<p>What's been your experience?</p>
<p>I was a Chemistry major at Oberlin. Freshman chemistry and organic chemistry class sizes were small enough that one didn’t get lost in the crowd. Upper level classes were small. The teaching was excellent. Exams were very fair in measuring what you knew. Lab supervision was very good and, in the freshman lab, a professor was always available in addition to the senior chemistry majors who acted as assistants. The program is designed to give students hands on experience with equipment that is only available to graduate students at many larger universities. The number of chemistry majors was relatively small so those who did honors chemistry became close. No cut throat competition amongst chemistry majors. Chemistry majors helped each other and often studied together. Research opportunities were an important part of the experience. I found this to be a warm and nurturing department. It gave me the skills and confidence I needed after leaving Oberlin. The professors were interested in me as an individual and I got to know many of them very well. Years later, when I visited Oberlin, they still remembered me by name. Talking at length with some of my former professors recently assured me that the culture of excellence and friendly atmosphere in the department haven’t changed over the years.</p>
<p>The new chemistry building is beautiful and spacious, more impressive than other chemistry departments in small colleges that we visited when our child was looking at colleges. If you visit during the academic year, email the department in advance to ask if you can attend a freshman lecture in the Norm Craig lecture hall. It’s an inviting setting to do some serious learning.</p>
<p>Thanks for this information. Cornina, did you ever feel that you were restricted because of the department size? Do many students go on to graduate studies?</p>
<p>Any physics majors out there?</p>
<p>Oberlin science departments, including physics and chemistry are oriented toward training research scientists and send many off to topflight science PhD programs. With the exception of a few friends who did 3-2 engineering with their Oberlin science major, all the science major classmates I knew went off to PhD programs in their respective majors. </p>
<p>If going off to do grad school in physics or chemistry is your goal, Oberlin should definitely be given serious consideration as a school to add to your list of prospective schools.</p>
<p>Never felt restricted. Quite the opposite. As an undergraduate I got to do things and work closely with professors in the manner that graduate students do in larger programs. The chemistry majors in my class either went on to graduate chemistry programs or medical school.</p>
<p>Thanks for your take. Oberlin sounds great!</p>
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<p>Wait! Not so fast. You haven’t asked about the food. :)</p>
<p>Since there are no physics majors posting here (sad!) I’ll mention that the students I know in the department really love it, and have found some amazing opportunities: all of them have been doing research since their first or second years here and are looking forward to grad school.</p>
<p>You might also like [Zoe’s</a> blog](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/Zoe.shtml]Zoe’s”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/Zoe.shtml) – she’s a biochem major. Oh, and check out this article from the alumni magazine last year, which gives a pretty good rundown of what the sciences are like at Oberlin: [A</a> Scientific Culture / Oberlin Alumni Magazine / Winter 2009-10](<a href=“http://oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2010/features/scientific.html]A”>http://oberlin.edu/alummag/spring2010/features/scientific.html) Here’s a snippet about the professor who taught my intro chem class (and sold me on a chem minor) – and yeah, we talked a lot about NMR:
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<p>There’s a physics major who’s just started as a blogger. You could ask her questions via a comment on her blog: [Oberlin</a> Blogs | Sophia Chen '12](<a href=“http://blogs.oberlin.edu/Sophia.shtml]Oberlin”>http://blogs.oberlin.edu/Sophia.shtml)</p>
<p>I was on a recruiting visit to oberlin (for golf) and I was able to have a one-on-one talk with a physics professor for about twenty minutes. He was great. He told me about research opportunities and tons of promissing things. Then i got to participate in a physics lab. It was very cool and the female professor was incredibly sincere and nice. Keep in mind, Im not even in the school yet, and she treated me as good as my high school calc teacher whom i’ve known for three years. They also showed me a statistic that 90% of oberlin grads get into their first choice for grad school. It is definitely towards the top of my list depending on where else i get in.</p>
<p>I only took one natural science class in my tenure at Oberlin (I was an anthro major), and let me tell you what the other posters have said are dead on. And the professors are simply incredible for the most part.</p>
<p>But one thing to take into consideration. While Oberlin has a reputation for being an artsy, uber-liberal school (slightly less true today than it was say 10 years ago) it doesn’t mean in any way shape or form that it is an easy school. Be prepared to work your buns off. Very challenging courses with lots of work, and As are difficult to come by. But you won’t find too many people on that campus who aren’t brilliant so you’ll be in good company.</p>