<p>Heyyyy guys,
I am rising Senior at Oberlin in the College. I just joined this group because after seeing some of the threads realized that, although there are some students on here, a lot of your information is coming from fellow parents or fellow prospective students, and they are not always the best sources of information. If any of you have any questions at all about Oberlin I would love to discuss anything.
--abanana</p>
<p>Dorm with the most spacious rooms (doubles) for Freshman girls? I’ve heard negative things about Dascomb. Is it true Dascomb is the worst place for freshmen?</p>
<p>I always like to hear more about the student body there. I know the general stereotype liberal stuff, but I would like to hear a more in depth review of the student body. And is everybody generally happy there? Thanks</p>
<p>This is a trivial question, but, what are thel banks in Oberlin? Are any of the national banks located there? Or is this question hopelessly out of date and students don’t use banks anymore, just charge cards?</p>
<p>There’s a bank in Oberlin on Main Street. During orientation, there will be information about banking.
from a parent perspective, Dascomb and Barrows, the first-year experience dorms, are pretty crummy, cinderblock construction, small rooms, not much closet space, not great bathrooms. The lounges are not great. Dascomb has a nice cafeteria, though, more appealing than Stevenson, which is huge. Students, though, seem to thrive in the first-year experience dorms, make great friends, have a great time, and don’t seem to focus on how the rooms look. And the locations are very convenient.</p>
<p>On banks: [Banks</a> - Oberwiki, The Oberlin Wiki](<a href=“Registrant WHOIS contact information verification | Namecheap.com”>Registrant WHOIS contact information verification | Namecheap.com)</p>
<p>You should also check Oberwiki for other such questions about Oberlin, both the college and the town.</p>
<p>re: Plainsman (dorm rooms): I lived in Barrows my freshman year and Barrows and Dascomb are about the same. The rooms weren’t big, but they also weren’t tiny- definitely bigger than at state school dorms. The open doubles in other dorms are bigger. I have never lived in a divided double but have visited many friends who have-- in South and North they feel smaller to me. The privacy may be nice, but you still have to walk through one room to get outside-- so either your roommate is walking through your room or you are always having to walk through your roommate’s part of the room. They feel smaller to me, but I don’t know if they actually are. I think for your first year it’s better just to decide if you want to live in traditional or first-year dorms or co-ops since you can’t chose the specific dorm anyway. For the rest of the years you can scope out which rooms are the biggest.
And regarding first-year dorms, I loved living in Barrows. The experience was wonderful and the majority of my close friends I met in Barrows. Although there are all types of people, freshman dorms do see more partying and socializing, but I enjoyed that and it really helped me make lots of lasting friendships.</p>
<p>Inquisitive Mom (re: banking): There are not any national chains in Oberlin, as far as I am aware. There are a few local banks though: First Merit (which I use), Lorain National, and a few others I cannot remember. I like having a bank account at Oberlin, though I suppose you don’t necessarily need one-- it’s really convenient if you will be working at Oberlin, and since there are no other national chains in Oberlin, you’ll probably be charged at an ATM if you have another card. There’s lot of information on banking during orientation which is when I set up my account.</p>
<p>Country day (re: student body): I’ll try, but it’s hard to give a general statement about the whole student body, as Oberlin has a diverse population in terms of personalities of students. I don’t know if I would say everyone is “generally happy,” but most people seem to be fairly happy. I have friends who don’t love Oberlin, but they like their friends and the academics. As at a lot of top-level liberal arts colleges, there is definitely a work hard, play hard type of mentality. Students generally work their asses off all week and on Sundays, and most Oberlin students care about learning and getting their stuff done (there is definitely a mentality of caring more about learning for the sake of learning than for getting good grades, which fosters a very nice and non-competitive environment, academically speaking). Then on the weekends there is a lot of partying and other fun things to do. I don’t know what else to say… a lot of Oberlin students are liberal and care about social policies on some level, most are in tune with current politics, but are hypocritical on practicing and preaching different things. The student body also has a tendency to be, or trying to be, pretty PC. You will hear the word “heternormative” countless times once you arrive… but in all I love the student body as a whole.</p>