I’m going to be attending Oberlin next year and would like some opinions on OSCA. I currently have no desire to live in a co-op, but I ate at Old Barrows recently and really enjoyed the food which made me consider OSCA as an eating option. Would anyone care to give their 2 cents on skipping meal plans and dining halls as a first-year and immediately going into dining with OSCA?
Thanks!
Our S also a 2020 class admit and decided to apply for a co op. As you must know… It’s not for every one. ± either way. The draw for a co op should be more than just the food… It’s a lifestyle choice where you can expect to be an integral part of a smaller " family " within the larger Oberlin community… That comes with increased responsibility and a willingness to participate and help maintain/ advance the well being of that family. You will actively work/live to help sustain the place. If you decide co op, expect to find your own niche in contributing to the benefit of the hall. To some … It is exciting… To others, it can be daunting. Good Luck ianrupp.
@ianrupp… Didn’t realize that your intent is to participate only in OSCA meal plan…Curious… Why not the whole package.?
I can see an argument for waiting. You will be entering a whole new phase of your life, by travelling away from home and attending college. You will have to adjust to even finding your away around campus, buying books, and adjusting to college classes. If you are in a freshman dorm and eat on the standard meal plan, you will have a support group of people in your situation. The friends you make freshmen year stay with you throughout your period at Oberlin. It’s different from the OSCA where all classes of students are represented. You will have to perform work a few hours per week in the OSCA, and might end up cooking for dozens of students. This will be on top of managing your coursework, the extracurriculars, and other things happening on campus…
I highly recommend OSCA, and I boarded there for three years, beginning my sophomore year. I am glad I waited.
I think at most colleges, until you can connect with a small group of friends you won’t have a super satisfying experience, and in my experience Obies are not the most inviting group. There are no hall events, no greek life, and very few school sponsored social events. There may be an ice cream social or two hosted by clubs during orientation but that’s about it, so finding that small group can be hard freshman year since you probably won’t be too involved in too many clubs or declared a major yet, especially if you’re not very outgoing. The co-ops can be super helpful in providing this group, so my recommendation is to give it a shot first semester! The transition to college can be hard but eating most of your meals with the same 80 or so people, compared to going to one of the dining halls with the other 2,000 students not in OSCA, can really help in providing a small comfortable space. Also, you can drop the co-op at pretty much any point in the semester so if you decide it’s too much work then you can always switch to the normal cafeteria!
Also, I know you said just dining so I’m assuming you’re going resed for housing and in that case my recommendation is to ask for a first year experience building and apply to Kahn. It’s supposedly “environmentally friendly” or something but most importantly it has air conditioning, which means that at the very beginning of freshman year a lot of people who don’t live there will go hang out there to watch tv and not be hot, so you can easily connect with people that way.
You have two perspectives from megame and myself. I do not know the answer to this, but I doubt you could just drop out of OSCA at any time and receive your money. And, I am not certain you could switch to a dining hall at any time and not pay a charge for a full semester. You might want to check with someone in college dining services and the OSCA about that.
Sorry yeah, I wasn’t super clear on switching. You can drop OSCA at two week intervals throughout the semester and you should have to pay just the extra prorated rate of your new meal plan. You can see more here: https://dining.oberlin.edu/xcds/mealplanchange/osca_cds_info.php
Thanks for all help! Still don’t know if that’s enough to make a concrete decision, but I’ll figure it out. @parentgeorgia I don’t want to live in a Co-op because I’ve heard they’re a little less clean and from what I’ve seen at Harkness and another one which I don’t remember. Not that there’s anything wrong with living in a co-op I just feel it’s not for me, but who knows that may change.
@megame18 I stayed in Dascomb during an overnight and ended up enjoying it a lot. I liked the people who lived there a lot and I like the location and dining hall. I saw the interior of Khan to and it was really nice, but I’ve heard from people who live there that it’s really cold sometimes? I’m not sure how much truth that holds but I’m not someone who does well when it’s cold inside haha.
I didn’t live in Kahn, but I’d definitely believe that. Oberlin has tons of money but is also very very cheap with a lot of things, so if they can save money on heating I’m sure they do haha. The other dorms have a centralized steam heat system which makes them very warm, so maybe Barrows/Dascomb would be a better fit! Good luck deciding!