<p>What were prospective student reactions to the Oberlin visit?</p>
<p>i absolutely loved it. the kids are amazingly nice, the campus has such a community feel, & i got the impression that there is an endless amount of stuff to do. the food was definitely not bad, the dorms are quaint and the campus is alive. i enjoyed the history class i sat in on too. the professor was really engaging with the class. being from california my only concern is the location but im hoping to overcome that worry :]</p>
<p>I loved…half of it. The campus, teachers and SOME of the people I met were awesome. A lot of people just seemed awkward, though I don’t know if it was because there was an invasion of prospective students and their parents. One thing I really didn’t like though was how cliquey everyone seemed. It didn’t look like groups mixed. I felt I could be happy there, but only with some of the people I met.</p>
<p>Lionness: </p>
<p>Every college campus has cliqueness. It’s unavoidable unless the place is filled with 2,000 total loners. That would be a real drag. Naturally, kids living in the substance free house are probably not going to spend much time socializing with the tokers, etc. etc. because of incompatibility of core values. As long as the community is respectful, tolerant and inclusive when it comes to academic opportunity and most social opportunities, a little self segregation by some people based on values towards drugs, sex, food, etc. is to be expected anywhere. It’s human. </p>
<p>Too much group conformity is stifling and boring.</p>
<p>My D is the kind of person who moves between and among cliques, because she gets along with everybody. However, even she has “values.” We all do.</p>
<p>Ultimately, she’ll be friendly with, but won’t become extremely close to, kids who do drugs or steal or have sex/strip parties. That’s just not her. She’ll “clique” with people who don’t do those things. Hopefully, that will be a lot of people. Think about it. It’s pointless hanging out at a party where everybody is getting stoned and you don’t do that stuff. Same goes for someone who wants to drink a few brewskies every now and then. Why would you hang out all the time with teetotalers? Nothing wrong with that. </p>
<p>My D judges behavior which speaks to values. What she does not judge are immutable characteristics like race, size, ethnicity, religion or lack thereof, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, family income, nationality, etc. I don’t think you can ask for more than that.</p>
<p>Caitylin: </p>
<p>Think Oberlin for undergrad, and think Cal-Berkeley for grad/prof. I think you mentioned earlier you were also considering Cal.</p>
<p>I went to Cal both undergrad and grad, I live in Berkeley; I think it is a great school. Oberlin and Cal have certain things in common: great academics, a tolerant student body, and a long history of social justice. Berkeley is much more diverse, at least in terms of its Asian population, but Oberlin, for its location, is no slouch; it actively reaches out to be more inclusive because that is its history, credo, legacy. But the experiences will be ENTIRELY different; Oberlin classes are not only small, but even in the larger classes, the professors will know your name, they might even call you if you appear to be missing the final (this happened to my kid’s roommate); there is always something going on on the campus (next week, Toni Morrison will be there, Juilliard String Quartet, Howard Dean, there are innumerable musical performances, Reefer Madness, etc.) and you will go to these events with your friends, whereas at Cal, though there is much much more going on, you are less likely to do as much, and it will cost much more. My kid got into Cal with a regents and chose Oberlin, mostly because of the musical environment; no regrets. But if money is an issue, that is another matter.
As to dorms, which is another issue that has come up, first-year experience dorms seem to be a great way to make a lot of lasting friends; wherever you live, your attitude toward drugs, etc. will be respected.</p>
<p>I loved it. it was the school I was most impressed with when I visited it this month. the co-op system and the exco are so awesome and unique. the student body is really chill/laid-back, the campus is pretty beautiful, and there’s tons of music going on everywhere. It’s not even as rural as I thought it was, although I still don’t think I would really want to live there. also, it was considerably more white than some of the other schools, and there did seem to be some separation between the athletes and everyone else. </p>
<p>by the way, I thought the drug thing was overrated. I went on 4/20 and while I did see people smoking, no one even offered me any.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. My D and I just returned from a campus visit during which she (and I) fell in love with the school. This was her second visit. She returned because her first visit was a flop with regard to the social life. This time, she was paired with a more sociable person. There was so much to do on campus - Wilder Bowl on a Friday afternoon was filled with students juggling, hula hooping. The co-ops traditionally serve home made pizza which was delicious. We went to Cat in the Cream at lunch time where Conservatory kids played fabulous jazz music. There was a Soullive concert at night, several theater productions and a movie broadcast on the exterior of Mudd Center as you wouldsee in a drive-in movie. My daughter and a number of kids from South camped out that night under the stars.</p>
<p>Oh yes, and she thought the classes were great, too!</p>
<p>i felt like a lot of the students seemed pretentious and weren’t very …eager? to get involved with/acknowledge the prospies. would you say that oc feels like a community or is it more of a place where people kind of find their niches and stick to them?</p>
<p>Wow, I didn’t pick that up at all, Dawson. I also thought the parents were friendly.</p>
<p>When I visited, I thought everyone was so friendly!! I didn’t get the pretentious vibe at all!</p>
<p>I visited both Macalester College in St Paul and Oberlin, and Oberlin seemed to me to have a much better social environment. I was scared that it was going to be all “weird” people, but most everyone seemed very cool. And it was a good move by the admissions office to have the a cappella group perform at the prospective student luncheon-- I remember thinking when they were playing, “This is where I want to be.” Although it’s certainly much more rural than macalester, I like that there’s phenomenal exposure to arts events (I went to go see a performance of Reefer Madness) right on campus, not a bus or light-rail ride away. I got the impression that the more rural environment would create an on-campus community that might not exist in a place where people could jet off into the city at any given chance.</p>