<p>S will be a freshman the fall - yay! I wanted to start this thread for us newbies who need advice - about banking, course selection, dining, housing and school health insurance to what size bed sheets are needed and whether we can improve our kids' chances to get into a co-op. I regularly see some fabulous parents here and would love to get their thoughts and stories about all of those details. Anyone game?</p>
<p>I think students can speak best to a number of these items, but you’re also looking for a parent’s perspective so I can give you some drive-by observations. For banking, we walked into the First Merit branch in town and they had people waiting to get the account set up. Very friendly. It was so personal, I almost expected to score a toaster. It has worked for us. I haven’t heard complaints about ATM access around campus or other hassles related to banking. I didn’t shop around. It was “free” checking and we went for it, since we have no other banking in the U.S. as alternatives. If you bank with a major bank, it might be easier to just open another account for S and that way transferring funds is a matter of a few mouse clicks and probably no fee.</p>
<p>Bed sheets, I believe, are Twin XL pretty much everywhere you go for college. That’s what we set up S with. Again, his silence is no guarantee that they actually fit his bed. S decided to check out co-ops during his frosh year while in the dorm. After checking them out, he opted to not bother with co-ops. That said, he has good friends in co-ops and dines with them at a frequency I could not possibly attest to. He has a good friend who knew as soon as she opened her acceptance letter what co-op she wanted to be in. I don’t think that dorm residents are left out or excluded. It’s just a matter of taste and choice. S likes the random element to who he lives among. His good friend likes the strong sense of community that co-ops offer. But in terms of how to jockey for position with co-ops, I haven’t a clue.</p>
<p>For courses, I gave one word of advice to S: take the courses with the best instructors. Worry less about the course description than the experience the professor delivers. I’m saying that here because maybe someone will find it worthwhile advice since I have my doubts that S even recalls my having said that to him.</p>
<p>Lastly, we took a pass on the health insurance since we have already coverage. I think he sent in some sort of proof of coverage and that fee got knocked off the bill.</p>
<p>I’d pay the most attention to the advice students offer you. To the extent we made some of these decisions (like the bank and bedding), we can only surmise that they were wise ones in the absence of feedback. So all I can offer is what we did without any assurance as to the wisdom of it all. Real live students can tell you for certain what’s right. Congrats to you and S and good luck!</p>
<p>My D uses Lorain National; it’s been fine. </p>
<p>Are you going out with your S for orientation, and will you be driving or flying? D flew in, and we wound up buying a lot of stuff, eg. sheets, desk lamp on line and having them shipped directly to Oberlin. Other stuff we picked up in Oberlin during those first couple days. The bike was the biggest issue, and D wound up building her own at the bike coop over the course of the first year. </p>
<p>We bought the computer through Oberlin. We also bought the health insurance because our HMO would cover emergency claims, but wouldn’t cover follow-up out of network, so if she, say, broke her leg, she’d have to come home to have the cast removed.</p>
<p>As far as registration, there were some freshman seminars that you could register for early which are sent over the summer. However, between meeting time conflicts and being low person on the registration totem pole, stay very flexible with the course selections. Probably half D’s first year classes were already full by the time her turn came around, but, with some perserverence on her part, she wound up getting into most of them even so.</p>
<p>I’d be happy to answer any questions from a student perspective, though D’yer Maker’s response doesn’t leave much to add! For banking, First Merit is the big one in town, but there are a few alternatives – I’ve had a fine experience with the Ohio Educational Credit Union. Twin XL is definitely the way to go for sheets.</p>
<p>Co-ops really work for some people and really don’t for others. They’re a good choice if you can handle lots of responsibility within a small community, if you like cooking, if you are veg*n or have other dietary needs, if the highest praise you can pay to a meal is that it’s nutritious, local, and made from scratch. They’re a bad choice if you want a lot of different options, if you favor onion rings and root beer floats over kale chips and granola, if you’re worried about managing your time well enough to fit in four or five hours of work per week and make it to dinner at 6:20 sharp.</p>
<p>In terms of getting a competitive edge in the co-op lottery… as an incoming first-year or parent of one, there’s really not a lot that you can do. Some student staff can “jump the lottery” (e.g., the OSCA president) and students who really need to be in a co-op for financial, religious, or medical reasons can apply to move to to the top of the wait list, but those opportunities are limited. For that reason, I’d recommend that incoming students who are on the fence about co-ops enter the lottery and leave if they’re unhappy; it’s hard to get into a co-op and much easier to switch out of OSCA and into CDS than vice-versa. If you know you want to be in a co-op and don’t get in, stay on the waitlist and make sure you keep your preferences updated!</p>
<p>Just an FYI to any concerned parents (or students): the process of filling out course selection, housing selection, and a myriad of other forms won’t begin until the end of May. The entire “Big Book of Forms” has been moved online this year, and the enrolling student will just receive a letter in the mail with instructions on how to set up access to the online system. Those letters are scheduled to be mailed the week of May 21st, so don’t panic if you don’t receive any information before then!</p>
<p>My daughter kept her home bank account. It is part of the Money Pass network, so she can access her account through the Lorain National Bank, including the ATM on campus, with no surcharge. This makes it convenient for us to make deposits into her account locally.</p>
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<p>Outstanding advice. New frosh should heed what she said. My D had a romanticized notion about the co-ops before she tried one. Oops. Hello traditional meal plan. </p>
<p>Don’t forget: The people will be different from co-op to co-op. It’s like anything else. You’ve got to find the right one or you could regret it. </p>
<p>Maybe take a meal plan freshman year, giving yourself some time to check out several co-ops before you commit for sophomore year?</p>
<p>Do most people have/use a bike? I’ve got my eye on a darling retro one for my D, but don’t want to waste the money if she won’t use it…</p>
<p>Yes! Lots of bikes on campus.</p>
<p>To expand upon what Plainsman said: co-op vibes also change every semester/year depending on who is involved. If you’re contemplating OSCA but aren’t 100% yet, consider a winter term co-op as a less-intense approach to the basics of co-op environments. You’ll start cooking, cleaning, conversing, and collaborating on a smaller scale, and it’s only a one-month commitment. After a month of mini-OSCA, many of my friends became involved during the semester, too.</p>
<p>@usernamelm - We are an extremely bike-friendly campus, and many students have and use bikes daily (though you can get your hands on one relatively easily on campus, too). I didn’t have a bike until I was a senior, and honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t use one earlier: it’s so much fun to ride here, plus it’s so efficient to get from place to place and makes somewhat annoying trips (like, say, a walk to IGA to pick up supplies for a surprise birthday dinner) easier to take on. </p>
<p>Downsides to a bike: when traveling in the “freshperson” pack during orientation, a bike is sort of a pain. Walking in big groups is fun, but when there’s a bike, it can be a bit bothersome – but if you’re heading somewhere on your own, a bike ROCKS. As soon as I got a bike, the amount of time I spent talking to my parents on the phone dropped like crazy. It might sound ridiculous, but I used to call my mom during a ten-minute walk somewhere, which was a nice way to stay involved with life back home. As soon as I got a bike, my trips to-and-from places were just minutes and I didn’t call them while I was biking.</p>
<p>…traveling in the “freshperson” pack…</p>
<p>Ha ha! I forgot about those, but I know exactly what you mean.</p>
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<p>Hmmm…maybe I should talk him out of getting a bike. 
Is getting a bike as easy as showing up at the bike co-op during orientation? </p>
<p>OP here. Thanks all for the great suggestions. Any advice on housing? Do we get any options? I think S may consider substance-free housing; I’ll have to ask him. He’s very low key about partying (doesn’t do it, can’t understand it). And wasn’t thrilled with all of the smoking he saw on campus.</p>
<p>On which breaks do kids go home and which forms of transportation do they use? Of course we can drive, but for shorter breaks, maybe other options would be better. We live in a Philly suburb and plane tix seem to be expensive right now. Plainsman, if I recall correctly, I think you live somewhere in this direction.</p>
<p>Another question! What are the payment options? Can we get a discount if we pay a full year upfront? Will they lock rates if we pay more than one year upfront?</p>
<p>The Student Accounts Office can answer all your payment questions (440-775-8457 or <a href=“mailto:student.accounts@oberlin.edu”>student.accounts@oberlin.edu</a>), but I’m pretty sure they don’t do any discounts or rate locking.</p>
<p>@Lisabees - Not talking on the phone didn’t mean that I didn’t get in touch with them 
I emailed them more my senior year because my schedule was much wackier and less conducive to phone calls with a 6 hour time difference. The bike co-op is an excellent option for a bike on campus. They have a number of bikes available to rent (I believe you put down a $30 deposit and then pay $15 for the semester?) and you can also do their build-a-bike program – put in 10 hours helping out around the place, then build a bike that will be yours for free. Last year, the rentals started during the first weekend that all are back on campus (so, the weekend before Labor Day).</p>
<p>There are less housing flexibilities during one’s first year at Oberlin. Unless you are applying for a co-op or program housing (of which substance-free is a part of), students can select first-year experience or traditional all-year housing experience, but not the dorm they will be living in. The only exception is Kahn Hall, which is an application-based first-year experience sustainability theme residence hall.</p>
<p>Transportation things: I flew, carpooled, or bussed during my breaks. Megabus and Greyhound are both out of Cleveland, and if you’re headed to popular areas (Philly, Chicago, NYC, etc.) you’ll probably be able to find cars of students offering rides via the Oberlin classifieds. There’s also Wilder Lines, which is a charter bus that runs to and from New York (and occasionally Boston and D.C., depending on demand) at the beginnings and ends of fall, Thanksgiving, and spring break. It’s usually a $75 one-way ticket, but it means that there are no transfers and you’ll be with Obies the whole way. I actually had a Philly-based friend who has done Wilder Lines several times to get home for break, since the bus took her into NYC and then she could connect via Megabus home.</p>
<p>Ooooh - I didn’t consider bus transportation, Maayan! Thanks for the specifics!</p>