<p>Is there anything you don't like about Oberlin?</p>
<p>The generic issues with many LACs, as a group:</p>
<p>1) As with many other LACs, it is not in a big city. On the other hand this creates some offsetting benefits: i) the campus has a ton to do, and ii)more interaction develops when more people stay on campus most of the time</p>
<p>2) There is a prevailing campus culture, and fit with that culture can be important. The benefit though is that, If you fit, you may never again in your whole life be among so many people with whom you have so much in common. The chances for developing great personal relationships under such circumstances seem relatively favorable.</p>
<p>3) Course selection and faculty interests are not infinite, compared to, say, a big state U. On the other hand, being a relatively large LAC, Oberlin should be in better shape in this regard than most LACs.</p>
<p>Offsetting benefits are: the ability to get to know profs, who are there to teach undergrads, not grad students. In small classes. In courses taught by the profs themselves, not TAs.</p>
<p>As a student, i actually have very few complaints. Occassionally some weekends feel a little boring/repetitive. I don't really mind the small town but occassionally i sort of miss having outside options for things to do on weekends, (though there usually are lots of college events happening on weekends).</p>
<p>Is oberlin only a school for ultra-liberal hippie types? or could more moderate people (like myself) fit in there too?</p>
<p>FWIW, my daughter is liberal, but probably not ultra-liberal. And she is not a "hippie" by anyone's definition. But that's just her; I really couldn't speak for anybody there beyond that. </p>
<p>If you're in, suggest you do an overnight & see what it's like for yourself.</p>
<p>Downsides? None! Perfect college, yeah its a small town, but you don't really need to go to college in a huge city where there will be so many distractions.</p>
<p>Oberlin isn't as far out as I originally thought. I'd say most people are left-leaning, but that doesn't mean everyone is totally political and hippie-ish or even ultra-liberal.</p>
<p>My son is a freshman. He is not hippie-ish at all and is quite happy there. He is quite liberal but there is also a young republicans club as well. I think anyone who is pretty tolerant of others can find a place at Oberlin.</p>
<p>Agree with Shennie. My son is a moderate democrat and not a hippie at all. Not a jock or a preppy type either, though. Anyway, I get the sense that kids at Oberlin really value all sorts of diversity of ideas, personal style, interests, etc. and all "thpes" of kids are welcome.</p>
<p>wait-- there arnet any ta's?? as in NONE??</p>
<p>and when they say small calsses, whast the avg size for a freshmen class?</p>
<p>My daughter's classes this past semester were all between 9 and 15 students.</p>
<p>That's pretty much the way it's been all along for her. She's had one class that had 6, and I think the largest had 50.</p>
<p>As far as I know she hasn't been in a course that had a TA.</p>
<p>But she's been taking mostly upper-level courses right along. The only freshman-level course she's taken was seminar, and that was also small I believe.</p>
<p>monydad-- thanks for reminding me that u arent obligated to take freshmen corusres right away.. but how big are the frshmen classes that she didnt taek?</p>
<p>50 i can definetly manage</p>
<p>My son says that his largest class this year was about 45. His smallest was 6.</p>
<p>If you go to the Oberlin course catalog at <a href="http://catalog.oberlin.edu/content.php?catoid=15&navoid=231%5B/url%5D">http://catalog.oberlin.edu/content.php?catoid=15&navoid=231</a> you can click on any class of interest and find the Enrollment Limit listed as part of most of the descriptions. Popular classes do fill up (and maybe even have a couple over the limit if the teacher allows it) but many of them will not. You will not find many with an Enrollment Limit larger than 50 because there are not many classrooms there that can accommodate more than that. Some of the really popular classes have multiple sections, so an Enrollment Limit of 120 may actually translate to four sections of 30.</p>
<p>In d's case it's not a mattter of "right away"; she completed all freshman-level coursework in fields of likely interest while she was still in high school.</p>
<p>She will never take these courses at Oberlin, so I won't be hearing much about them from her.</p>
<p>the only class just for freshmen is the first year seminar, and that is usually 13/14 students. intro classes are usually larger, like 40 students, and then the higher and more specialized classes you get into, the smaller they are. both 300 level classes i've taken have been about 10 students. still, i think even intro classes in general are smaller than most at larger universities.</p>