9 to 1.
• The student loan default rate at Oberlin is 2%, which is significantly lower than the national rate of 10.1%. That's great news for students who are worrying about paying off their student loans.
• The highest award offered at Oberlin is the master's degree.
• For the 2019-2020 academic year, 92% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Oberlin with a bachelor's degree make about $47,921 a year. That's 17% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• On average, it takes about 4.1 years for students from Oberlin to earn a bachelor's degree. This is excellent when compared to the average of 4.4 years.

Oberlin College Rankings

Oberlin is ranked #337 out of 2,018 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2023 Best Colleges list. It is also ranked #13 out of 87 schools in Ohio.

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Oberlin.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#12	Most Popular Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#39	Most Popular Ethnic, Culture & Gender Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Computer Information Systems Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#54	Best Anthropology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#77	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#78	Best Political Science & Government Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#80	Best Economics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#89	Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#125	Best General Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#128	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Oberlin has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#2	Best Music Technology Schools	College Factual
#8	Best Music Performance Schools	College Factual
#12	Best Music Schools	College Factual
#40	Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools	College Factual
#74	Best Computer Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Computer Science Degree
#116	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Schools	College Factual

Where Is Oberlin College?

Contact details for Oberlin are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	70 N Professor St, Oberlin, OH 44074
Phone:	440-775-8411
Website:	www.oberlin.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/OberlinCollege
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/OberlinCollege

How Do I Get Into Oberlin?

You can apply to Oberlin online at: https://apply.commonapp.org/Login?ma=187

Admission Requirements for Oberlin

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	neither required nor recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	recommended

How Hard Is It To Get Into Oberlin?

You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to Oberlin. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 35%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 39% of accepted students are men and 61% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 33%, and the acceptance rate for women is 37%.

Average Test Scores

About 63% of students accepted to Oberlin submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 650 and 690. Math scores were between 620 and 670.

Oberlin received ACT scores from 41% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 30 and 35. Math scores were between 26 and 31. Composite scores were between 28 and 33.

Can I Afford Oberlin College?

The overall average net price of Oberlin is $53,158. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Oberlin, approximately 38% of students took out student loans averaging $4,925 a year. That adds up to $19,700 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Oberlin is 2.0%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Oberlin College Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,647 undergraduate students at Oberlin, with 2,611 being full-time and 36 being part-time.

There are also 11 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,611 full-time undergraduates at Oberlin, 41% are male and 59% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Oberlin College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	122
Black or African American	159
Hispanic or Latino	218
White	1,545
International Students	309
Other Races/Ethnicities	258

Geographic Diversity

Ohio students aren't the only ones who study at Oberlin College. At this time, 39 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 53 countries are represented at Oberlin. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, South Korea, and Canada.

Online Learning at Oberlin College

Oberlin College Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
Music	100	6	1	107
General Biology	50	0	0	50
Political Science & Government	49	0	0	49
General Psychology	45	0	0	45
Area Studies	41	0	0	41
History	34	0	0	34
Economics	34	0	0	34
Computer Information Systems	33	0	0	33
Mathematics	33	0	0	33
Fine & Studio Arts	33	0	0	33
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	32	0	0	32
General English Literature	26	0	0	26
Natural Resources Conservation	26	0	0	26
Writing Studies	24	0	0	24
Romance Languages	22	0	0	22
Ethnic Studies	17	0	0	17
Physics	17	0	0	17
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	16	0	0	16
Philosophy	15	0	0	15
Anthropology	14	0	0	14
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	13	0	0	13
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	13	0	0	13
Chemistry	13	0	0	13
Sociology	12	0	0	12
Legal Professions (Other)	11	0	0	11
Drama & Theater Arts	10	0	0	10
Geological & Earth Sciences	8	0	0	8
Other Engineering	6	0	0	6
Dance	6	0	0	6
Classical Languages & Literature	5	0	0	5
Germanic Languages	4	0	0	4
Religious Studies	3	0	0	3
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	2	0	0	2
Other Visual Art	2	0	0	2
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	1	0	0	1
Archeology	1	0	0	1
Teacher Education Subject Specific	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	771	6	1	778

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Matthew Trump under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.