questions about Occidental College

Colleges and Universities A-Z Occidental College
1

My son is seriously considering Occidental College. I have some questions I am hoping someone can answer… (thank you in advance for your input)

  1. I am aware of the alleged rape a couple of years ago. Although I am very impressed with Occidental College, this seems to be an issue hanging over the school. I am questioning whether it is a supportive environment for my son and a less than cohesive situation on the campus. Also in this regard, has the reputation of Occidental suffered because of the incident – therefore decreasing the value of the education resulting in diminished job opportunities or graduate school admissions?
  2. What are your experiences with Occidental’s graduate employment opportunities and/or graduate school admissions. Is it worth the cost?
  3. How difficult is it to compete on a sports team and also pursue a pre-med curriculum?
  4. Do most students bring a car to school?
  5. If a student is admitted early decision 2, is it possible to still be offered merit aid?
  6. I have read the make-up of the student body is predominantly from financially very well-off families. Is this true?
2

As a parent of an Oxy sophmore, I can answer some of your questions:

  1. From my perspective the school seems to have responded well to the sexual assault allegations. They hired a Title IX director, students are required to take an online course prior to each school year. The first year orientation covered issues of sexual assault and drug/alcohol abuse quite thoroughly. My daughter reports that she feels safe on campus. I am not sure how the past incidences would affect a graduate’s job prospects - especially since this is an issue at many, many other college campuses.
  2. My daughter has friends at school with cars - some, not most. She gets rides from those friends and also takes Uber.
  3. Where did you get an impression that most students are financially well off? We do not find this to be accurate, in terms of hearing about and meeting her college friends. And we are recipients of very good financial aid.
3
  1. regarding the rape: When we recently took a tour we asked about this. It appears they've taken great steps to ensure the safety of students and the details of the event appear to be something that is murky. The tour guide that we were with definitely reiterated that she feels safe on campus. Just as others have said, this is a problem at many, many campuses. When you take into consideration that Oxy (like Vandy and others) is a residential campus in a suburb these issues which would otherwise take place off campus are more likely to take place ON campus.
  2. My daughter is also interested in pre-med. It's hard to find many stats on Oxy because it's such a small school. What we found is that there is some sort of relationship between USC Medical School and Oxy because many of their pre-med students go to USC. The fact that Oxy provides opportunities for undergraduate internships and is a collaborative learning environment speaks volumes to me about the prospect of someone doing well and going on to medical school. Medical school is all about recommendations, GPA and MCAT scores. Oxy can provide a wonderful foundation for later success IMO. 3 .I think doing sports of any sort and also trying to compete for a spot in medical school is hard. The GPA must stay high to be a good candidate and sports certainly takes a lot of time.
  3. I was told during our tour that 2/3 students bring cars on campus. It's free to park on campus. The location of Oxy makes a car pretty useful and necessary. However, with enough friends with cars I suppose you probably don't necessarily need one yourself.
  4. It's my understanding that even merit aid is considered for ED2. Keep in mind, though, that merit aid often takes the place of grants etc.
  5. It has been my impression after visiting and looking online that there are quite a few wealthy kids attending this college (I mean if only 60% of the student body qualifies for grants and institutional aid that means 40% can afford $67000 a year!) That being said, we thought the vibe was super laid back and welcoming (especially in comparison to Pomona College and Claremont McKenna).