<p>Are there divided doubles in any of the coops? If so, which coop? My incoming freshman daughter is hoping to live in a coop but would prefer private living space if possible. Do first year students ever get singles their first year in coops?</p>
<p>a single for a first year in a coop would be unlikely.
A word of caution about coops: they are a mixed bag. Some are uber-PC, so are a matter of taste. And as to taste, some have some pretty marginal fare. I ate at one of the larger ones several times and would not recommend it: lots of mush, unbalanced meals, and in that particular coop, a not particularly friendly crew of students (I encountered some rudeness, too), so it might be better to try them out before choosing one.</p>
<p>mamenyu: Amen to that. Thank you. I’m passing this on to my daughter. I don’t care if they’re cheaper than the dining halls. I want my D to focus on schoolwork with no distractions like co-op and mushy unbalanced meals. No matter how ordinary the dining halls might be at least all she will have to do is show up, eat, and leave. No time spent preparing food or cleaning up. I just think this is the better strategy for a freshman. </p>
<p>After she’s been at Oberlin a year, earned decent grades, and knows her way around and which co-ops are excellent and which are crappy, she can do what she wants.</p>
<p>Any feedback from students?</p>
<p>Singles in co-ops… not really. Singles <em>in general</em> for first years… not really. </p>
<p>It’s much easier to go from co-ops to dining halls than vice versa. If you aren’t into your co-op, you can often find someone to switch with, or switch out entirely. If your daughter wants to live in a co-op, it’s a good thing. it’s a totally unique experience.
Oberlin has the 2nd largest college co-op system in the country, second only to UC Berkeley. We do it right. </p>
<p>Though co-ops consume time… that’s good, especially your first year. Your first year isn’t meant for being an A+ student. Many grad schools don’t look at 1st semester/year grades; many like to see improvement over the 4 years. Freshman year is when you find a community. And co-ops are awesome for that. First years are going to spend a lot of time in their dorms anyway, it’s nice to do it and make tasty food as well.</p>
<p>Sometimes, meals are mushy; sometimes they’re a zillion times better than dining hall food.</p>
<p>each to his/her own on this; there’s much to be said for coops for those who enjoy them. But kids can be pretty harsh toward each other at coops, too; “consensus” doesn’t always work out the way it should. I’m an old co-oper from Berkeley; I remember the days.<br>
In any event, Harkness should be visited first, for sure, before selecting it. It has a unique culture that is not for everyone (certainly not for everyone’s parents…).
As to grades and grad school: don’t kid yourself. Grades matter. All of the ones in your major, that is. So don’t screw around your first year, thinking that grad schools are happier with trends. There is way too much competition for that. Think how hard it is to get into Harvard (or Oberlin). It’s harder to get into grad school. You are going to college principally for the education. Having fun is great, eating and making your own food is great, but if you really want to go to grad school, law school, med school, get fellowships (like all those NSF, Walker, Fulbright, and Rhodes fellowships Oberlin students won this year), you have to get good grades.</p>
<p>^
Amen mamenyu! Amen again! Nothing helps a college student more than getting off to a good start in the first semester. It builds confidence, sets you on the right course, and you don’t have to worry about picking up your game in sophomore and junior years because “your game” is already up. </p>
<p>I earned a 3.96 GPA my freshman year. I didn’t do anything but study. But it gave me so much confidence the last three years were a piece of cake. While some of my buddies were trying to raise their GPAs because they took freshman year lightly, I was going to the movies. When they were sweating it out the rest of the way, I was in cruise control, all the way to Magna Cum Laude. I’m not that smart. I just belive in getting off to a strong start in anything. </p>
<p>It works the same way in corporate America. Actually, more so. If you walk through the door and kick ass your first year with a new company, you establish a “rep.” After that, it takes a lot of goofing off to change your rep as top talent. But if you start out like a slug because you want “work-life balance,” it’s almost impossible to get rid of the label that you’re not a go-getter. </p>
<p>Start strong; cruise later. It works.</p>
<p>If College Confidential had a “like” button like Facebook, I would “like” this post, Plainsman. I look forward to seeing CC folks during move-in!</p>
<p>Quibbler, Thanks for the on topic dorm feedback. If first year students cannot find a divided double in a coop, what dorms provide these?</p>
<p>none in first-year experience housing:
[Oberlin</a> College Housing and Dining](<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-firstyr.html]Oberlin”>http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-firstyr.html)</p>
<p>Barnard, East, Langston, South appear to have them
[Oberlin</a> College Housing and Dining](<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-trad.html]Oberlin”>http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-trad.html)</p>
<p>Afrikan-American, Asia House (Quadrangle), German, French, Spanish, Third World
<a href=“http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-prog.html[/url]”>http://www.oberlin.edu/resed/housing/statistics/amen-prog.html</a></p>
<p>CBParent: Same here! Thanks for the “like,” and I’m actually looking forward to taking time off from work and driving my little girl out to Ohio. I’ll probably cry like three-year old when I have to leave her there and drive back home without her.</p>
<p>My daughter had a divided double her freshman year in Third World House, but it was a mixed blessing. The room itself was quite small - a bed, a desk and a dresser and hardly enough space to turn around. She couldn’t even fit a second chair. Since she had the outer of the two rooms, her roommate had to go through her part to get in and out of the dorm, use the bathroom, take a shower, etc. That does not work out well if you are a light sleeper and your roommate tends to come and go a lot at night.</p>
<p>If you are planning on solving that problem by arriving as early as possible on move-in day to claim the inner room, realize that some students (international students and athletes for example) get to move in days ahead of everyone else.</p>
<p>Regarding the co-op issues, yes there is the occasional flop of a meal and, yes, it would be wise to visit the housing co-ops (most particularly Harkness where my daughter lived her sophomore year) before you commit to living there. On the whole, I have found the co-op meals to be both tastier and less repetitive than what the cafeteria serves, but I may be biased because my daughter is a head cook and I have mostly eaten there when she is in charge of the meal. Note also that dining co-op members have included in their meal plan one meal per week in the school cafeteria, so there is another option short of burritos at Agave when the meal really is mush.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’m not sure how one would end up in a divided double, except by coincidence. There’s not a way to request a room type on the housing application. Add to that the fact that there just aren’t that many, and most (if not all) are taken by returning students, who get to pick their rooms in spring…</p>
<p>There are similarly few singles, both in dorms and co-ops. Singles in co-ops are filled by lottery, and students who need certain housing accomodations get priority on the waitlist. Anyone can enter the lottery; one of my friends is a first-year who happened to get a single in her co-op when one opened up. But it’s really the luck of the draw. The only people I know who have singles in ResEd got them for medical reasons.</p>
<p>And a thought about co-ops, because I’m kind of evangelical about them 
Food in co-ops is definitely variable. It depends on who’s cooking, as well as the time of week. (Produce orders come in on Thursday: Wednesday meals tend to be bland, weekend meals lavish…) It sometimes seems like a strange philosophical puzzle: would you rather have food that’s 10% spectacular, 80% delicious and 10% inedible, or food that’s consistently mediocre? That said, OSCA is uniformly a much better choice than CDS for people who are vegan; kosher; halal; celiacs; seriously allergic; opinionated about food politics (eating local/organic/fair trade). It’s also an outstanding environment for people who want to learn to cook, and have more responsibility and choice regarding what they eat. The practical skills I’ve picked up in Harkness this year are on par with the academic knowledge I’ve acquired in the classroom.</p>
<p>So I don’t know if this question was asked before or not, but freshmen do NOT get to choose where they live right? We don’t even get like a 1, 2, 3 preference thing???</p>
<p>If you apply for a program house or enter the co-op lottery, you can rank your choices. Otherwise, you don’t get to indicate building preferences - you just request a type of housing (first-year dorm, traditional, etc.)</p>
<p>I should clarify - the above is true for incoming first-years. Older students get to pick their building as well as their room :)</p>
<p>If you pick traditional housing, do they pick another first year for your roommate or is anyone fair game?</p>
<p>^
If you pick “first-year” housing, you will only room with a first year. I don’t think the college would deliberately place a first-year student with an upperclassperson as roommates unless they request it themselves. You could wind up in a dorm with upperclassmen but not sharing a room.</p>